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.