After taking out the 2016 premiership, Souths were unable to find their best last season and failed to make the finals, with just five wins in 2017.

Although a handful of big names have moved on, Magpies coach Elia Tuqiri appears confident that a younger, fitter Souths side will fulfil their potential this season and give the competition a shake at the back end of the year.

2017 result: 7th (5 wins, 10 losses)

2018 captain: TBC

Ins: Feao Fotuaika (Sunnybank), Zac Lee (Sunnybank), Tom Lane (Sydney), Tautalatasi Tasi (South Sydney Rabbitohs)

Outs: Levi Aumua (Chiefs), Keegan Sefton (Easts), Marcus Vanzetti (Wests), Paul Brown (retired) Scott Malolua (retired)

Overview with Elia Tuqiri:

“I think it’s been a really good preseason so far. The boys haven definitely trained harder than they have in the past and we’ve worked a lot more on our conditioning so that this year we are fitter, stronger and faster than we were last year,” Souths coach Elia Tuqiri told Rugby News.

“We played Wests in our first trial on the weekend and played both squads in the Premier Grade match. I was really pleased with the effort and I think you could see the progress that we’ve made in a number of areas already, so it wasn’t too bad.

“Looking back at last year, we had a lot of talent in the squad, just like this year and just like the year before that but I just don’t think I got them mentally prepared for the season. I think we probably rested on our laurels a bit after the successes of 2016 and I think when it got tough last year, we just didn’t handle it and that’s my fault.

“We’ve worked a lot on our conditioning, a lot of character building exercises to make our guys more resilient this year.

“We’ve set some benchmarks for the entire squad through some testing early in the preseason and we went back to that again last week. We want to make sure we’re a lot fitter than we were at this point last season.

“We’ve lost quite a few experienced, senior guys so we’ve got a pretty young squad this year but I think we’ve added quite a bit of depth, particularly in the front row.

“I’m excited. With a younger team we’ll have a lot of energy and a bit of unpredictability as well. We still have a number of senior players around, guys like Matty Bennett who captained the premiership side a few years ago, Declan Dinnen has been at the club for a long time and Jake Simeon so I think we should have a good mix of youth and experience.

“We just need to play a little smarter but with lots of energy and enthusiasm.”

Key areas of improvement: 

“As I said earlier, we’ve worked really hard on our conditioning and resilience within the squad. We also want to improve our scrum. Last year we really struggled against the top teams, especially GPS and Uni, we were going backwards a lot of the time.

“Hopefully with the inclusion of a few of the forwards that we’ve bought to the club, we’ll improve there.

“The scrum has become hugely important in Premier Rugby. I’m a back and my perception on scrums probably wasn’t great, I used to think “how hard can it be, you just push.” But I understand now how important it is and how much goes into it.

“If you look at GPS last year, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a team dominate a comp like they did on the back of their scrum. They made it all the way to the grand final because of their scrum and their kicking game and we lost to Jeeps on the back of two tightheads. It’s just really hard to get any front foot ball when you’re going backwards at scrum time.

“We’ve also been working at being more physical around the breakdown,” Tuqiri added.

Player(s) to watch: 

“I think Tautalatasi Tasi from the Rabbitohs will have a great year. He’s still fairly young and he’s been one of our fittest and strongest throughout the preseason. He’s very dynamic so I’m looking forward to some big things from him this year.

“Jake Simeon, one of our front rowers. He’s still fairly young but with our squad he’s now one of the older guys and he’s been training the house down. He’s been doing a lot of work on his scrummaging and he went really well on the weekend against Wests.”

Hopes and expectations for the season:

“I just want us to play to our potential. I think that’s the most disappointing thing about last season, we had a lot of expectations on us because of the team we had on paper but we just didn’t perform and I take full responsibility for that,” Tuqiri said.

“This year is about fulfilling our potential with the talent we have and if we can do that, then we should be in the mix heading into those final few rounds.

“I do think we’ve got the potential to play finals footy this year. We’ve got some exciting young guys at the club and I’m hoping we’ll go well.”

Who will Souths play in the grand final this year? 

“Brothers. They won the premiership two years ago and they had a bit of an off year last year. I know they’ve got some really good colts coming through and I know they’ve recruited really well so they’ll be right up there,” he said.

“I’m expecting a really tight competition. It’s always tough to go back to back and although I think Uni will be right up there, there will be a lot of teams trying to hunt them down. GPS will be there as well, although they’ve lost a few key players. It should be an interesting year.”