3 hours Ago By Courtney Rees
The wait has been longer than usual, but Southern Inland's 2025 season is about to start. or signup to continue reading Courtney Rees casts her eye over how the sides shape up ahead of round one on Saturday. There's been another change with but one thing still looks to be the same - there are two clubs who look set to fight it out again.
It's been almost a decade since a team who weren't called Waratahs or Wagga City has climbed to the top of Southern Inland, and that was when Leeton went through the 2017 season unbeaten, and once again the Phantoms have dropped out of the first grade fold. It's going to take a lot to knock either off again in 2025, but there are a couple of sides who come into the season with more confidence after good finishes last year, and hopefully the gap between the bottom few sides starts to close in order for some closer contests each week. (first season) Fourth Patrick Kent, Wyatt Lees, Harry Whitty, Hamish Fisher, Toby Gibson, Ben Graham, James Glasson, Ollie McKellar, Nathaniel Martin, Lachlan Friend Tasman Kuhn, Lachlan Christie-Johntsone, Harry Cooper, Mackenna Cusack, Jackson Buda I just want everyone to buy into what we've put into training.
It's not going to happen overnight, but if everyone buys in we'll see progress through the season. Finals are a goal from the players' point of view, I've gone in and said I just want to make things enjoyable and see development. Seeing the depth and dynamics within the squad I do think that's a realistic goal we should be aiming for and I think the first game of the season against City will be a good test and a tough opening to the season and with 'Tahs, City and Tumut in our first four games it will be a keep indication of where we will at the end of the season.
Given the transient nature of the club, it's always hard to gauge exactly what's in store for the university club, especially with a new change of leadership at the top. However, Aggies are generally not far off the mark, and the close-knit nature of their set-up helps overcome player turnover better than most. They looked set to really fire late last season before a remarkable first final and the core of that side still remains.
With a low-look front row how they cope with some of the bigger rivals is a concern, but after a positive pre-season will be right in the finals mix again. Fourth Colin Mayes (second season) Last Hayden Bailey, Ethan Holton, Troy Briskey, Calvin Young Jimmy Melville, Toby Sarkis, Rueben Sarkis We'd like to be as competitive as possible and see where that takes us. To be honest, last year we weren't as competitive as we would like to have been with a lot of injuries and retirees, so this year we're looking at being more competitive and better than last year.
We just want to be as competitive as possible. The only way is up for the Steamers, but doing it is a lot harder. Not only did the Border outfit fail to win a game last season now they have to contend with losing some of their best talent.
Rueben Sarkis has certainly been a bright spark over a couple of pretty tough seasons, so they'll need to find other avenues to score points if they want to be competitive this season. Shapes as another tough season, but things can't get much worse, and hopefully will more luck on the injury front will help. Last Tino Kaue and Lama Lolotonga (first season) Seventh Chris Latu, Billa Ngu, Oleni Ngungutau, Andries de Meyer, Teuwitai-o-Samuel, Tuukaikali Vaipulu, Mataora Loti-Rapana, Blake Theunissen Nil (Kaue) It's a rebuilding stage, obviously the goal is a premiership back at the stage as it's been over 11 years, but we just want progression from a tough year last year.
It's been a tough couple of seasons since the Blacks just missed out in the 2022 grand final. The phrase rebuilding still being thrown around isn't exactly what you want to hear again in 2025, but getting some key components of what made them so successful back is a great start to climbing that ladder. Chris Latu committing to a return is one big boost, and if Griffith can keep a consistent team on the field, especially for trips on the road, they could again be one of the teams no one wants to match up against.
However, coming from a long way back, they need to make some pretty big steps in a short time. Fifth Mick Wakeling (second season of second stint) Fifth Ethan Thubron, Alessio All, Ryan Grimes Fetongi Tuinavaui, James Newell, Ollie Breeze I hope we do very much the same as we did last year, except this year we're starting from a little bit higher level. Last year we were very much thrown together and we improved as the season went.
This year we're starting from a little bit better position and hopefully getting a little more improvement. We only just missed out on finals last year, so hopefully we figure in the finals calculation by the end of the season. It doesn't take much to be in the four from where we were last year.
Reddies almost completed a fairytale run into finals last season, falling one win short after coming unstuck in the last round. After years in the Southern Inland wilderness, it was certainly a confidence boost for the club, and they've been able to maintain a very similar line up. However, a couple of key outs, particularly Fetongi Tuinavaui, could make a very big difference, and how they cover them could be the key to breaking their finals drought.
Certainly, Reddies are a far cry from some of their particularly tough years, but still need to make a big step if they are going to be a real factor at the back end of the season. Sixth Stephen Gill (first season) Third Corey Wilson, Tate O'Donovan, John Samuelu, Maleli Tabua, Jordan Gogo Mitch Ivill, Joeli Saluslaumasi Obviously, the goal is to win the grand final, but in terms of expectations, for us to consider the season successful, we need to make the finals. We want to really try to push for a top-two spot.
The more you can retain from the year before and then just add to your squad the better off you're going to track in terms of systems and continuity it's really good not to see a big turnover. The Bulls shape as the most likely side to end the dominance of teams based in Wagga. They went close to a rare grand final berth last season, but not even home advantage in the preliminary final was enough for them to get through.
Tumut will also be without two key parts of their line up in 2025, but have worked hard to overcome those losses. How they strike the right balance will be key to success, especially with changes to their back line over the past two seasons, but they need some more consistency to start getting wins over their big rivals they have shown they are capable of to take that next step. Third (first season) Runners-up Daniel Kitson, Rangi Mahuru, Bailey Koroi, Thomas Laban, Joeli Saluslaumasi, Kai Verbicky, Alifereti Rabukawaqa, Sera Donu Matt Roberts, Tom Blanch, Jesse Bowring, Mason Hughes We have lost a fair few players, but there are a few new fellas from New Zealand and whatnot, and we've still got that core group we've had for the last three or four years.
While these guys are around, we're normally pretty successful. Wagga City has been the most dominant team in the competition for the past five seasons, with just a handful of losses, but doesn't have a great deal to show for it after being beaten in the last two grand finals. Last year's loss, particularly, has to hurt after going into the decider unbeaten before being soundly beaten by their arch rival.
While it certainly increases the hunger to go one better, the wounds are also fresher, and that's a big thing to overcome. With a very up-and-down pre-season, which culminated in a new coach coming just weeks before the start of the season, it's hardly an ideal start either. While there is plenty of time to adjust to the changes, and the club has brought in a raft of new faces looking to go one better, they need to go to a different level come finals time to return to the top.
Runners-up Nick McCarthy (third season) Premiers Corey Stocks, Harry Middlebrook, Tom Murphy, Eparama Tuvunivono, Josh Gray, Logan Lane, Tasman Kuhn, Liam Rowntree, Jack Turkic, Reuben de Stefani, Dom Shiner, Will Beggs Angus Burns, Harry Hosegood, Eroni Naua, Lachlan Condon, David Capp, Nico Mclean, Charlie Sykes, Matt Todd, Kyle Brown Obviously we've had a few turnover of players, as tends to happen when you get a bit of success back-to-back when you lose a few senior guys out of the group, but we've been really lucky with our organic growth this season and some targeted recruiting as well in a few key positions we wanted to fill and have some success in that space. We're pretty happy with where we are at the moment, we've had two good trial games where we got to see game time from the majority of our top 26-27 players in a first grade capacity so we've been able to see what they're capable of in our systems and structures and it's given us a good idea of what our best make up is going to look like heading into that round two game up in Tumut. Waratahs remain the team to beat in 2025 despite plenty of player turnover.
However, it's hardly a new situation for the club, which has also added some real quality to their playing ranks for 2025, and they've managed to overcome it before. They've only missed one grand final in the past 10 seasons, when beaten in the 2022 preliminary final, and with some consistency in their coaching ranks, once again it shapes as another strong year for the Wagga club. With plenty of changes, it might take some time to find their real level, but they haven't let a few early slip ups worry them in the past.
With the likes of Lachie Day returning and Tom Blanch changing camps there is plenty to like about their chances to become the first team in decades to win three straight titles. Premiers Courtney is a sports journalist from The Daily Advertiser focusing on Group Nine, Southern Inland, cricket, harness racing and greyhound racing. Courtney is a sports journalist from The Daily Advertiser focusing on Group Nine, Southern Inland, cricket, harness racing and greyhound racing.
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