Western Sydney coach Sailosi Tagicakibau believes his side is well prepared to avoid sport’s dreaded “second year syndrome” and argued the club’s performance last year would mean little if they couldn’t back it up in 2023.

On and off the field, the Two Blues were the success story of Sydney club rugby last year but Tagicakibau believes the club still has plenty of improvement in them.

“I’ve been there as a player before and I know that things are always tougher in year two,” the former London Irish and Wasps back told Rugby News.

“I think the biggest thing is that the playing group now have trust in the coaching group. They understand why we want to train and play in a certain way and they’ve bought right into it.

“To be honest, I think this year is more important than last year.

“Sure, last year was big considering there had been talk of the Two Blues being kicked out of the competition.