There isn't much that could shake the Newtown Tigers' confidence heading into the first round of the RSL-Whitney Cup.
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The defending premiers are in good spirits ahead of their rematch of last year's grand final with their cross-town rivals the RSL-Colts, and Captain Mat Skinner doesn't see any reason that his side can't end up holding another title by next year.
"Preparation is going pretty good for us right now, we've had a couple of pre-season and inter-club games and all the blokes are keen and ready to go, which is a good time to start the season," Skinner said.
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That momentum, plus the booster of having won the title last year in a dominant showing of the club's potential, gives Skinner no reason to doubt that a back to back premiership could be in the cards.
"We're looking to always set our goals to make the finals each year, this season will be no different, so I think we can do it, even though we've lost a few players."
Those roster changes are significant, with Ben Patterson departing the club to pursue opportunities in Sydney, long-standing veteran Wayne Dunlop moving away and Charlie Kempston and Tom Barber both moving to other clubs in the competition.
"Charlie Kempston ended up going to Colts and Tom Barber has gone to play with CYMS."
Skinner's already looking to others to step up and fill the holes left in the line-up, and many of the club's veterans have been eager to oblige him.
"Couple of the key blokes will be Dan Holland, he'll be opening and batting and looking to score us runs, Mitch Russo and Dan French, we're looking to them to step up and have a big year this year," Skinner said.
"We've got a lot of blokes who've put their hands up and said they're really keen to start at the top of the batting order, which is good."
Skinner also says that his side won't be changing things up too much this year.
"We want to play what we know; a reasonably aggressive game of cricket, we'll keep sticking to what we know and hopefully a few of the blokes can knuckle down and score a few big runs this year."