Knox head into the 2023 CAS season full of confidence following impressive pre-season victories over Joeys, Oakhill and St Augustine’s.

Coach Cam Blades has welcomed back a number of players from last year’s campaign as Knox chase their first premiership since 2016.

Overview with Cam Blades: 

“I feel like we’re pretty well prepared this year. Things have been going well throughout the trials and I think we’ve been building nicely,” Blades told Rugby News.

“Most parts of our game are where they need to be, so now we’re looking forward to seeing how the boys perform come round one on Saturday.

“We’ve won all of our trials this term, which is really positive. We came from 18 points down early in the second half to beat Joeys and we also fell behind against Oakhill, but we found a way back into those games and showed good resilience.

“In general, I think we’ve built well throughout games and then been able to exert some good pressure in the second half of matches, which has helped us produce some good results.

“We also went on a three game tour of New Zealand which was a great experience and really productive in terms of our preparation for the season ahead.”

2023 Squad: 

“We’ve got a fair few forwards returning. Our forward pack is nice and strong and those boys have plenty of experience.

“In the backs, we’ve only got one returning player. The rest are coming up from our second XV or from the 16s last year.

“It’s a nice blend. Our experience is a little forward heavy, but we’ve got plenty of talent in the backs as well.

“Our back three will be made up for a boy in year 10 and two year 11s and while they’re still finding their feet, they’ve got a lot of potential and they’ve been performing really well through the trials.” 

What style of rugby will we see from Knox this year? 

“Similar to previous years, our style changes depending on where we are on the field. We’ll look to use our forward pack in the right areas of the field. This year, our forwards can both give us go forward in tight and pop up in the wider channels.

“With two strong centres and speed out wide, we like playing an expansive style when we can so we’ll use width when the time is right”.

“I think we’ve got the ability to play tight and get in the grind, but also the ability to throw the ball around, depending on what is required on the day.”

Which sides pose the biggest threat this season?

“It’s very cliche but the biggest threat is always your next opposition,” the coach said.

“We’re away to Trinity in the first round, so we’ll focus on us and them at this stage. They always get up for a battle against Knox so they’ll be the first big threat.

“Then we have the long weekend, into Aloys at home before the school holidays.

“This weekend is the important one, so we’ll get through that and then think about the rest of the year from there.”