On the back of local juniors and colts pushing into grade, Norths recorded their best Premier Rugby finish in recent memory.

Coach Dan Ritchie was content with the 2024 season but has plenty of ambition for the club and his players in the years ahead. 

Overview with Dan Ritchie:

“It was a huge improvement and it ended up being our best finish in six years,” Ritchie told Rugby News. 

“In saying that though we didn’t make the top four, so we’ve still got work to do but it’s a huge step forward for our group and what was really exciting was that a lot of the really key contributors this year were guys that had come through our colts.  

“That for me, is probably where we’ve gone wrong in our past. 

“We picked up Jeffery Toomaga-Allen from the Reds this year and what he did for our young blokes is hard to articulate.  

“He just gave our blokes so much belief and he held them to a really high level of accountability.  

“Above all that, he just really cared and he wanted to play for Norths every chance he got. I haven’t seen a Super Rugby player have that kind of impact on a club for a long time.

“He’s an incredible human being and he was a big part of our growth as well. 

“We didn’t try and focus on winning a certain number of games or finishing on a certain part of the ladder this year, we just focused on getting our standards right.  

“That’s sort of what kept us going in and amongst the ebb and flow of results. We wanted to make sure that our players were becoming genuine students of the game.  

“That they were recovering well, they were previewing well, and that they were learning all the time this year and that allowed our game model to really evolve as the year went on.  

“We found some consistency around our habits and the way we trained and prepared for games and as the season went, we closed the gap between our best and worst rugby.”

What needs to happen at Norths between now and round one next year? 

“Retaining players is the most important thing for us at the moment. We want to retain the nucleus of that squad,” the coach said. 

“We’ve got a really good foundation now around our game model that we can build on and we’ve just got to continue to add layers to that.  

“We’ve also got to stay true to our habits and our standards and just gradually increase the level of professionalism at the club.

“I think there’s some guys now that have realised that it’s not park footy anymore. Just turning up two nights a week and on Saturdays isn’t going to cut it. 

“It’s a really tough competition and that means working just as hard in summer as you do in winter to prepare for the season ahead.”

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

“Josh Mongard was our player of the year and Ollie Harris was our most improved player,” Ritchie explained. 

“They are two young front rowers that I think can have really big seasons next year.  

“The Langbridge brothers, Leo and Harry, were also great for us.  Leo was our No.7 and Harry was our No.10 and also our captain.  

“Harry in particular, developed a really good combination with Conor O’Regan in the halves and I think now we’ve got a set of halves that we can really build our squad around.”  

What can we expect in 2025?

“I think what Brothers showed this year is that a cohesive well-oiled machine can prevail over a team riddled with superstar contracted players,” Ritchie said. 

“As good as it is having contracted players and Super Rugby players in the competition, I think if you’ve got your nucleus really firm, anyone can beat anyone on any given day.  

“That’s probably the closest competition we’ve had in a long, long time and I’m sure all teams will make sure that they want to build on that and get better.  

“The Rebels not being around will also impact the playing quality and depth next year. 

“For Norths, we really want to build on what we did this year. We want to evolve our game model and we don’t want to do what we’ve sort of always done in the past. 

“We want to be more consistent and we want to close the gap between our best and worst rugby.”