Eastwood coach Ben Batger is hoping a more aggressive mindset in defence can help his side return to the final game of the Shute Shield season in 2022.

After falling just short against Gordon in the 2020 decider, Eastwood sat in fourth spot midway through last season and were building nicely towards the finals when the competition was cancelled.

“It was extremely frustrating and like a lot of other clubs, we thought we were a good chance to win it last year but at the end of the day, it was out of our control,” Batger told Rugby News.

“After we heard the season was over, I left the guys alone until October so everyone had a good break from footy.

“Then we started a six week preseason from November and everyone was really keen to get stuck in after four or five months off.”

Batger said the Woodies focussed on conditioning prior to Christmas, then turned their attention to defence.

“We’ve always been a good attacking team and sat in the top two or three sides over the last few years in all the key statistics, but defensively we’ve been down in that sixth to eighth range.

“After a bit of a review, I realised that our detail in attack was pretty good but in defence, it wasn’t quite the same.

“I’m not a genius, but I think if you spend more time on something then generally it’s going to improve.”

Batger said his review helped the Eastwood coaches realise that they’ve been too conservative in defence in recent seasons.

“Last year we were really good at holding our line and that left us with a really high tackling percentage.

But all that meant was that we were just making our tackles and letting teams roll through us, so we want to be more aggressive with our line speed.

“That’s pretty common across world rugby these days and I think it will really suit some of our big boys that like to be physical as well.”

While the majority of the Woodies squad from previous years have returned, Batger has lost centres Barton Picone and Devon Stoltz to retirement, while prop Rhys Sheriff has moved to Queensland.

The Woodies will also be without Michael Icely, Charlie Cale, Tane Edmed, Mark Nawaqanitawase, Lachie Anderson and Tim Anstee until the send of Super Rugby.

“The way the comp is structured this year, it looks like it’s going to be a bit like the old days when we played two separate seasons each year and the Tooheys New Cup started halfway through when Super Rugby finished,” Batger said.

“Those Super Rugby players are going to be back playing Shute Shield for seven or eight rounds before the finals, so if we get our guys back it’s going to be a great bonus.

“In saying that, there are other clubs that will welcome back more players than us, so they’ll get a big boost as well.”

Eastwood open their season at TG Millner against Randwick on the first Saturday in April, ahead of clashes against Easts, Hunter and Norths in the opening month.

“It seems like a lot of investment has gone in to the Two Blues, the Wildfires and West Harbour so I think they’ll be more competitive and there won’t be many easy games,” Batger said.

“Uni have had a big restructure, but they are always strong. Norths probably have the most continuity of any club. I thought Rats were building nicely last year as well, then a Billy Melrose team at Gordon is always going to be tough.

“There won’t be many easy games this year.”