With the first trials done and dusted, pre-season training is about to step up a gear.

As of tonight, training will focus more on skills and moving towards getting squads selected ahead of the next trial (versus Oatley on March 20th) where games will be played on a grade by grade basis.

Fitness sessions will now be run directly by the coaches – a massive thanks to Juergen “I love pain” Empacher for guiding us to this point. There is now no need to bring $5 to training.

If you haven’t made it down yet, don’t fret, there is still plenty of chance to impress and secure yourself a spot in the grades. Coaches will be looking at all remaining trial matches (Balmain on the 27th in addition to the Oatley trial on the 20th) and how people are going in training.

The aim of all this is to ensure that we put the best team on the park in every grade in the Round 1 clash against BOBs on April 10th. Once the season is underway, everyone will still get a chance to push to play up the grades, with the coaches playing close attention to the performances in other grades.

Social Rugby

Those of you who would prefer just to focus on the social side of the game, Waverley aims to ensure that we give everyone good game time, week in, week out. We do this by fielding teams in the Halligan Cup.

This also allows us to get a look at those who join us midway through the season, and get them up into the grades where possible.

The great news for 2010 is that there are a few more clubs (in Div 2) who are likely to be fielding Halligan Cup teams, meaning that the Fifth Platoon / Flying Fifths (or whatever the boys want to be called this year), will be playing with the rest of the Club on a more regular basis.

The way things are shaping up at the moment, the boys should be playing ~4 of the first 5 games with the rest of the Club.

Even if you are thinking you only want to play Halligan, still aim to head down for trials, as they are a great chance to get back into thick of things, and start the 2010 with a bang.

Note: the following clubs are likely to be fielding Halligan sides this season: Briars, Hunters Hill, Kings, UNSW, and obviously Waverley.