A young Easts’ group under coach Simon Craig learnt a lot of lessons on and off the field in 2024. 

Craig now seems confident that if his side keeps developing, they’ll be ready to push for finals and for premierships in the years to come. 

Overview with Simon Craig: 

“We were too inconsistent this year and that was probably to be expected considering the age profile of our playing roster,” Craig told Rugby News. 

“We blooded a lot of colts players this year or players just out of colts and we probably lacked the experience we needed to get around the park a little. That showed in the way that we played at times. 

“Some weeks, the boys were on and we played really good footy and then other weeks we weren’t on and we lacked the mental ability to stay in the game and to stick to our plans and our systems.  

“The exciting thing about that is that those players now have that year of experience under their belt and they’ll be much better for it. 

“If you look back at the history of when and how our club has won premierships over the years, we started three years before with a really good young group.

“We’ve taken our lessons and our losses from the year and now we’ve got to be better next season and get closer to the formidable side that we want to become. 

“In the last four weeks of the season, when we weren’t really playing for anything other than our own pride, we still had full attendance at training every night. 

“They were on time, they were engaged and they were opening saying that they weren’t working for 2024 now, we’re working for 2025.”

What is the focus at Sunnybank between now and round one next year? 

“To start, we’ll get the guys training by themselves for four weeks, where they track and log everything through an app,” Craig said. 

“I want to see which players are motivated enough to do the work on their own so when they come in on the 26th of November, we know where they are at, both physically and mentally. 

“Then in our next block prior to Christmas, we’ll work on upskilling the playing squad in each individual position and as a team. 

“We want to play a faster brand of footy, speed up the breakdown and create opportunities in attack. 

“We still want to play a fairly dominant set piece style of footy, but we want to improve the way we attack off the back of that.”

Which of your players do you think can push on next year? 

“I think Will Sankey and Nick Bloomfield will have big seasons next year and I’m excited to see where they end up,” Craig said. 

“Henry Wilson will take another big step in the right direction and I think Frankie Goldsborough will have an impact. 

“Jarrod Homan will also be back and I think he’ll be really good for us having not played footy through injury for a year”

What can we expect in 2025?

“I think we’ll be a much improved rugby side next year now that we’ve got a lot of players that have experienced Premier Rugby,” the coach said optimistically. 

“As coaches, we’re working hard to bring in players that can fill a few holes where we think we might be a bit short. 

“If we can get a few players in, we’ll increase our depth in some key positions, which will push our younger guys to earn their spot. 

“If we can do that and adapt our attack shape slightly, then I think we’ll be pushing for finals in 2025. 

“A number of sides mentioned that we were a tricky side to play this year and I think that will only increase again next season.”