But they know the way opposition clubs look at them will change in 2016/17.

The Blues enjoyed a stellar campaign last season, winning the top grade title and finishing runners-up in the second grade competition, while their third grade outfit took out the Dawson Cup.

It is that depth within all grades that has first grade skipper Keiran Brien confident his side can cover the loss of key players.

Off-spinning all-rounder Dan Medway and tearaway quick Mitch Williams-Hedges have left town, while hard-hitting lower-order batsman Dalton Medcalf will miss a significant part of the season due to a knee injury sustained in a rugby union grand final.

Brad Johnson is also missing from the team that beat Souths in the decider.

“All those guys are hard to replace but I think it gives us an opportunity to blood some guys in first grade that played some good cricket in second grade last year,” Brien said.

“Waseem Marwat is an option to be get a shot at that spinning role, and we’ve picked up Angus Norton who looks to be a decent bat so we have covered a couple of those losses.

“The guys that were part of our team last season also have another year of experience behind them, and that is particularly the case with someone like Angus Cusack.

“He’s only young but he played a big role for us in the grand final, and he gets the opportunity to become the key all-rounder for us.”

Prolific run-scorer Jason Green had a season to remember in 2015/16, and on more than one occasion he carried the Blues’ fortunes on his own bat.

But the change of the competition’s format to incorporate more one-day cricket will play in Macquarie’s favour, according to Brien.

“Everyone chipped in at different points last year but we probably struggled with the two-day format a bit to start with,” he said.

“By the end we had mastered it but I think having different styles of cricket  to play this season will probably suit us.

“Hopefully with the return of the one-day stuff we won’t be so reliant on ‘Greeny’. Guys can play their natural game and not get as bogged down as they did at times.

“Most of our guys are capable of scoring runs from Ed Haylock at the top, right down to Ben Taylor in the middle-lower order.

“Going back to having a lot of one-day cricket will suit us I think. We have a lot of guys who naturally hit the ball hard, and our bowlers are very good at working to a plan and not giving much away.”

Macquarie will open their 2016/17 campaign with a two-day contest against Newtown, starting Saturday.