The undoubted highlight was the performances of our female teams in 2024.

The Western open-age women and the Lisa Fiaola Cup under 17s won their respective grand finals on Saturday, March 15, showcasing the impressive and improving talent we have out west.

The under 16s boys also deserve plenty of praise for their run to the Andrew Johns Cup semi-finals.

There's a number of players to watch in that side and they were unlucky to be knocked out by the Central Coast.

The under 18s boys won just two of five games in the group stage but the big disappointment for Western this year was the men's side.

After strides were made in 2023 and Western made the semi-finals, this year's team was bundled out in round one after an extremely clunky performance against the Northern Tigers.

There's huge differences between each of the competitions, but there's some real similarities between the sides who performed well in 2024.

It's no shock the junior Rams had some of their better results in recent years when they were able to have a full off-season campaign again.

As always, Western got in early and held trials for the 2024 teams in the middle of summer and extended squads were cut down slowly cut down after a stack of pre-season sessions.

Western suffered during the COVID era when off-season and pre-season get-togethers weren't as simple.

You only had to watch this year's under 16s side and it was clear to see how much time together benefited them.

It was the same case for the two women's sides. They might not have had as thorough preparation as the juniors, but they made that time count.

Kevin Grimshaw knew exactly what he wanted when he was appointed coach. He chased the players he wanted, appointed experienced campaigner and former Australian rugby representative Bec Smyth as captain straight away and then got stuck into the players at training.

It was the same for the under 17s as Kaitlyn Mason returned as coach and built on the platform created last season.

There were attempts to make things better for the men this year but it simply didn't work.

For the men's Western side, it was hoped moving the annual Group 11-Group 10 representative matches to pre-season as a genuine trial would create more interest and quality.

Those hopes only grew when Castlereagh was added to the weekend.

But, the more things change the more they stay the same. While Castlereagh was organised and had a number of pre-season training sessions, the same couldn't be said for its bigger brothers.

Group 11 was still searching for players just days out from the games. Then, when the trial matches were played and a Western squad was named afterwards, a huge number of the players chosen weren't even available for the Country Championships opener against the Northern Tigers.

It simply doesn't make sense.

In the days leading up to the clash with the Tigers at Narromine, changes were still being made.

Planning and preparation is easy to say but not as simple to put into practice.

Western is always on the back foot in these Country Championships because of the sheer vastness of our region. Getting training sessions together regularly - particularly for the older players with families and jobs - isn't possible.

That just makes planning and organisation even more important.

NSWRL needs to provide dates for the 2025 championships as soon as it can for the good of the competition.

By the time the 2024 Peter McDonald Premiership, Castlereagh and Woodbridge seasons are over, selectors and a coach should be in place and approaching players and gauging their interest in rep footy.

A training squad should be in place early in the New Year, any new signings with real pedigree or representative ambitions can always be added, and then any training sessions together are already an improvement on what we've got.

That leaves a coach with the players who want to be there, deserve to be there, and are available to play.