Title holders Tweed excited to get back onto the field

However, with a high turnover of players in this young division always something teams have to contend with, the work started early to put the success of last season behind them and to refocus on the new year.

“We only have six members from last year in our 2020 squad, so with a lot of fresh faces, it was important in the pre-season that the players gelled quickly and understood the teams plan and structure,” Maccan said.

“We got straight into it as we only have a short season and you really need to get off to a good start in this competition.

“We had a big skills focus and advanced those skills as the weeks went on.

“The players are now looking forward to the competition starting and transferring this practice into the game. 

“We will look towards our more experienced players like our captain for this year Brendan Piakura, along with Reece Walsh, Ediq Ambrosyev and Izzy Higgins, to guide the team during the season and lead by example at training and on the field.”

With the experience of those players to help the side moving forward, Maccan said the team had worked on what goals they wanted to achieve in the 2020 season.

“Our goals in 2020 are very similar to 2019, we want to be competitive in every game to give ourselves the best opportunity to be one of the top four teams at the end of the season,” Maccan said.

“As we proved last year, any team in the top four can win this competition, but you have to do the hard work first to get there. 

“Teams always seem to lift against the team tagged as the ‘defending premiers’, so we are expecting every game to be tough this season, starting with the Northern Pride this Sunday.”

Elsewhere in the competition, the Round 1 matches will kick off on Saturday in Mackay.

As well as the Seagulls v Pride match, Sunday will see three other games played.