With Australian-born Irish international Tom Court at the helm, Brisbane Grammar are looking to rebuild their rugby program, even calling on new Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt during preseason to help with a session.

Court said he’s been happy with the improvement in his group over recent months and said he’s confident Grammar’s rugby program is on the up.

Overview with Tom Court: 

“Things are looking good at the moment. Last week was fairly positive for us, so I think we’re as ready as we’re going to be,” Court said shortly after Grammar’s final trial. 

“It’s been a gradual build-up. I think obviously after some of the results last year, a big focus this year was trying to build back some of the confidence and culture in the playing group and also build a bit of an identity around who we are and how we play rugby at Grammar.

“We want to change how Grammar is perceived by other teams. 

“So that was the initial focus and then for me coming in fresh, I took some time to assess the skill levels and our depth across all positions and then we’ve built a game plan for the season ahead. 

“We’re a little bit light in terms of depth in certain positions, so we’ve converted a few players in different positions, but they’ve all done really well.

“It’s been really rewarding to be honest and I’ve actually thoroughly enjoyed it. They are just a fantastic group of boys,

“We’ve come a long way since term one but we still have a long way to go until we’re completely happy. 

“But look, we’ve improved every week and we’re still continuing to improve, so that’s the main goal.”

2024 Squad:

“There are a couple of guys back from last year in Flynn Horton and Tristan Knudsen and I think Tom Siganto might have had a look in last year as well,” the coach said. 

“Then we’ve got a good core group of young guys pushing through that are talented and look to be strong leaders as well. 

“They’ve been really crucial in building the internal culture for this year’s group but also helping develop the foundation blocks for Brisbane Grammar moving forward and hopefully they can continue to build on that over the next two or three years. 

“Guys like Harper Enasio and Lincoln Dalton have really put their hands up through the trials and I’m excited to see what they can do this season and in the years to come.”

What sort of rugby will we see from Brisbane Grammar this year? 

“We don’t have the luxury of the depth or the size generally of a lot of the other teams so we’ll need to play a little differently. 

“We learned from the first few trials that we’re going to be playing some bigger teams and we’ll need to adapt and find our style to beat them. 

“One thing that has been core to the whole Brisbane Grammar identity is playing smart rugby and we’ve got a lot of smart kids in the team who are really quick at picking up technical aspects and strategic aspects of the game. 

“We’ll try and play a smart, tactical game and try to kick our way to field position, rather than being too confrontational. 

“Obviously, we all know that rugby is a very confrontational, physical game. But wisdom would tell us that we don’t necessarily want to keep running into brick walls and pick out the biggest guy on the pitch and run straight at him every time.

“We’ve got to get creative with our resources and try and use what we’ve got to the best of our advantage.”

What are you expecting from the season ahead? 

“It’s a really tough competition and looking at the trial form and footage so far, it look like sides like Nudgee, BBC, TSS and Toowoomba will all be really strong,” Court predicted. 

“It’s a bit of a cliche, but there’s never an easy game in this competition and every week is going to be really, really difficult. 

“We’re going to have to be at our best to be able to challenge these teams and some days, even if we are at our best, it might not be enough. 

“But as long as the boys commit, give what they have and stick to our processes and our structure, hopefully we’ll be a lot better off than we have been in previous seasons.”