Things didn’t quite go to plan for Barker in 2024.

But a number of players that won the 2022 CAS premiership will return for their third season of first XV rugby this year under coach Dean Hargreaves and will be joined by a new crop of talented youngsters at Hornsby.

Overview with Dean Hargreaves: 

“Things are looking good ahead of round one. We’ve had a good preseason, played against some really good schools and had some pleasing results,” Hargreaves told Rugby News. 

“Our breakdown work has been very good, we’re generating quick ruck ball and have been playing well off the back of that. 

“We’ve got a good pace of game at the moment and we’re making good decisions around when we want to play that power game and when we want to play field position. It’s fitting together nicely. 

“Looking back at last year, it was another enjoyable season. We probably got found out a little bit after we suffered a few injuries in some key positions. Our depth probably wasn’t as strong as it had been in previous years. 

“All the players that were there gave 100% but we couldn’t quite match it with some of the other sides at times when we were missing one or two strike players. 

“We went away on a few trips with a larger squad this year of nearly 40 players and that’s helped our depth. 

“Both the firsts and the seconds are benefitting from training and competing against one another and that has shown in the trial results for both teams so far.”

2024 Squad: 

“We’ve got four year 10 boys in the team this year, which we’re excited about. Then we’ve got five or six year 11 boys and then a few older guys who have been around for a few years,” the coach explained. 

“We’ve got a good mix of experience and youthful exuberance I think. 

“The young guys have performed exceptionally well through the trials and we’re really excited to see what they can do once the competition starts. 

“It’s another really good group of boys, they all really get along and they all want to work really hard which is great to see.”

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

“You’ve always got to play to the conditions, but we like to play high pace, gain line football where we look to break the line and then attack off the back of that, or kick in behind and chase hard to pressure the opposition,” Hargreaves said. 

“That style suits wet weather footy and can also be played on a dry day so fortunately we haven’t had to change too much. 

“In that really wet weekend a few weeks back, we scored 64 points, so we’re confident the boys can still attack regardless of the conditions, which is great to see. 

“We’ll change things up a little bit from week to week, but really for us it’s all about playing fast pace, gain line footy where we can cause trouble for the defence.”

What are you expecting this season? 

“Anyone and everyone is capable of performing on a Saturday, so we’ll need to be wary every week this year,” the coach said. 

“The results across the CAS schools have been a little mixed through the trials. There have been some really good performances, then a few other results that were surprising.

“We’ll need to be on our game every week and we want to make sure we’re developing and getting better in each game we play. 

“That’s a big focus, we want to be better every week.”