A young Southern Districts outfit were decimated by injury in 2020, but still finished the regular season just one win outside of the top six. 

Todd Louden’s squad has a whole lot more depth as a result of last season though and some new faces in key positions who will be worth keeping an eye out for. 

Overview with Todd Louden: 

“I think we’re like most clubs at the moment, in that we’re going through that nervous period through trials where you try to work out where exactly that you’re at ahead of the season,” Louden said. 

“We’re tracking along quite nicely though. 

“Looking back at 2020, there wasn’t a whole lot that we could have controlled. A lot of the injuries that we suffered were impact based and most ending up being either season or career ending. 

“You wouldn’t have a nightmare where you had as many of those as we did last year, it was really tough. 

“It’s not an excuse though, that happens in rugby and I was really proud of the playing group that kept working hard right throughout the season. 

“By the end of the year, we were still only one win out of the top six so it was a difficult season, but we built a lot of character and we were able to blood a lot of young players in first grade. 

“That’s going to be great for our depth as a club moving forward and all of those guys came into this preseason and already knew all the systems, which helps a lot. We’re in a way better position than we were at this stage last year. 

“Because we still have such a young group, I think it’s important that we learn how to win. We need to be talking about winning the whole time so that we are playing to win and not just to compete.

“Last year we probably had guys who were happy to be playing first grade or second grade and to be competitive at that level, but we need those guys to be desperate to win every game this year and that’s the step we need to take if we want to be a genuine contender this season. 

“We lost a few big figures in the club to career ending injuries last year, which was really disappointing. Those guys are still involved at the club in different ways though. 

“We’ve tried to be really strategic and specific with the players that we have recruited, because we don’t have as big a budget as some of the other clubs and I think we’ve done well in that regard.”

2020: 7th (6 wins, 1 draw, 5 losses)

Ins: Josh Bokser (New Zealand), Angus Allen (Brumbies), Cody Roman, Connor Young (returning), Brad Armstrong (New Zealand), Carlos Price (New Zealand). 

Outs: Marcus Carbone (retired), Sam Harris (retired), Harry McLennan (retired), Ryan Connelly (Eastwood)

Key areas of improvement:

“Our lineout needs to be better. We had a lot of injuries last year, but we still weren’t good enough at lineout time. 

“Our defensive work needs to improve and we’ve made quite a few changes there and then in attack, I think we can chance our hand a little more at times. 

“At the end of the day, we just need to keep the right players on the field this season.”

Player(s) to watch: 

“Josh Bokser is worth watching. He’s your typical Kiwi backrower and he’s got a big future. He’s got professional player written all over him and I’ve heard that the Crusaders Academy were quite unhappy to lose him. 

“He’s still only young and he’s got certain aspects of his game that he needs to improve but he just wants to play some consistent footy and he’s really excited about playing in the Shute Shield. 

“Cody Roman, if he continues on his development pathway, he’ll be in for a big year. Locks of his size don’t grow on trees. 

“Carlos Price looks really solid, as does Christian Kagiassis, who rarely has a bad game and was the leading point scorer in the competition last year. 

“Declan Barnett is a young outside back and if he keeps developing as fast as he is, he’s got lots of potential. There are quite a few to get excited about to be honest.”

Bold prediction for the season ahead: 

“I think we’ll push a lot of teams this year and I’ll be very disappointed if we’re not in the finals series. 

“That’s obviously dependent on a lot of things, but I’d be very disappointed if we weren’t in the mix at the end of the year, trying to win the whole thing. 

“It’s not bold, but Easts and Norths have recruited heavily and they’ll be tough to beat and Sydney Uni won’t be happy with the year that they had last year. 

“I don’t think there will be a bolter as such this year, but it’s going to be a tight battle for those top six spots.”