Joeys appeared to be cruising towards the 2024 GPS first XV premiership at the halfway point of last year’s 10-round competition, but struggled through the second round of the season.

A number of key players return in 2025 for their final season of schoolboy rugby and will be eager to make amends for last year’s missed opportunity.

Overview with Greg Thompson:

“Things are coming along nicely at this stage. We’ve just come back from a week-long camp up in Tamworth which was good, but we picked up a few injuries, which is less than ideal this close to round one,” Thompson told Rugby News.

“Last year we jumped out of the gates well and won a few tight games to start the year, which left us sitting at the top of the ladder at the halfway point of the season.

“But then obviously we lost three of our last four games. On reflection, I think credit needs to go to Shore, Scots and Kings who beat us and were all better on the day.

“It was a really close competition last year and unfortunately, things didn’t go our way throughout that second round.

“It looks like it’ll be another tight season again so we’ll need to keep our best players on the field. Whenever we’ve had success at Joeys, the bounce of the ball has gone our way and we’ve had a good run with injuries.

“We played a very good Barker team in our first trial and that was a good learning curve for a few of our boys.

“Then last week we played Waverley on the back of our camp and it was pleasing to see a lot of the things that we worked on up in Tamworth make their way onto the field.”

2024 Squad:

“We’ve got quite a few back from last year, probably eight or so players returning from last year’s first XV. Justice Taumoepeau is back for his third season and Matt Gough was one of our best backs in 2024 so they will bring strength and experience, which always helps, but doesn’t necessarily win you games.”

What sort of rugby will we see from Joeys this year?

“We’ll look to play the way we always have. Sometimes wet weather becomes a bit of an issue with the way we play, but I don’t think we should ever go away from trying to throw the ball around.

“Traditionally, our boys don’t typically exit out of their own half as they are coming through the grades, so it’s difficult to suddenly change that when they reach the open age group.

“But my philosophy is that the boys play so much touch football together on the back ovals during the week, that you’ve got to encourage them to do what comes naturally when they play on the weekend, so we’ll look to utilise a pretty quick backline when we can.”

What are you expecting across the competition this season?

“The last three years in particular have been really tight,” the veteran coach explained.

“Obviously, Shore had a very good year last year and they look strong again with quite a few players back. Scots also have plenty of boys returning and look to have a good squad and Newington are always a threat.

“Riverview and Kings are always tough games as well.

“It’s a long, tough season where every game feels like a grand final. Hopefully we can keep our best players fit and healthy and win a few games along the way.”