McGregor: It's Time To Start Building

Illawarra Cutters Head Coach Paul McGregor is looking forward to building upon last season’s success following the commencement of the team’s pre-season training on Monday.

The Cutters will have a smaller squad with many players retained from last season’s campaign for the three month preparation.

The Scarlets finished their inaugural NSW Cup campaign with a qualifying finals defeat to the Newtown Jets.

Yet McGregor believes that this will only add more desire to progress this time around.

“I thought our slow start to the season had a lot to do with our depth within the squad, so I certainly strengthened that up where I could,” said McGregor.

“It was a new club last year and new players in a different competition and I thought they learnt to know the way I coach as the year got on.

“They started to get that belief within each other and this coincided with us winning nine of our last ten games.

“We’ve definitely got smaller numbers this season so certainly more quality than quantity at the moment.

“I think that’s going to be a major asset where we’ve got smaller groups and you can spend a little bit more time individually.”

The Scarlets will be without the services of Damien Cook and Shannon Wakeman this time around following their respective promotions to the ranks of the St George Illawarra Dragons.

“It’s definitely a pathway for juniors to come through and it’s about giving the Dragons some great players which Shannon and Damien are,” said McGregor.

“The NSW Cup is a strong competition as I keep mentioning and I know we will unearth more talent along the way.”