For Eastern Suburbs, 2025 was the near-perfect season. 16 out of 18 wins in the regular season, a second consecutive minor premiership, and sense of dominance in the early stages of the finals series.

But the Grand Final brought heartbreak for Beasties’ players and fans alike, as Warringah shocked the reigning champions to secure their second title in Shute Shield history.

Now focusing on the upcoming season, the Easts playing group is looking to right wrongs in 2026. Skipper Josh Bokser says the disappointment of last year is only going to add fire to his side’s preparation and bring them closer next year.

“I guess it’s a bit of a heartbreak when you lose a Grand Final, as it is in any competition that you play,” Bokser said.

“For the guys returning, it obviously makes us that little bit hungrier with it in the back of our minds that we had an unreal year, but it doesn’t really mean anything if we come second at the end of the day.  

“It does come down to those last few games as to whether you’re going to write yourself in history or not.

“There’s a bit more motivation and a bit more venom, I suppose, with last year leaving that sour taste in our mouth from the Grand Final loss.

“If anything, I think it’s going to bring us tighter as a group; it’s going to bring us back more motivated.”

When it comes to building on lessons learned, the Beasties lock believes growth will come from within and needs to be heavily player driven.

“You always reflect back on the year and say: ‘This is what we can do better and this is what we can implement to be better’.

“But if anything, it’s got to be more player driven at trainings. More peer learning, more peer pushing.

“Ben [Batger], he’s done all he can – he’s taken us to two Grand Finals in two years. It’s got to be a push from the players in that we need to be harder on ourselves.”

And while it’s difficult to pick apart a season where losses were few and far between, Bokser says there’s still plenty of work-ons to build into the next campaign.

“We’re working on a lot of little things in our game to be more of an all-round threat across the park.  

“We really pride ourselves on our set piece and our structured game. It was probably our broken play game that let us down this year. 

“And our discipline was an issue. I think we were the most penalised team in the competition by the time the Grand Final came. So that’s a massive work-on for us.”

 While reflection forms an important part of their pursuit to reclaim the premiership, the squad is more focused on the new challenge ahead. And things are looking positive over at O’Sullivan Road. 

With up to 90 players already down at pre-season and plenty of young guns itching for an opportunity, the Beasties machine is back in full swing.

“We had a very good year [last year], but it’s a hard one because you don’t want to pull too much over from the year before going into a new season,” Bokser said.

“There are a few boys knocking on the door and we will have a few young colts coming into grade.

“There’s a lot of academy boys coming out of the Waratahs that are down at Easts, so they will be pushing to get to that next level and back into a professional environment. 

“There will definitely be competition in spots. But competition builds character in a lot of teams, so that’ll be good.”

Easts will welcome a handful of new recruits in 2026, but retain a large percentage of the group who featured in the 2024 and 2025 Grand Finals.

And with plenty of motivation in their back pocket, the red, blue and whites will no doubt be itching to get off to a flying start come round one.