Don’t bet on it, not if the club’s new-look coaching staff has anything to do with it anyway.

Emus recently announced their 2018 senior and junior coaching staff and, on top of being excited with what the group could produce, multiple title-winning coaches Paul Ringland and Jeremy Wallace were quick to make one point in particular.

They’ve only scratched the surface.

“We think we still have a lot to tap into,” Wallace said.

“There’s a lot of guys we don’t think we’ve really got the best out of yet and we want to keep working with them, to make sure we do.”

“We want to win premierships, obviously, and last year’s grand final loss was massively disappointing, but we sort of feel like we’ve only scratched the surface with a few things,” Ringland added.

“We put new plans and structures in place last year and we think we, and the new group of coaches, can really build on them in 2018.”

“This will probably be our last year, in full capacity, so we want to make sure we put structures in place off the field as well, to make any changeovers as seamless as possible,” Wallace said.

The pair will once again mentor the greens’ first and second XVs, in the same group structure they used in 2017.

They’ll have the assistance of former Australian Schoolboy and Knox Old Boys stalwart Peter Bromley though, while Alex Low and Steve Levett have been appointed to third grade.

“We think the squad system in ones and twos worked, but in hindsight we think we were stretched a bit on game day so having a few extra people on the ground will be a big benefit,” Ringland said.

“Pete’s played and coached at a pretty high level, he’s been around plenty of good rugby and will be a good asset, while we’ve got some fresh faces in third grade, that grade will be important with the new structure.”

Shane Udy, another former Australian Schoolboy, returns to the colts coaching gig eight years after mentoring the 2009 squad to a title and will coach alongside Simon Thompson, who skippered the greens’ second grade premiership this year. Max Vowell has been appointed colts manager.

“Shane has done a good job with colts in the past, so it’s great to have him back,” Ringland said.

“He worked really well with those younger guys, who look up to him. When he talks people listen, he’s got a wealth of knowledge and together with Thommo they should give the colts good direction,” Wallace added.

“Maxy, well, he’s just really committed and passionate. He did plenty of that manager type stuff last year without being asked or appointed, so it’s nice to have him board officially,” Ringland said.

Emus kick-off their pre-season campaign on January 16, and continue on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 6.30pm after that. 

They also plan on sending two teams to the Kiama Sevens, and a colts side to the Cowra Tens, and have scheduled a trial game against Eastern Suburbs’ lower grades in Canowindra on March 10, and another on March 24 with opposition to be announced.

“The Kiama Sevens is a new one, we haven’t been there before and we think it’ll tie in quite well with a few things we’re looking to bring into the grades this year,” Wallace said, although he didn’t reveal any more.

In the junior stakes, Lee Cornish will coach under 13s but is still on the lookout for an assistant, Stu Brisbane and Andrew Haydon will mentor under 15s and Tom Goolagong and Jamie Stedman will continue with the under 17s.