After falling just short against Brothers again in the final match of the season, a new look Wests outfit are desperate to go one better in 2025.

Elwee Prinsloo has recruited well to replace a number of departing players and appears confident the Bulldogs will be right in the mix again this season.

Overview with Elwee Prinsloo: 

“It’s been so far so good at this stage. We’ve had a pretty good pre-season, and although we’ve got a fairly new team, the boys are settling in well, so I guess we’ll see on Saturday how we go,” Prinsloo told Rugby News ahead of round one. 

“Our trial form was a little mixed, but trial form always is. We played the Reds A’s and then faced Brothers and Souths and beat them both 31-19 but I don’t really look too much into trial form. Trials are played with big squads and all sides are always testing combinations. 

“But we were able to establish a pretty clear idea of how we want to play and we’ll test that on Saturday. 

“It’s always disappointing when you lose any game but a grand final is particularly disappointing, especially when it was as close as it was. 

“But we made the grand final again and with the law of averages, hopefully we’re due to win one soon. 

“If we can win 10 games in the regular season, then we’ll be in a position to test ourselves again against the top sides and hopefully we can find a way past them this year.”

2024: 2nd (lost to Brothers 29-27 in grand final)

Ins: Keynan Tauakipulu (Canberra), Harry McLaughlin-Phillips (Souths), Will Nason (Souths), James Tofa (New Zealand), Matthias Douglas (Italy), Luke Masirewa (New Zealand), Byron Smith (New Zealand), Denzel Samoa (rugby league), Massiomo De Lutiis (Easts).

Outs: Charlie Wiggin (UQ), Ethan Dobbins (Waratahs), Connor Anderson (Japan), James Martens (GPS), Timma Faingaanuku (Brumbies), Bradley Kelegai (retired), Mosese Dawai (France), Dave Vaihu (Eastern Suburbs), Lebron Paramore-Naea (Warringah), Glen Vaihu (rugby league), Fletcher Spicer (rugby league), Daniel Maeava (Hunter Wildfires).

What sort of footy will we see from Wests this year? 

“We’re not going to try and reinvent the wheel but obviously we’ve got a few new players and we needed to take some time to find what they’re good at and design a game play that suits our playing group. 

“But the game doesn’t change that much. I mean, you’ve got to have a good set piece, you’ve got to have good defence, you know.

“One thing that we did poorly last year was our kicking game, so we’re definitely looking to improve on our kicking game. Both our short attacking kicking game and from a territorial point of view.

“Our kicking was poor last year, especially in that final, so that’s probably the biggest thing that we’re trying to improve.”

Player(s) to watch: 

“Angelo Smith is back in the fold and he’s looking pretty good,” Prinsloo said. 

“We’ve also got a young winger named Denzel Samoa who’s joined us from rugby league. He’s a really talented kid so I’m looking forward to seeing what he can do for us this year.”

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

“Gee, mate, that’s always a tough one. Taking ourselves out of the equation there, I think Brothers have recruited well again and they’ve got a good program and a good coach so I think they’ll be there again. 

“I think Bond could be a surprise package, you know, depending on their depth.

“Easts have also recruited well and they’ll be far better. And while there have been lots of rumours about Souths losing a lot of players, we played them in a trial and they have a lot of quality at the club. 

“But if I had to pick, I think Brothers are the team to beat.”