We’re now two weeks in to the 2023 Shute Shield season and a number of trends are starting to appear.

While it’s still very early days and a number of sides are still finding their feet in another super tight competition, here are a few things we’ve noticed in the opening two rounds.

New recruits making big difference

There is always a lot of movement and even more chatter about movement around the Shute Shield world over summer. But the quantity and quality of recruitment ahead of this season really stands out.

Norths could have been heading into a rebuilding period, but recruits Jude Gibbs and Ratu Tagive have the Shoremen back to their best and at the top of the ladder. Lewis Ponini and Julien Heaven have made a massive difference to the Easts front row, as has Jack Hill in the backrow.

Recruit Max Clementson and coach Cam Treloar seem to have got the best out of a number of West Harbour forwards who look big, mean and fit after two rounds. As has Cormac Daly and Steve Hoiles at Randwick.

Lineout reigns supreme