After falling just short in last year’s grand final, Ben Batger has welcomed back the lion’s share of his squad – minus two Waratahs – for the 2026 season.

Batger said he’s reminded his players over the summer of the opportunity they’ve got to play at “the best club in club rugby.”

Overview with Ben Batger: 

“Things are looking good so far. We had a meeting the other day and I tried to show the boys where we’re at,” Batger said. 

“There’s no better time to play at Easts in the last 126 years of our history than now. We’ve got the best club in club rugby in terms of the bar, which is fantastic.

“We’ve got a field we can access 24/7, which no other team has, and we’re about to get changerooms that should be the envy of the Shute Shield as well.

“We’re back-to-back minor premiers, back-to-back club champions and there’s no better time to be here. It’s a really good place to play footy.

“But it can turn quickly. It was only three or four years ago, in 2022 and 2023, that we finished eighth and tenth.

“People have worked really hard over the past couple of years to get us to this point, and now it’s our job to keep building.

“If we do the same thing we did in 2024 and 2025, we’re stagnant. Other teams will go past us, so we’ve got to keep improving.

“I didn’t re-watch the grand final at all. I saw a few clips because there were a couple of things that frustrated me, but I know why we lost.

“On the day, the Rats were just more physical than us. There wasn’t any special tactic or structure that beat us.

“They turned up at 101% and we were probably at 99%, and in a grand final that’s not good enough.

“There’s no need to sit the boys through it again. They’re disappointed enough as it is. We’ve moved on now.

“We’ve got a fairly new squad this year, especially in the backs, while the forwards are pretty similar, so it’s about looking ahead.”

2025: Grand finalists (lost to Warringah 37-24)

Ins: Viliame Fine (Western Force), Shaun Anderson (QLD), Connor Tupai (MLR), Sam McLachlan (ACT), Will Cartwright (QLD), Henry Stowers (NZ), Jimmy Hokafonu (Eastwood), Ollie Dawkins(GB 7s),  Freedom Vahaakolo (NZ), Jacob Payne(NZ) Sam Walker (UK).

Outs: Miles Amatosero (Gordon), Charlie Gamble (Gordon), Moli Sooaemalelagi (retired), Ciaran Booth (retired), Michael Icely (Aussie 7s), Harry Wilson (Aussie 7s), Darby Lancaster (Western Force), Henry Palmer (Western Force), Jack Grant (Harlequins), Jake Turnbull (MLR), Jordan Jackson Hope (MLR). 

What style of rugby will we see from Easts this year?

“I thought teams started to work us out towards the back end of 2025, but we were just really good at what we did,” the coach said. 

“There was no secret, we kept things simple in attack because I had to rebuild the group after finishing tenth in 2023 . Now after two years, our attack has to expand a bit.

“Same with our defence, we had a few different systems going so we stripped it back to one really basic system, and now that has to evolve.

“Everyone’s using line speed now, so we’ve got to get off the line more and be a bit more aggressive. We were probably a little bit conservative at times in both attack and defence, so we’ve got to lift that.

“With some of the squads other teams are putting together, we’ll need more strike power on both sides of the ball.”

Player(s) to watch: 

“I really like our tighthead, Reon Lowery. I thought he was the best tighthead in the competition last year,” Batger said. 

“He’s one of those guys who’s slipped through the cracks a bit. He’s 26 or 27 now and in my opinion could be playing Super Rugby, but he hasn’t come through the typical pathway.

“I’m also looking forward to seeing how Jack Tougher-Wells and Otto Serfontein go in their first year of grade.

“We’ve got a couple of really good Colts coming through as well. Tom Girlel is a lock, first year out of Colts, country kid, and he looks like a really good player.”

Who will Easts play in this year’s grand final? 

“For us, a rematch would be a good story. Playing the Rats again and turning the result around would be nice.

“I think Sydney Uni look really strong as well. If they get a bit of luck with Waratahs selections, they’ll be hard to beat.

“They could end up with a Waratahs pack, a Waratahs bench and a few other quality players on top of that.

“So I’d say the Rats or Uni.”