by Paul Cook –

There’s just two weeks to go until the 2016 Shute Shield season gets underway and while the teams go through their final preparations for the big kick-off, Rugby News has been taking a look back at the trials and tribulations of all 12 combatants in 2015. Last but by no means least, it’s the reigning Premiers – Eastwood.

While Sydney University can rightfully claim to have ruled the roost on the Sydney club rugby scene for a decade with eight Shute Shield titles in nine years between 2005-2013, their only loss in that time – in 2011 to Eastwood – instigated the start of a new era of domination by the Woodies. Two further grand final appearances brought another Premiership to TG Millner Field in 2014, so 2015 was a chance for the club to go back-to-back and complete a hat-trick of titles under the guidance of head coach John Manenti.

With little player movement in the off-season, they looked well-placed to do just that, and a run of eight straight wins from the opening weekend had them in prime position. But three losses from their last 10 games, a couple of unconvincing victories, the loss of their influential scrumhalf and the impending retirements of club legends Hugh Perrett and Ben Batger, stretched Manenti’s managerial prowess to the full. Rugby News found out recently how he and his team went about their business to triumph once again…

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Give us a brief overview of last season from your perspective?

John Manenti: “I was pretty happy, there were obviously times where we weren’t playing really well but we managed to create victories or get over the line. I didn’t expect at the start of the year to have that kind of season, I thought we’d end alright but I thought we’d struggle a bit through the first half of it coming off the back of a Premiership last year, then the NRC and the good break we gave some of the guys because of that.

“But we came out firing and our first loss wasn’t until round nine at Manly Oval so I was fairly pleased with the way the whole thing panned out. Like I said, we had our peaks and troughs but we managed to find another gear at the back end of the season, which we needed to do. Obviously, I would have liked to finish as Minor Premiers but at the end of the day, the grand prize was what we were after so we can’t complain.”

Before the season kicked-off, you told Rugby News that it “…would be nice to go back-to-back and defend our title but I can say from experience that it’s bloody hard the second time around because every team wants to knock you off your perch, you have to keep players motivated and you need a bit of luck on the injury front.” Is that how it played out in 2015?

“I think so. We had a reasonably good run on the injury front, ‘Snowy’ [Mick Snowden] was probably the major player loss and ‘Roachie’ [Hugh Roach] played a little bit less than I thought he might have on the back of Tatafu Polota-Nau being out of it for a while with the Waratahs. But what that did was give us a chance to blood other guys and in Matt Gonzalez’s case, he got to play right through to the grand final.”

Referring to that positive start to the season, you also told Rugby News before a ball was kicked that “We may not blow the socks off everyone in the first half of the year but if we keep working hard, we’ll put ourselves in the right position for the back half.” So, winning your first eight games by an average of just under 26pts was definitely a pleasant surprise?

“It was. Our game probably didn’t develop a lot during that first part of the season, we were working well off the back of some of the combinations we had from the year before and were a lot better because of that. A lot of the teams had some fairly significant changes in personnel and we were reasonably consistent to the team that had won the Premiership the previous year so, while we weren’t necessarily evolving through that period, and we weren’t probably where we wanted to be fitness-wise, we had combinations and when we got on top of teams we put them to the sword.”

The middle period of the season – rounds 8-13 – where you played Sydney Uni, Manly, Souths, Norths, Souths again and Manly again, appeared to be pivotal as litmus tests for where the side were genuinely at, and where they needed to be. You won three of those games and lost two but did you come out of that set of matches confident that the team had what it took to win another title?

“Yeah, I think so. Playing a block of games like that was a real test of our resilience and our depth so I think that put us in pretty good shape coming through that period. The losses to Manly and Souths also came at a pretty good time because it gave us time to react to what had happened in the sense of making some adjustments and working out where we needed to be better. So, though it was an incredibly tough period at the time, it did serve us well in the long term.”

Had you identified Manly as the likeliest threat to a title at that stage or did you feel Sydney Uni, Souths or any others were also in the mix?

“Manly I thought were the standouts, they had lots of shots to fire across the park. Uni are always going to get better at the back end of the season with the returning Super Rugby players so you couldn’t discount them and Southern Districts were poking along pretty well. When they had their best team on the park they were always going to be a threat but they had a few injuries at key times, which probably hurt them. But Manly were always the team in the back of my mind that you had to beat if you were going to win a grand final.”

As you said earlier, you lost influential scrumhalf Mick Snowden for the rest of the season in round 10 against Souths. You’d marked out Matt Gonzalez as a potential ‘New Sensation’ in your pre-season preview, you needed him and he delivered didn’t he?

“He did really well. I know everyone wants to play 1st grade but in our eyes as coaches, we were probably looking at grooming him at our pace and not throwing him in at the deep end. But he responded and learned a lot through that hard period of matches and towards the back end of the year, started to play with a lot of confidence and knowledge of what the guys around him were capable of doing, and they became aware of what he was capable of doing. He certainly exceeded our expectations of what the season might bring for him.”

2015 also turned out to be the swansong for two Eastwood legends in Hugh Perrett and Ben Batger. It’s sometimes hard for clubs to manage that farewell process, wanting to send those players out on the high that they deserve but not wishing to let that overtake the focus of what you’re trying to achieve as a team. Was that a challenge made easier by the nature of the two individuals involved?

“Yeah it was, and it was hard because at the end of the day, you never know when that last game is going to be. Once you hit the knockout stages anything can happen, so every game is potentially their last game and you don’t know when you’re going to be saying goodbye. In both cases, we are talking about legends of Eastwood who deserved their dues but by the same token, we didn’t want to detract from what the ultimate goal was, winning and sending them off as champions.

“It took a bit of a balancing act but neither of them expected any privileges or for anything to be done any differently. They knew that the ultimate send-off would be a grand final victory, so it was heads down and bum up and while they got a couple of pats on the back on the way through, there wasn’t too much distraction. Not many guys get that privilege in their careers.”

Obviously, most teams would want to be peaking towards the finals and it’s something the Woodies have done very well in the past but last year didn’t seem to go as smoothly. The team was pushed hard by West Harbour in Round 15, flattered somewhat by the winning scoreline against Easts in Round 16, lost to Randwick in Round 17 and only got home late by a score against Warringah in Round 18. Were you concerned that the team had lost its way a bit?

“Yeah, but I think part of that was bouncing out of that really tough block of matches. There was a bit of lethargy and mentally, coming off such a big challenge, it was starting to take its toll. We had a pretty good heart-to-heart with the boys after the Warringah game and spoke about a couple of things and I think that was probably the trigger or the impetus we needed to finish off the season in the way we wanted.”

There was a distinct upturn in form for the finals series to see off the Rats, Souths and Manly and lift the Shute Shield for the second year in a row. Was that purely down to that ‘heart-to-heart’ or did you change anything else for the run home?

“A bit of both. At the end of the day, the players are on the field and they’ve got to do the work but when push came to shove, we knew what was needed from previous experience. We knew how you had to train and how you had to play if you wanted to be alive at the end of the year, and it was just a case of reminding them of that and of the joy they had experienced before in winning and what they had to do in order to get there again.

“We’re a funny group, and I’ve said this before, most clubs train a lot more than us. We’ve also got some pretty laid back characters like Jared Barry and Ben Batger, but they know how to find another gear when it comes to the finals. So, some of it was tweaked by the off-field staff with tactics and a lot of it was tweaked by the guys that had that knowledge of knowing what you had to do in order to compete at that time of year.”

Rookie Matt Gonzalez stepped into the influential shoes of injured scrum half Mick Snowden and performed superbly – Photo: Serge Gonzalez

The grand final was a classic, certainly one for the purists, but a titanic struggle between two very evenly matched sides that could have gone either way, very similar to the 2011 grand final against Sydney Uni. Where did it stand compared to 2011 or the 2014 decider against Souths?

“I thought it was just a belter of a game. Manly, to their credit, just threw the kitchen sink at us, and we at them, and neither team relented. It wasn’t a no-try grand final because it wasn’t entertaining or because no-one was prepared to play, it was a no-try grand final because defence was just superb from both teams and because of the willingness of both groups to work so hard for each other and cover and scramble and fight.

“It’s hard to compare with the previous years, I mean, that team in 2011 was just a freak team, so many of the personnel in that team have gone on to do something around the world, it was a really class act football side. This team probably didn’t have the same class but probably a lot more attitude about the way they played.”

Looking across the club as a whole, you were Premiers in 1st and 3rd grade; finished second in 2nd and 4th grade and missed out on a grand final but your three colts sides finished 9th, 10th and 7th respectively. Is there any concern about the quality or number of young players coming through in a few years at the club?

“There is because essentially, we’re a club that lives off the recycling of colts into grade, so there is concern there and we’ve addressed that in a few ways in this off-season. I’m very proud of the way the grades featured last year but from a club championship point of view, with colts not contributing as much as we would have hoped I suppose, we came within a whisker, and that’s something that is the ultimate goal that has eluded us. So, we’ve got a new colts coaching staff right through and I’ll certainly be more active with colts and making sure that they are getting ‘grade-ready’ for 2017-18.”

Player/s of the Year?

“Sam Needs won it, he’s possibly not one you’d expect but on consistency throughout the season, he was very good. He played loosehead, tighthead and hooker and that award is voted for on a 3-2-1 basis throughout the year so he was a deserving winner.

“Obviously, you don’t win a grand final on the back of one player and I thought ‘Roachie’ was significant even though he missed a lot of games; Tom Hill had a standout year; Jai Ayoub just delivered consistently for us; Hugh Perrett was Hugh Perrett and Pat Sio was phenomenal before he went to France. Then you’ve got Ben Batger and Ben Shorter was also outstanding in the first part of the year before he had a few head knocks. It’s just a strong group and it’s why we are where we are in the grand scheme of things.”

Rookie of the Year?

“Matt Gonzalez. He’s got speed and plenty of youthful exuberance and with a few veterans in the team, you need a few young blokes there to keep them honest. He’s your usual cheeky halfback too.”

Most Improved Player of the Year?

“Again, you could probably say Sam Needs. He was certainly a big find for us this year in the sense that he’s been playing 3rd grade and he stepped up so well.”

Players rewarded at the next level:

Guy Millar (Western Force); Mick Snowden (Melbourne Rebels); Pat Sio (Stade Francais, France); Hugh Roach (Greater Sydney Rams, NRC & NSW Waratahs); Jai Ayoub (Greater Sydney Rams, NRC); Nick Batger (Greater Sydney Rams, NRC); Brad Curtis (Greater Sydney Rams, NRC); Jed Gillespie (Greater Sydney Rams, NRC); Michael McDougall (Greater Sydney Rams, NRC); James Neale (Greater Sydney Rams, NRC); Sam Needs (Greater Sydney Rams, NRC); Tom Hill (North Harbour Rays, NRC); Michael Kovacic (Sydney Stars, NRC)