UQ couldn’t quite match a star studded Easts’ side in the final match of last season, but proved once again with a grand final appearance that the Red Heavies remain a Premier Rugby heavyweight.

Mick Heenan has added some fresh young talent to his playing group and will hope to see a lot more of his Queensland Reds players compared to last year

You’d have to be brave to bet against the Students featuring prominently at the back end of the season in 2021

Overview with Mick Heenan:

“It’s been been quite a different preseason to usual. We only started in late January because we wanted to give the guys a good break after a really long season last year. 

“It’s worked really well and everyone has had plenty of energy throughout preseason and into our trials and we’re all really looking forward to round one. 

“It was a difficult year in a lot of ways. It was great that we were able to get a season in really, even though it was only one round. I thought our guys handled it pretty well really though and did enough to play their way in to the grand final. Unfortunately we couldn’t get the job done on the day and Easts were deserving winners. 

“From a competition wide perspective, it was a really even competition. First through to fifth were all within a win of each other, which tells you how tight it was and I expect it’s going to be a similar story this year. 

“Easts beat us upfront in the grand final, there’s no denying that. They had a great forward pack and if you look at it, all three of their front rowers are playing professional rugby this year, then they had a former Wallabies captain at No.8.

“If you look at some of the teams that missed the finals last year, I think they will all improve. 

“There are some good signs coming out of Norths, Souths have a lot of young talented players coming through, Sunnybank and Wests will both improve. All of those teams will be tough to beat this year.”

2020: Grand finalists 

Ins: Brad Kapa (Brothers), Kalani Thomas (Souths), Lukas Ripley (Souths), Tom Molloy (Randwick), Fred Keil (Wests).

Outs: SJ Tamala (Easts).

Key area of improvement: 

“We’re always looking for improvement in all parts of our game to be honest,” Heenan said. 

“We were particularly disappointed with our scrum on grand final day though so obviously that has been an area that we have focussed on. I think we’ll improve in that area this year. 

“It was tough to get sustained improvement in such a short season last year, so this year we’ve got a good opportunity to work on things. 

“We’ll get a good idea of where we are at in round one and then the aim is always to improve bit by bit every week. 

“There’s not one outstanding area we are focused on but we’re always looking to bring a harder edge in defence and to play faster in attack and obviously we want our set piece to be solid.”

Player(s) to watch:

“I expect Mac Grealy to do really well. We got a taste of what he could do last season and that was exciting to watch. I think he’ll take a big step forward this year. 

“I’m really looking forward to watching Kalani Thomas play. We haven’t seen a lot of him because he’s been in the Reds squad.  He’s been on the bench the last few weeks, which is great to see. 

“I also think Josh Nasser will have a big year. He’ll really benefit from playing a bit more footy this year because he spent most of last season in the Super Rugby bubble without getting much game time. He’s still learning a new position at hooker so he needs to play consistent footy.”

Bold prediction for the season ahead: 

“Well I was right last year, I tipped a new team to make the finals and they did so I’m on a roll,” Heenan joked. 

“We’ve had that top four – Easts, Brothers, Jeeps and us for the majority of the past few seasons but I do think we’ll see a side that missed the finals last year play finals footy this season. 

“We’re always targeting a top two finish. The main goal is to make it to the finals in good shape. If you can do that, then it doesn’t really matter where you finish to be honest.

“Our preference is to finish in the top two though.”