After a changing of the guard at TG Millner, Eastwood spent most of the 2024 Shute Shield season moving up and down the ladder. 

New coach Dave Telfer blooded plenty of young talent though, which should give Woodies’ fans plenty of reason to be optimistic about the future. 

Overview with David Telfer:

“We’re definitely not happy with the year in regards to results,” Telfer told Rugby News

“After 2023, we lost 21 players with first grade experience for various reasons and then this year we had 30 players make their first grade debut. 

“Of those 30, 20 came through our pathways with either Eastwood colts or Eastwood juniors. 

“So I think we’ve taken an important step but now we’ve got to build on that and get Eastwood back to where the club needs to be. 

“We beat the top three teams this year in Easts, Warringah and Randwick, then lost to Gordon by one on the buzzer and lost to Norths by one from a late penalty goal. 

“We felt like we could compete with the best, but our consistency hurt us and in the reality of a first grade competition, consistency is super important when you can win or lose a game on one big moment. 

“We weren’t consistent enough as a group this year.

“Ultimately, we didn’t make the finals for the first time in a while but we also now haven’t won a first grade premiership since 2015. 

“We made a conscious decision to make some changes at the end of last season and although we fell short this year, I’m fairly confident that we made some key steps in 2024 that will help us get back to the top of the competition in the near future.”

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

“Our forwards coach Dave Dennis and our Director of Rugby John Manenti have both moved to the US to coach in the MLR. 

“We’ve appointed (former NRL coach) Anthony Griffin as our new Director of Rugby. He’s coached in one of the toughest professional sporting environments in the world and his experience will be invaluable for us. 

“He’ll help us ensure we’re providing a program for our players that will help develop them into first graders. Some will go further, others won’t get there right away but regardless, we want to make sure guys are given every opportunity to develop. 

“We’ll recruit a few guys up top, but the main focus is on developing the players coming through our pathways.”

Which of your players do you expect to push on next year? 

“Ben Dalton won our most valuable player this year and he’s only 22. He played well above his age and I think most people probably thought he was in his mid to late 20s,” Telfer said. 

“He’s been in and around the Aussie 7s set up and I think he had the potential to progress a lot further. 

“We’ve also got Lachie Shelley returning. He got injured after playing three minutes this season but he’s been in a professional set up with Leicester and also spent some time with the Aussie 7s as well. 

“He’ll get an off season for the first in a while, which will be invaluable. 

“JL Bacon is another exciting prospect. He played a lot of wing for us this year but towards the end of the season he made the No.13 jersey his own. 

“I’m excited to see what he can do next year.”

What can we expect in 2025? 

“We can expect a consistent Eastwood first grade that will perform week in, week out,” Telfer said.

“I think the competition will be similar again where anyone can beat anyone of their day and because of that, teams will push up into the six. 

“Norths are going to be desperate to win a grand final after the last two seasons and they are definitely capable of doing that. 

“Randwick will also want to get on top of the Eastern Suburbs rivalry so it should be a good comp.”