After an extended break, the best four sides of the 2021 Premier Rugby season will be given two weeks to prove why they should be crowned champions of another strange, strange rugby season.

Ahead of the opening semi finals next weekend, Rugby News caught up with all four coaches to get the inside word on their playoff preparations and see what they had to say about the other three finalists.

First up, we chat to Brothers coach Brendan Gabbett.

How are things looking heading into the finals? 

“For us, coming into the finals in fourth, we know what we’re up against,” Gabbett told Rugby News.

“But on the flip side, a month ago we were facing five must win games to win a grand final and now we’ve got to win one game to get into the decider.

“We know that we’re going to come up against a very good side in Uni next week. They’ve been the standout side all year and they deserve to be favourites to win the grand final.

“Our guys are healthy. Obviously not training over the last two weeks isn’t ideal, but we’re all in the same boat so I don’t think that will be a factor.

“We’re going to be healthier going into next week against Uni then we would have been three weeks ago. We had a few guys carrying some niggles but they’ve come good now.

“We’ve just got to go into the semi final with the right mindset. One shot, one kill. We’ve just got to get in there, get the job done and then move on to the next week.”

Where do you need to improve? 

“Against Uni, we’ve got to control their ruck speed and we’ve got to control where they get the ball. They can attack you from anywhere. They can score tries from 90 metres out and they can score tries from driving mauls.

“We just have to be really disciplined in the way we play the game in both attack and defence and limit their opportunities because we know they can score points.

“It’s about us controlling how we allow them to play.”

Why should Brothers fans be excited about your finals prospects? 

“Brothers fans should be excited because we’ve got a very good side on paper and we really believe that if we can play our best football, that we’ll be very hard to stop.

“It’s all about getting these guys mentally ready to go.

“We’ve got a very good backline, we’ve got a forward pack that just works and works and works.

“The boys have also been working really during this latest break. They understand that things just aren’t going to happen for them and they’ve been working hard on their own. They’re a pretty honest group and individually they’ve all done what they’ve needed to do.”

On University of Queensland:

“UQ have a great coach. They’ve got a great set up. They’ve got a forward pack that is very fast, good on the ball and they’ll work hard for the 80 minutes.

“Then they’ve got a backline that’s probably the quickest in the comp. They can score points from anywhere and there is a clear reason why they’ve only lost one game all year.

“We have to be at our best to beat them next Saturday but we’re confident that we can be.”

On GPS:

“Jeeps have a really dominant forward pack and they’re really well coached. They run a pretty simple plan over there with their structures but they know what they do well and they know how to execute and win.

“I won’t say that they’re not a flashy side, but they are a side built on hard work and a very, very good forward pack and they double down on that.

“If Jeeps make the GF, any side is going to have a really tough time beating them.”

On Wests:

“On their day, Wests can beat anybody.

“We’ve had a very similar season to Wests in that we’ve both struggled with consistency at times throughout the year.

“That’s obvious when you consider that Uni and Jeeps have only lost one game each this year and it was against each other.

“Brothers and Wests have predominately beaten the sides that we should have beaten but struggled in other games.

“In saying that, on any given day if they play to their potential then they’ve probably got enough to win the comp.”