Illawarra League 2019: Corrimal following best laid plan

Corrimal coach Sean Maloney is leaning on the same philosophy heading into his second year in charge of the Cougars after taking over and rebuilding a bare bones roster last season.

It's part of a three-year plan that is hitting speed as the competition begins under a salary cap system for the first time.

Maloney admits he strolled into Ziems Park in December with a lot more optimism than at the corresponding point of his first preseason.

"Like I've said from day one, we've got a three-year plan for what we want to do," Maloney said.

"We're in the second year of that now so hopefully with the calibre of players we've attracted to the club we will improve. We've certainly been a lot more professional at training in what we do, the intensity's there, so I'm hoping for a much better season.

"With [the cap] coming in I think it's going to bring in a bit more level pegging and bring a focus on the developing juniors. At Corrimal that's just what we have to do.

"We're going in the right direction. I like to try and be a quiet achiever but I'm happy with where we are at the moment."

Starting behind the 8-ball, the Cougars endured a win-less 2018, though they earned plenty of respect for their fight from other coaches and players across the league. Maloney's confident they laid some solid building blocks despite some of the blowout scorelines.

"We just needed to start getting competitive again," Maloney said.

"When we played the bigger teams, and speaking to their coaches, we were in the game for 20-25 minutes and then we'd shut up shop and concede three of four tries. When we'd come off a lot of [rival] coaches and players would say we were right in it. The scoreline didn't always reflect that.

"We also picked up quite a few injuries last year and we just weren't strong enough to begin with to cover that. It was a good chance for some young kids to step up and get some first grade under their belt. They're back this season."

Along with the returning crew, halfback Thomas Maloney will return after suffering a broken leg in round one this year, while recruits Ed Ansell, and English pair George Tyson and Jake Ecclestone will provide much-needed potency out wide.

Signs in the preseason Challenge Cup have been encouraging, with the Cougars notching a win over Helensburgh and suffering a close two-point loss to Collegians. It bodes well for their season-opener at home to Berkeley on Saturday

"Because I took the role on quite late last year a lot of guys had already left and gone to other clubs. We've got a lot of them back this with a few new faces," Maloney said.

"Thomas [Maloney] was a massive cog in our team last year and him breaking his leg in the first game really hurt us. He's back and in our Challenge Cup games he's the organiser that gets us around the park. We've really bolstered our back line as well.

"Looking at those games and what we did I was pretty happy even though we were only playing quarters. Playing 40 minutes is obviously different but I really think we can compete this year and I'm pretty happy with where we're at."