2014 Season Preview: Southern Districts

by Paul Cook –

Southern Districts have been one of the success stories of the Shute Shield over the last few years. Cellar dwellers as recently as 2008, the club has reversed its fortunes in dramatic style to become an annual challenger for the Premiership having reached three Preliminary Finals in the last four seasons and contested the club’s first ever Grand Final, a narrow one point loss to Sydney University, in 2011.

Guiding them over the last couple of years was Cam Blades, a front rower who put together a side with a steely pack but one that played the game with plenty of attacking verve and when the former Waratah and Wallaby prop took up the opportunity to coach the Australian U20’s forwards, the club turned to his right hand man, Matt Barr, to pick up the baton.

While the experience of Blades will be sorely missed, Barr has the luxury of a first class replacement in Jim Williams, the former Wallaby assistant coach coming on board to be Barr’s sounding board and to help nurse him through his first season in full control. Rugby News caught up with Barr to discuss his excitement for the year ahead…

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You’ve been in the coaches box as an assistant for a couple of years, are you ready to step up and be the head guy now?

“Yeah, obviously in the last couple of years I’ve learnt a lot from Cam Blades, he’s been a great mentor and someone that I’ve learnt a lot from and with him moving on to the Australian 20s forwards job, I suppose the timing is right. Obviously we’ve had success so I haven’t had to change too much, we certainly need to make a few adjustments in a few areas. I know the system, I know the players and they know me so it seems to have been a good fit so far.”

The positive in promoting from within is that you know the club, the players, the game plan and the systems from the last couple of years, is it going to be a case of tweaking what you already know or will you be bringing a fresh approach to things?

“I think it’s more of a matter of fine tuning, there are things we did really well and obviously, a Grand Final two years ago and a Grand Final qualifier last year shows we are on the right track. It’s just a matter of being better in a couple of areas and certainly, having someone like Jim Williams on board as an assistant coach who’s already had a bit of impact on our breakdown work – an area I identified as something we need to be better at – is a big help.”

Matt Barr is looking forward to his first year in the coaching hot seat with the Rebels – Photo: SPA Images

To have someone like Jim alongside you as you take your fledgling head coaching steps must be very valuable as well?

“It’s amazing. The boys have been very fortunate over the last couple of years to have had someone like Cam Blades around to learn from, especially the tight five, and now I think the back rowers will certainly get something out of a little bit more tutelage from someone with Jim’s experience in the back row and from also having until recently been the Wallabies assistant coach. He’s bringing a lot to the table and it’s great for me being a new head coach and still finding my feet to have somebody like Jim to bounce ideas of and he’s certainly very forthcoming with a lot of great ideas and we’ve already made a few adjustments in certain areas on the back of those suggestions.”

After a long period in the doldrums in the late-2000’s, Souths have really been there or thereabouts for the last four years now with one Grand Final and two Preliminary Finals but was last year a disappointment to go a game shy of the previous year’s achievements?

“There was disappointment after the previous year’s success. The game against Eastwood in the first semi we probably look back on as one that got away, there was just a 20 minute period that let us down. That’s not to say that had we won we would have gone on to beat Sydney Uni in the final but I think if we had got over Eastwood that day which would have put us into the other side of the semi-finals, we might have seen a Grand Final replay from the year before. But it wasn’t to be and I guess we were just a little bit off the pace in a few areas last year which cost us in those big games towards the back end of the season.”

Watching Souths last year, they seemed to win games at times without ever pushing themselves to reach top gear, they did just enough. Or, they lost games without being able to find that other gear they needed. Is that a fair assessment?

“To a certain degree it is yes and consistency is something that I’ll be asking a little bit more of from the players this year. We’ve also increased our training load and we’ll be doing three sessions a week throughout the year – I’m not saying we haven’t been fit in the past – but if we compare and look at other clubs, that’s what the top clubs are doing, those three or four sessions a week to work on fitness, structures and organisation. As you said, there may have been periods in the game where we’re lacking a little bit or we switch off but hopefully now, they can draw on the confidence of the extra fitness and organisational work we have done to get us through those tough periods.”

It seemed to be a case of lapses in concentration at key moments that cost you at times?

“If you look at the playing squad, we’re still quite young and we’ve still got players coming through from our successful colts team from a few years ago and from our successful 2nd grade team in 2011. Those guys are just starting to become 1st graders and it takes a couple of years for them to adjust to the top grade before they consistently make the right choices and stay mentally strong for longer periods in the game. Whilst we have players who have played in Grand Finals in recent years, they’re still young and they’re still learning the trade of a 1st grade footballer and I’m hoping that the last few years will help us out with that maturity, with that concentration and staying in the contest for longer.

“The playing group here are very dedicated, they’re very close and they’re very focused and they’ve seen a number of players go on from Souths to the next level and that drives them on to improve. I can’t fault their attitude, it’s just their ability to stay focused for long periods of time, which will improve as they get older and play more and more 1st grade footy.”

You had the fourth best attack and the fourth best defence in 2013 and funnily enough, finished fourth on the final ladder. What is it going to take this year to make inroads into the top two or three and maybe get a home semi-final?

“We’ve still got a large focus on defence and we’ve made a few adjustments there – we’ve been happy with it but we need to take it to the next level. Our attack has been fantastic at times but it comes off the back of turnovers and counter attack, it hasn’t been off the back of sustained pressure and holding the ball for long periods of time. That’s because our breakdown has let us down and hampered our ability to recycle and build multi-phases, so that’s certainly an area I’m hoping we have addressed because it will allow us to build pressure on the opposition and score points that way.

“It comes back down to experience, sometimes I think our guys get pats on the back and they get a lot of praise about their individual abilities and the quality of some of the tries we’ve scored, and I think Souths has developed a bit of a reputation for being entertainers which is great, but with that immaturity that is there as well I think sometimes the guys think that we’re going to score every time we touch the ball. That’s obviously not the case, we need to be smarter with the football, hold it for longer periods of time and deny the opposition, so that’s one of my big hopes for this year and it’s one way we can certainly improve in 2014.”

Southern Districts: Ins & Outs

There’s an earlier start to the competition this year, a couple of extra rounds and a six team finals series – are you happy with the changes?

“I think that it’s going to be very difficult, the fact that it’s 18 straight rounds, because in previous years we’ve had a couple of byes or ‘holiday’ weekends I suppose which has given teams and individuals time to freshen up. We have a number of players that sometimes are coming from Melbourne, Queensland or New Zealand and those weekends in the past have given them an opportunity to nip back home and see family and friends and really freshen them up. Likewise, other players who have niggling bumps and bruises and the week-in, week-out fatigue that comes with it take advantage of those breaks so it’s going to be a real challenge having the players ‘up’ for 18 straight rounds. It’s certainly going to be a big challenge for the coaches and the support staff to get them up week after week.”

The NRC arrives at the end of the year, what are the pros and cons of this competition for club rugby?

“The pros for club rugby are that for those boys that are performing well every week, it’s a great opportunity to be recognised and hopefully attract some attention from some of the franchises. The negatives are the attention that it is going to take away from the Shute Shield. There’s going to be coaches and players thinking about the national comp which can only have an impact on their club side and as much as they’ll say it’s not going to be a distraction, it will be and I think that will definitely have an impact on some clubs.

“It does all feel a little bit rushed. The fact that this competition has failed once, I can’t believe that they wouldn’t go into it without having dotted the i’s and crossed all the t’s and it’s Bill Pulver’s chance to have a crack at it and get it going but if it fails again, what’s the chances f it ever getting off the ground, that’s my concern.”

With the Super Rugby final only two weeks before the Shute Shield grand final this year, those clubs with Super Rugby players will have less access to them depending on the relative success of each state. Can we expect a more level playing field across the regular season as a result?

“The word coming out is that a lot of the clubs won’t have their Super Rugby players available. We’re probably fortunate that we don’t have many Rebels and other interstate contracted players so we might be in a fortunate position where we do get a few of those fringe Super Rugby players back. We’ve been lucky over the last couple of years to get the Rob Horne’s, the Nick Cummins’s and the Kane Douglas’s back and that’s great for club rugby and great for everyone involved, so I hope in some way that those players can come back again this year. A lot of them are locals and they certainly make a significant difference and lift the standard of the finals series.”

Matt Barr expects ast year’s 2nd grade captain Marcus Carbone to have a breakthrough year in the top grade
Photo: SPA Images

What trends, if any, do you think we might see appearing in the way the game is played or approached by teams this year in regards to law interpretations – particularly at the breakdown?

“There’s certainly going to be a big adjustment period in the scrums and I would expect them to cause a bit of angst and frustration early in the season until people become more familiar with the changes. We had Andrew Blades down at training during pre-season taking the forwards through an hour session and it was fantastic, it really gave the players a lot of clarity around some of the adjustments they need to make both with the sequence and also technique wise so we should be all the better for that.

“The breakdown is a massive area now, so much of the game relies on the contest and we’ve put a big focus on it and we just hope that it is refereed and policed consistently. There’s a big trend now for the ‘jackal’, that player that’s constantly trying to steal opposition ball and I see that as being an area that can have a massive impact on the outcome of the competition as well.”

Players to watch out for in 2014?

“Our 2nd grade captain from last year Marcus Carbone, he’s a local junior and he played a bit of 1st grade footy last year off the bench. He’s a second rower at the moment but he’s more of a backrower because he’s very mobile and I expect him to make that transition from a good 2nd grader last year to a good 1st grader this time out. The other guy I’d probably mention is Falealu Finau. He originally played league for Wests Tigers and Manly-Warringah Under 20s and last year was his first year of rugby and by the end of the year he was one of our biggest improvers. He’s certainly someone that I think will play a fair bit of 1st grade, he’s a real handful and a really strong, powerful runner.”

Finally, what is a successful season for Souths this year – finals footy again and see how far you can go or is the club ready for another genuine title push?

“My goal at this stage is semi-final football with a top four finish putting us there or thereabouts. There’s a lot of footy between now and the semi-finals and with all the speculation about player availability, we’re not entirely sure who will be playing for who but if we can put ourselves into that top four, it’s a different ball game then. We’ve become a little bit more experienced with the last couple of years but I think if we can get a top four spot and we get the right players back, we’re a strong chance to win our first title in what is the club’s 25th year.”