It’s been a tough few years for Norths, who won just one match in 2023.

But after coaching colts and working as an assistant coach last season, new first grade head coach Dan Ritchie is looking to build sustainable success at Hugh Courtney Oval and thinks there’s enough good, young talent at the club to do just that.

Overview with Dan Ritchie: 

“It’s been a really productive preseason,” Ritchie told Rugby News. 

“Rebuilds are never linear and there are always challenges but all things considered, I’m confident we’re heading in the right direction. It’s just going to take some time.  

“We’ve played a few trials now and they were all really positive, so we’re looking forward to round one.  

“The first thing we focussed on was getting the right people at the club, then moving on others who didn’t fit the direction we wanted to go. 

“We need to be a development club and our first goal has to be to make the players at this club inherently better each season. We’ve focussed on that by setting some high standards and by changing some habits that weren’t helping us in previous years. 

“We know that it’s going to take a bit of time to get back to where we want to be but that’s okay. 

“As a club, we’ve chased overnight success for so long now that we probably lost sight of how important creating sustainable pathways was. 

“We’ve got to put time into players and we’ve got to make sure we get as many former Norths players back to the club as possible.  

“We’ve also got some talented kids coming out of colts and into grade and we want them to be excited about what they’ve got in front of them, which I think the current group is. 

“I started coaching colts in 2021 and had two really good seasons there before moving into the assistant coach role with first grade. 

“So for some of the players, we’ve spent up to four years together now. We’re not exactly starting from scratch and we’ve got a bit from last year to develop upon as well. 

“But we aren’t talking about wins and losses. We want to do the little things right, prepare well, learn every week and perform for the club each weekend. If we can improve each week, we think the results will look after themselves.  

“We’ve tried our best to explain that to everyone at the club. We’re fortunate to have a lot of passionate supporters and we want them to come on the journey with us because we’re confident we’re on the rise.  

“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, so we’re doing things differently this year and we’re confident we can make some inroads.”

2023: 9th (1 win, 15 losses)

Ins: Josh Mongard (returning – Brothers/Force), Tonga Ma’afu (returning – GPS), Harrison Swain (returning – UQ), Jackson Connolly (returning – Canberra), Takahiro Kimura (Japan).

Outs: Bart Ritchie (retired), Connor Higgins (Bay of Plenty, NZ).

What style of rugby will be see from Norths this year? 

“We want to play a highly skilful, entertaining and positive brand of rugby and we started to show that in patches last year,” Ritchie said. 

“We’re not looking to play conservatively or mimic any of the other sides. But if you look at the competition, the three best teams last year – Brothers, Wests and Bond – they played the most positive, attacking rugby and that showed on the table. 

“I think we’ve got a real opportunity to take it to teams because we’ve got some incredibly exciting players in our backline.  

“People know about them, they’ve been around, but they’re all a year older now and I think we’ll see a lot from them this season.”

Player(s) to watch: 

“Will McCulloch has a lot of potential. He was an 18-year old playing first grade last year and scored six tries in five games for us,” Ritchie explained.  

“Better judges than me have said he was far and away the best player in the Queensland U19s side last year and he’s right in the mix for the Australian U20s. I can’t see how he won’t be picked and play quite a bit with them.  

“He’s also been part of the Reds academy for two seasons now and seems to be getting better year on year.  

“Our halfback Connor O’Regan probably doesn’t get the kudos he deserves. He’s heading in to his fourth season of first grade as a 21-year old which is pretty incredible.  

“A lot of people talk about other halfbacks in the competition and there are plenty of good ones, but I think Connor is the most underrated No.9 out there.  

“He was a Reds U19s player a few years ago and he’s not far off 50 first grade games, which is unique for such a young player. I don’t know how he didn’t get picked in the Challenger Series last year.  

“Josh Mongard has come back from the Western Force as an even better player and he’s going to be really important for us this year. 

“I don’t think we’ll have him for too long, he should be playing professional rugby. 

“They are three guys all under the age of 21 who are in for big years.” 

Which two teams will play in this year’s grand final and why?

“Norths and Wests I think,” Ritchie said.  

“Wests have an unbelievable roster of representative players and they are going to be very hard to beat.  

“They are very well coached as well and play a really good style. Hopefully we’ll knock them off in the decider.”