Joe Barakat is back in charge at West Harbour and looking to move his side up the Shute Shield ladder, and quickly.

Barakat knows the Pirates can score points, but wants them to be tougher and more resilient on the other side of the ball. If they can do that, they've certainly got the talent to play finals footy this season.

Overview with Joe Barakat:

“Things are looking pretty good. We’ve played our last trial, we had a good hit out against Easts on the weekend and went down three tries to two. We were leading two tries to one at half time and performed really well,” Barakat told Rugby News.

“We had one of our other trials against Gordon washed out, then we played Newcastle. From what I’ve seen, it’s going to be a close competition.

“Trial form doesn’t count for much, we don’t want to be at our best for a few more months, but I think some of the results over the last few weeks show that there is going to be some movement up and down the ladder.