The positive momentum around the Western Sydney Two Blues has been building ever since the club announced the appointment of former Samoan international and London Irish centre Sailosi Tagicakibau as new head coach. 

The 39-year old, who also won a Shute Shield premiership with Warringah in 2017, has been one of the busiest men in Sydney rugby over summer and it’s safe to say he’s got quite a few of his rival coaches worried. 

“The past few years at the Two Blues haven’t been great,” Tagicakibau told Rugby News. 

“The club didn’t have great playing numbers or get the results they wanted and I knew there was going to be a lot of work that needed to be done. 

“But I did my research before I took the role on and I saw how much potential the club has and how much talent is in Western Sydney and it was too good of an opportunity to ignore.”

Tagicakibau said his first priority was to build a strong coaching group around him. His first and potentially most important signings of the summer were those of assistant coaches Randy Basra and Liam Windon. 

“Randy is an ex Two Blues man and he’s a very good recruiter. He was involved with that successful Gordon team under Darren Coleman and learned a lot from that experience. 

“Liam has also been involved in a recent Shute Shield premiership and is also from the west. He’s played and coached at Penrith and still lives in the Blue Mountains so he was really keen to get involved and try to make a difference.”

The trio then started to build their playing squad. 

They began by targeting former Two Blues players who were playing at other Shute Shield clubs. 

Then they looked for players currently living in western Sydney, before filling the final few holes in the squad from outside of the area. 

“I think everyone has been dying to hear exactly what we’ve been doing out here, there’s been a lot of talk on social media and that was part of our strategy, we wanted to build some positive momentum,” the coach said. 

“We’ve carried a big top squad of around 45 players through preseason and of that, half are former Two Blues players, another 10 or so currently live in western Sydney and the remainder have been recruited. 

“Once we started to get some players back, word spread and guys started to realise that there was a good opportunity and a good program here and that they’d need to drive past Granville Park to go to training if they kept playing elsewhere. 

“Then there was a bit of a snowball effect. Suddenly we had guys telling us that their cousins and friends all wanted to be involved and play with us, which was great to see.”

While all three coaches have had success at other Shute Shield clubs, Tagicakibau said it was important for the Two Blues to build their own identity. 

Despite that, he said the one common theme in all the strong teams he’s been involved in, is culture. 

“The reality is a lot of our players work very long hours and have a lot of responsibilities away from rugby, probably more so than at other clubs. 

“I picked one of our players up from a job site at the end of his night shift to go to training the other week, but he didn’t complain about it. 

“There’s definitely a family culture at the club and there’s a connection that we all share from being from western Sydney. 

“When you feel part of a community, when you feel included and part of a strong culture, it makes you want to train harder and play harder and that’s what we’re looking to build here.” 

On top of a new coaching staff and a revitalised playing group, the Two Blues will also play from the recently opened Eric Tweedale Stadium. An $11 million purpose built facility in the heart of western Sydney. 

“I was fortunate enough to meet Eric at a dinner last year and he’s made a huge impact on Australian rugby and rugby in western Sydney. It’s an honour for us to play out of his stadium. 

“The facilities are probably the best in the Shute Shield and I think it’s been great for people in western Sydney to drive past and see us training under the lights. It’s going to attract people to the club.”

But Tagicakibau knows the most important factor that will draw people to Granville is success and he’s confident the Two Blues will have plenty this season. 

“Our first focus was to build a strong playing group and we’ve done that. We had over 200 players train with us in our first block before Christmas. 

“Now we need convert that into performances. Our first two games against West Harbour and Hunter are going to be key for us. That will be a good benchmark to see where we’re at. 

“We’ve obviously got a lot of guys who haven’t played a lot of rugby together so it might take a bit of time to gel, but I think we’ve got a group that can target the top eight and finals this year and that’s what we’re planning to do.”