Norths fell short a week before the grand final but continued their run of nine straight finals appearances, dating back to the club’s last premiership in 2016. 

Coach Zak Beer blooded plenty of new talent at North Sydney Oval this season and seems confident the club will be better for it in the years ahead.

Overview with Zak Beer: 

“We knew it was going to be a bit of a building year coming out of playing in the 2024 grand final,” Beer told Rugby News. 

“In round one, we only had one player who had started in the grand final a year earlier, so we were missing 14 first graders in the early parts of the season. 

“It was pretty much an entirely new group and we were handing out debutantes jerseys to guys from the lower grade or to players that had joined us from elsewhere all the time. It felt as if we had three or four debuts every week almost.

“But as a club, we never lowered our standards and it was the responsibility of the coaches and the remaining players to make sure the new players understood what it meant to play in the jersey. 

“It took some time to gel through the early parts of the season but then we went on that run from the midway point of the season and won seven games straight through to the preliminary final. 

“Overall, to finish the regular season in third, it’s a good result, particularly for a new group, but we play footy to try and win the competition every year and we didn’t do that this season. 

“We had a lot of players unavailable for that preliminary final against Warringah for various reasons but in reality, we were beaten by a better side on the day and they went on to be deserved premiers.

“We were in front at half time, then we made an error from a restart that gave them momentum and we weren’t able to stop them from there. 

“We took some great lessons out of that game, particularly for our younger players, and we stayed in the fight, but Warringah deserved to win that day and deserved to go on and be premiers. 

“It was really disappointing not to have access to Max Burey at the back end of the year. 

“As we’ve all seen in the Super Rugby AUS competition, Max has been the most dominant player across all the teams and he’s done that having barely played footy in the past few months. 

“He came back from Perth and was settled in Sydney and looking forward to developing his game. 

“Forget about Norths for a sec, what are we doing for Australian Rugby if we’re stopping young developing players from playing footy.”

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

“I think we’re in a better position heading into 2026 then we were this time last year,” the coach said. 

“We’ve retained the majority of our squad and I think that’s really important. Stability and cohesion are crucial in the Shute Shield. 

“If you can build a little on what you’ve already got, year on year, you’re going to continue to get stronger and stronger and we’re in a fortunate position to be able to do that with a lot of our players and coaches pushing on to next season. 

“I also think you’ll see some of the players that debuted for us this season take a big step forward in 2026. 

“A guy like Josh Barr in the centres is a good example of that, he was an entirely different player in the preliminary final to the player that debuted for us in round one against Manly.”

Which of your players do you think can push on to the next level? 

“Marshall Le Maitre had a fantastic season for us and won the Shute Shield rookie of the year award in his first year out of school. You can’t really compare him to other players, he’s his own man and he’s a unique No.7. 

“There are No.7s who are great at the breakdown, others are good around the field. He’s multi dimensional and it’s pretty exciting to think that in 10 years time, he’s going to be 28 and could be absolutely anything as he comes into the prime of his career as a backrower.

“James Margan received our best and fairest in first grade and also received our member’s player of the year award and I think he had his most dominant year yet. 

“We’ve got a few senior guys like James who are coming into the prime of their career which is exciting. In saying that, I would have liked to see him get a run in the Super Rugby AUS competition. 

“Baden Godfrey was also one of our most consistent players this year after joining us from Canberra. I don’t think he’d be too far off a shot at the next level.”

What can we expect in 2026? 

“We’ve seen clubs move up and down the ladder quite rapidly over the last few years and there’s obviously a lot of change happening at some of the clubs,” Beer said. 

“A few clubs have done a big clean out and made a lot of changes with coaches and players usually move as a result of that. 

“It’ll be interesting to see how quickly some of those clubs can adapt. 

“Easts and Warringah will be right up there again, then I think a few clubs that have stability and cohesion heading into 2026 will hopefully be in the mix to challenge them.”