After falling short in the opening week of the finals for the second straight season, returning Gordon coach Harry Fehily is giving his troops plenty of time to recharge the batteries over summer.

The Stags played finals footy for the fourth straight season in 2024 but were beaten again by Randwick in a tight match on the opening weekend of the playoffs.

“We’re giving the guys an extended break over summer. We’ll do a four week block before Christmas, then won’t return again until the 28th of January,” Fehily told Rugby News.

"The group is in a good place though. We’ve lost Benny Pollack to the US and lost Nathaniel Panozzo and Woody (Cameron Wood) to Uni but outside of that, there isn’t a lot of turnover.

“Our numbers are up and we’ve got 31 players pushing up into grade from colts so we’ve got plenty of depth.”