It's been almost seven months since the Narooma Lions won their first senior premiership in 32 years last September, but the team is more than ready to defend that premiership in 2019.
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The Lions will kick off their season with a grand-final rematch in Merimbula on Saturday, April 6.
The Narooma News spoke to senior coach Jason Sauiluma about the upcoming season.
What's your realistic goal for this season?
Sauiluma: The main aim is to make finals, then you can start thinking premierships.
We'll just have to see where we're sitting, and after the first round we'll have a better idea. It's a pretty transient league with players coming and going all the time, so it's hard to say where we'll end up.
The aim is to finish on top, but we'll just try to make finals and take it from there.
If you win the premiership this season, what will it be on the back of?
Sauiluma: The same as last year: How well we execute our game plan, and how we adapt that to the playing group we have this year.
We lost a lot of players at the end of the season, so there's a lot of new and young talent coming in. We think our gameplan is suited to the changes in the list.
Which player is in for a big 2019?
Sauiluma: That'd probably be William Hodge. He played a fair bit last year, and always played his role well, but he'll be moving into a more key position this year.
He's definitely a player to watch, and I think he's in for a big year.
What game (if any) are you most looking forward to this season?
Sauiluma: As the coach, I look for specific games to try and build the team up for, but until we know exactly what the opposition has, it's hard to say which games that will be.
I'm just looking forward to our first home game at this stage so we can raise the premiership flag.
Why should fans watch the team this season?
Sauiluma: Aside from the standard entertainment, we've got a pretty young crop of players, and all of them are local guys.
The new recruits have moved to the town off their own backs, and all our young players have played their junior footy here.
It's always worth getting around and supporting the people in your community.
