Preview Season 2023 – A message from the Coaching Director

Season 2023 begun in November 2022 with our off season Academy program. This ran up until Christmas and was focussed on our junior and other regional school players transitioning to U18s and Colts and our colts players transitioning to grade in 2023. Once again we ran our Satellite Program aimed at providing off season training opportunities for players living in around the region going into Yr 12.

Recruitment and retention has been the priority over the off season and is a continuing process. As with all Rugby Clubs, the loss of players for various reasons is an annual given and this year particularly has seen a large number of players leave Vikings for work, family, relocation or for professional rugby opportunities. We have cast our net far and wide to replace these players and have welcomed players from all corners of the world and various Australian states into the Vikings family to join our home grown players who have come through our ranks.

Our formal Club pre season began in January and was split into three phases over 11 weeks

1. Build The Boat (6 weeks) – Based around building the foundations- core skill and fitness
2. Raise The Oars (1 week) – Physical and mental freshening up
3. Sharpen the Axe (4 weeks) – Fine tuning, tactics and specific game preparation including trials.

We have had three main trial weekends

• Senior Squad played a three way fixture against the Brumby Runners and Randwick senior squad in early March. Our colts played against Randwick colts. Whilst we went down in these games it was an invaluable preparation piece for us early in our pre season in the stifling heat of Bowral. We played the Runners, then Randwick twice all back to back which was a tough test for us in our first trial.
• We held a club planning day in various squads and colts and our lower grades played an internal trial.
• We had a club trial before Easter against Gungahlin with our lower grades just going down and our Vi-Queens, colts and senior squad winning well.

That leads us to where we are now, round 1 v Wests at Jamison. In terms of 1^st grade, Wests had a thumping win against last years Premiers QBN last weekend and word is they have welcomed a number of new players including a bunch of Fijian players to their ranks. This promises to be a hard game and a perfect way to start the season  – on the road against an ambitious club in front of their old players on Wests old boys/girls day.

For us, we have a very good balance of some new players from elsewhere to supplement a very experienced core of 1^st grade players who have been mainstays in recent years. Added to that some exciting talent that has come through our colts system and even some school leavers and we believe we have a squad capable of bringing the John I Dent Cup back to the Valley. It’s always pleasing to have players make their 1^st grade debut and I’m delighted to say that in round 1 we will have 7 players making their formal 1^st grade debut and joining the Vikings 1^st grade club.

Round 2 sees us play at home for the first time on what promises to be a huge occasion on one of our biggest event days  – Canberra BMW Ladies Day.

It is a huge year for the club in celebrating our 50^th and we are acutely aware that there is great expectation that comes with such a significant milestone.

Lastly, to all our supporters here and particularly our sponsors I would like to thank you for your support and we strive every week to make you proud to be a part of this great club.

See you all at the footy.