Pirates Old Boys are not resting on their laurels.
Standing still makes it easier to be passed as the defending champions get set to take on the other five sides in the premier grade.
The side has not lost too many players from last year but has a new man in charge with Dayna Cunningham taking over as head coach.
Cunningham spent about half a dozen years involved with Midlands but decided he wanted to coach at the premier level.
He had been helping out the Hawks over the past couple of years but will be in the big job this season. He takes over from Mike McKenzie, who goes out on a winning note.
The side has had a couple of losses with Southland centre Isaac Te Tamaki playing in France and loose forward Anton Huisman is not playing.
But new players such as front rowers J.J. Fisher and Shaun Kempton, who both made national school teams last year, should bolster the team, while lock Anton Schroder, a former club player in Dunedin, will also add some impetus to the side.
The team had a decisive win over Zingari-Richmond from Dunedin in a preseason game but a planned match against Upper Clutha fell through.
Cunningham said it was not as simple as just doing the same thing as last year and expecting the title to come their way.
"What we did in the past won’t cut it. We will have to be better and work even harder. The other teams have been recruiting really hard and it is going to be a pretty even competition," Cunningham said.
"We may have won it last year but we have to work hard each week. In no way is it a given we will get a win."
He said the good thing about the side was the team and players still had plenty of potential so could aim to reach that potential this season.
Last season was about reaching their peak at the right time and though they were up and down throughout the season the side came right at the business end of the season.
The important thing was to have players well rested and ready at the end of the season so it was wise to rest player with slight niggles.
Key players for the side are first five-eighth Greg Dyer while youngster Kaea Nikora-Balloch will want to grow on last season.
The side heads to Gore next Thursday night in the opening match of the season to take on Eastern Northern Barbarians, a rematch of last year’s final which Pirates Old Boys won 37-10.
Cunningham is assisted by Mark Tree and Ben McHugh, who was also an assistant coach last year.
