KEVIN Grimshaw already knew his under 18 Saints were a side which could deliver, but on Saturday they reaffirmed the belief of their coach when winning the annual pre-season knockout in Blayney.
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Grimshaw has retained a bulk of the squad which won the 2019 Group 10 under 18s grand final and the experience gained from that successful campaign is something which he knows will serve them well.
It was something he had in mind during their premiership campaign.
"The squad hasn't changed very much, we are very fortunate in that, we only lost four players out of that side all the rest are still there because they were all bottom age last year," he said.
"We had no under 16s side last year, so we knew we had virtually nothing coming through at all. That's why I had to manage the squad so well last year, I had 20-odd players that I had to manage so they'd stay there and keep playing because I had nothing coming through this year."
The format saw teams battle it out in 20-minutes each way sudden death matches. While Grimshaw's squad had only done fitness work at training in the build up, their proven, familiar combinations came to the fore.
The Saints beat Bathurst Panthers - the side they downed 20-8 in last year's decider - in their opening pool game then downed Group 11 outfit Dubbo Macquarie.
Those wins saw them through to the final against Orange Hawks and after a tight opening half, the Saints ran out 24-12 victors.
"We haven't touched a footy at training yet, we haven't done any team ball work yet. So that they could go out on Saturday and just play footy, it shows I'm used to them and they're used to the way I like them to play," Grimshaw said.
"It was comfortable in the end against Hawks, but at the start it wasn't, it was pretty tight. Probably mid-way through the second half we went pretty good, our fitness helped a lot as that's all we have been doing. It showed out a fair bit.
"I thought Josh Hanrahan was good in the back row and our two front rowers [Cooper Ackroyd and Tom Rodham] were good, they were bottom age last year but they've just stepped up to the plate, they're really good and really strong now.
"Tyler Colley was exceptional I thought in the halves. We had some new kids too and they were really good, the new players to the team adapted really well to the way we play."
The 18 Saints will have one more match before they begin their Group 10 title defence. That will be against the Forbes Magpies in Forbes on March 28 for the annual Stubby Collits Memorial day.
The coach feels that preparation will be ample though he acknowledges going back-to-back will not be an easy task.
"That's all I've got planned, that's all I need, I don't need any more trials. They know what I want and I know they can deliver," he said.
"I know other sides are going to be strong, Hawks had a couple of players in the Western Rams side they couldn't play and Orange CYMS, which weren't at the knockout, they're going to be pretty strong as well because they've got a couple of kids in the Penrith system playing SG Ball and they'll come back. So it will be a pretty good competition again."
