Hunter took another major step forward in 2023, playing finals footy for the first time.

But ultimately, coach Scott Coleman and his Wildfires were bitterly disappointed to finish their season one week earlier than planned and are already working to extend their campaign in 2024.

Overview with Scott Coleman:

“It was really disappointing to finish the year the way we did to be honest,” Coleman told Rugby News. 

“A lot of people keep telling us what a great season we had but we were pretty disappointed and bitter with the end. That’s footy unfortunately. 

“We’re still quite bitter about the semi final loss to Norths. I don’t think we got a 50/50 call all day but we’re the little brother from up the coast and we’ve got to learn to live with that.

“We spoke about it before the season, we spoke about it throughout the year and we spoke about it in our reviews. We aren’t using it as an excuse but I think it’s a reality. 

“We probably suffered from a bit of burn out this year and I don’t think I calculated how intense and how tight the competition was throughout the year. We know when we plan again that we have to start the season strong to be a chance at the backend of the competition and we’ll hopefully retain a lot of our blokes to help us do that. We want to start the year really strong while some of the other sides warm into the year.

“We don’t have the luxury of getting five, six, seven Super Rugby players coming back halfway through the year so we need to get more runs on the board early.

“As a coach, I’ve got to get better at managing our workload throughout the year. 

“I think we’re still five years off our full potential and that comes down to depth. We need to create a pathway here so that the good young kids from our region want to stay and play in Newcastle and not go to other clubs.

“That’s our ultimate goal but we certainly arent here to make up the numbers between now and then. We’ve got to get runs on the board so that more young players want to come to the club.

“I think we’ve earned enough credibility now to show that we can mix it with the Sydney clubs, but we’re still a long way off where we want to be. 

“I also think there are probably another four or five Donny Freemans out there. Good country kids who want to get out of Sydney and still play rugby at a high level and hopefully we can find them and offer them a home here.”

“It was really disappointing to lose Donny ahead of the finals to go to a training camp in Perth. We’re thrilled he’s got an opportunity, but hopefully the Super Rugby franchises get that right next year.”

What needs to happen at Hunter between now and round one next year? 

“I think the biggest thing right now is to recuperate and rest between now and November. The boys are having a full four weeks off from when we finished, then they’ll hit the gym. 

“They’ve got October off, then come November where going to get the boys playing in some touch competitions. We’re trying something a bit different and trying to add a bit more fun to the offseason.

“At the end of November, we then go in to a four week rugby block leading into Christmas, then we’re back into it from the 8th of January.”

Is there a player at your club ready to take the next step in their career?

“Hamish Moore at hooker or No.7 is a really quality player and he could go somewhere. Tom Watson is another really talented 23-year old in the backs. 

“Probably our biggest prospect coming through is a young lock named Taufa Kinikini. He’s got to get in the gym and work on his body quite a bit but he played a few first grade games this year and I think he could be anything.”

What can we expect in 2024? 

“I think we’ll be a similar side to last year, we’ve retained the majority of our players and we’ll look to add to that again. 

“Resilience and toughness is what we’ve tried to build this club on and hopefully we can add a bit more consistency to that next year.”