No one was happy when the 2021 Shute Shield season was officially cancelled midway through last year’s Covid lockdown.

But few had more to frown about than rookie Norths coach Zak Beer.

“We’d won eight straight games to start last season and were one win off equalling the club’s best ever start to a season. It felt like we were building really nicely,” Beer told Rugby News.

“We kept working and stayed positive while we waited for an official decision but when the season was eventually called off, there was a real feeling of dejection and it definitely felt like the wind was taken out of our sails.”

Beer said the Shoreman took a few weeks to lick their wounds before they turned their attention to the 2022 season where Norths will look to return to the final match of the season for the first time since back-to-back appearances in 2016 and 2017.

“One of the positives was that we were able to do a pretty thorough review and I was able to do a one-on-one video session with each player and looked through all the numbers and stats from the season. That gave us a lot to work with.

“We were also just starting to look at evolving our attack and our defence when Covid hit, so that has given us a good foundation to build on for the year ahead.”

Norths finished the shortened season in second spot, one win behind an undefeated Sydney Uni side and Beer is hopeful the Shoreman can pick up where they left off when the 2022 season begins in early April.

“We finished the year with the top defensive record but as the game continues to evolve, our defensive systems need to evolve with it and we’re mindful of that.

“From an attacking perspective, we tried to play across the full width of the field last year and we were planning on adding and evolving to those attacking structures towards the back end of the season.

“We have a few different shapes and systems that we’ll look to use from the start of this year and that’s been made a lot easier by the fact that we have lots of cohesion from 2021 going into this season.”

Norths have retained their entire top squad from last season, plus added some fresh talent and some young blood to the group.

“During lockdown, I watched a lot of John I Dent Cup in Canberra and Hospital Cup in Brisbane and we identified a few standout players in those competitions who have joined us.

“We also had a few guys from other Sydney clubs that reached out to us and they’ve fitted in with the group really well.

“Last year we only had three colts move up into grade, whereas this year we’ve got 24 boys graduating from colts to grade and 18 of those boys played first grade colts at some stage last year.

“They’ve bought a breath of fresh air and a lot of energy to the group and they’ve been really committed during the off season.”

Norths face a tricky opening month of the 2022 season, with matches against Easts, Warringah, Southern Districts and Eastwood all scheduled in April.

Beer said he wasn’t concerned about the tough start though and predicted that there wouldn’t be many easy games this season.

“We say it every year, but it’s going to be closer again. There are a handful of teams that were down the bottom of the ladder last year that have recruited well and they’ll be keen to move up the ladder.

“I think we’ll see a lot more upsets and results will be less predictable compared to last year.

“We know some clubs have been active on the recruitment front and I expect them to improve as a result of that.”