After dropping a game early last season, Nudgee went on a run and won the remainder of their matches to claim the school’s first outright premiership since 2018.

Five players from last year’s squad return for another crack this year in a competition coach Andrew Scotney expects to be ever tighter than 2023.

Overview with Andrew Scotney: 

“We’re looking forward to getting in to the season. We got through our trials in term two and we’re on our rugby camp at the moment, then we play one last trial on Saturday ahead of round one,” Scotney told Rugby News earlier in the week. 

“We had a five-day camp this year and we started by camping out for a night on a property near Boonah. 

“We did some team building stuff through the earlier parts of the week, then turned our attention to the rugby stuff after that. 

“Our trial form has been okay. All the trials have been really tough and the majority have been decided by a try or less. The trials have shown how close the competition is going to be again this year. 

“Last year our 2023 team did a fantastic job to win the premiership. We dropped a game in round three and then had to beat all the teams in front us to win it and the kids did really well to do just that. 

“It’s always great to win competitions and we celebrated that last year but we’ve moved on from that now and we’re focussed on the season ahead.”

2024 Squad: 

“We’ve got five players back from last year’s team,” Scotney explained. 

“We’ve got quite a bit of pace out wide and I think that will be a strength of ours. We’ve also got a hard-working forward pack with some tall timber in the lock position.”

What type of rugby will we see from Nudgee this year? 

“We want to play a typical Nudgee style and move the ball around quite a bit to create attacking opportunities. 

“Then up front, we’ll look to play to the strengths of this group and utilise the height we have in our forward pack.”

What are you expecting from this season?

“Last year was the closest competition I’d been involved in and I think it’ll be similar again this year, if not even closer,” Scotney said. 

“The trials have shown that every side is competitive and capable of winning on their day. 

“We’ve got Ipswich in round one and they’ve probably trialled as well as I’ve ever seen them trial this year so we’re not looking past them at the moment. 

“They’re going to be tough based on what I’ve seen from them so far.”