THE Hunter Wildfires racked up nine wins in a record-breaking 2022 Shute Shield campaign that fell agonisingly short of a finals berth.
They beat five of the teams in the top eight, including a 16-14 triumph over eventual premiers Sydney University.
In the end, a heart-breaking last-minute 22-21 loss to Randwick at home cost them a place in the play-offs. Had they qualified, who knows what might have happened.
Rugged breakaway Donny Freeman was third in the Catchpole Medal for the best and fairest player in the competition. Hooker Phil Bradford was the leading tryscorer with 17. Scott Coleman shared the coach of the year gong with Sydney Uni's Sean Hedger.
It is fair to say, the Wildfires will no longer be flying under the radar as they start preparations for 2023.
The club will hold an induction day at Newcastle University on Saturday for grade, colts and women's players. Preseason training starts Monday.
"We are not going to be able to surprise any teams," Coleman said. "Everyone is expecting us to be strong.
"We want top four minimum. We definitely learnt a lot last year. We are looking to improve on a number of areas. We started poorly in a lot of games. There were key minutes we could have done better in.
"Resilience and toughness were two of our best attributes last season and we will be looking to build on them again.
The Wildfires have retained the majority of the squad from last season.
Bradford, Freeman, captain Rob Puli'uvea, point-scoring fly-half Connor Winchester, tighthead prop Nic Dobson, lock Ngarhue Jones, Chris Watkins, Tom Watson, Nick Murray and Nate de Thierry have re-signed. Former Samoan centre Nafi Tuitavake is back after missing the second half of last season with a broken leg.
Dynamic back-rower Joe Tamani is with Fijian Drua for a second Super Rugby campaign, prop Isi Fukofuka is playing in the US and Fijian centre Luke Nadurutalo has returned to Sydney
Winger Isaac Ulberg (France), fullback Will Feeney (England) and Ben Wood (Spain) are overseas and return in April.
Powerhouse No.8 Lona Halaholo and halfback Leon Fukofuka are yet to commit.
"It is a totally different recruitment strategy from what we had first two years," Coleman said. "The main focus as been retention and our colts.
"We are looking for a couple more props and locks, but that is every club in Australia at the moment. The fact we have 90 per cent of the squad means we can take our time.
"It will be interesting to see what other clubs do with recruitment now that the UK has opened up post-COVID and there are more players available. We will cast the net in Brisbane and Sydney first before looking overseas."
