After dropping two matches midway through the season, The Southport School finished the year well but ultimately fell short of claiming another GPS premiership in 2023.

An “athletic and dynamic” group may play a slightly different style of rugby this season under second year coach Tai McIssac, according to TSS veteran Mike Wallace.

Overview with Mike Wallace:

“It’s been pretty wet here over the last little period so that’s created some challenges,” TSS mentor Mike Wallace told Rugby News. 

“We’ve just finished a three day camp at the back end of the holidays. Our boys had three weeks of holidays and because we have a high percentage of boarders, most of them went home for the three weeks. 

“So we only really got to look at them in the last three days but they have come together really well and we were pretty happy overall with our final trials against Toowoomba and Brisbane Grammar. 

“Considering we hadn’t spent a lot of time together, we were able to get back into the swing of things pretty quickly and the boys are as ready as they going to be. 

“Last season was an interesting one. We jumped out of the gates really well but then we had two really close results. The loss against Toowoomba was a tough one because we thought we’d played some pretty good rugby.

“Then the loss against Churchie at Churchie was pretty similar. So we ended up finishing fourth but if you turn those two results, then we could have gone into the final week with a chance to claim a joint premiership. 

“So overall it was probably a frustrating end to what was a pretty good season. But our players that have returned learnt a lot from those experiences and some of those guys are now our key leaders.”

2024 Squad:

“We’ve got a few back from last year but overall we’re a pretty young team this year. They are an athletic and dynamic group and not too typical of TSS teams of the past. 

“We’re really excited about some of the guys that will make their first XV debuts this year. They are young, but they are really exciting talents and they’ve got a desire to learn and get better every week and perform well with their mates around them. 

“That’s really all we can ask of them.”

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

“I don’t think you’ll see a different style but we’re into our second season under Tai McIssac as head coach and although there won’t be a huge shift, he is very good at tailoring a game plan to get the best out of the players we’ve got. 

“I think he’s done a really good job of that again this year.”

What can we expect across the competition this year? 

“You’d have to think it’s going to be really tight at the top. Obviously Nudgee are the perennial favourites and Sean Graham runs a fantastic program up there.

“Toowoomba Grammar have been building well for a number of years and I think they’ll be a big threat. Like us, they have a fairly young side so they’ll be an interesting one to watch over the next two years. Then BBC are always strong as well. 

“If Nudgee are favourites, you could probably throw a blanket over the rest of the sides and in the 16 years I’ve been involved in this competition, this is probably the tightest it’s been and its a credit to all the coaches as all the schools.”