Just a year after missing the playoffs for the first time since 2013, Warringah were arguably the big improvers of the shortened 2021 Shute Shield season.

The Rats were fifth when the competition was cancelled with six wins from their nine matches including upsets over Eastwood and Norths.

“I thought there were some really encouraging signs across the board and some big areas of improvement, which was reflected in the way we were playing our footy when the comp was shut down,” coach Mike Ruthven told Rugby News.

“That was out of our control though and we had no choice but to turn our attention to 2022.”

Following three straight grand finals from 2017 to 2019, there was a changing of the guard at Rat Park in 2020, with a handful of senior figures hanging up the boots.