You're right Analysis 101, been far too quiet. I'll throw in my 2 cents.
Will be an interesting year. Marist have quite a few boys returning, with strong contributors from this year Harry Gould in the front row, Pat Gavin in the 2nd row, and Condon, Barry and Tierney in the backs. 2nds won a premiership with quite a few year 11's, and some big improvers in the year 10 cohort. With Anthony Mathison in the coaching group will be a threat. Laurie's must start as favourites though. Good to see they have got their act together. Du Plessis will have them ready to go and many backing up from their premiership this year. Will miss Jackson. Goss and Holt in the forwards though. Nedanic backing up will have a lot of weight on his shoulders, but very impressive this year.
Iona have always been the strongest in this cohort but didn't look so good this year, really missed Quinn at Fullback. However, They did share a premiership in the 2nds with MCA (I don't care what the AIC website says, SLC BEAT Marist in the 1st round 27-5, NOT the other way around. Surprised this has not been mentioned before). Their 10 A's did seem to drop a bit, but I still expect them to be a strong contender.
Padua will be good too, but I need input from others. Not sure on those backing up but their head of rugby has been working hard to get a solid program together and it seems to be reaping dividends with premierships in 10A's, 9A's and 8A's. Watch this space.
Of the others expect Eddie's to keep improving on results this year. Better showing from the opens teams and a good if not great year 10 cohort. Peter's have 7 forwards returning, not sure on backs depth though. Can never tell who will rock up though so expect they will cover whatever weaknesses they need to. Expect a few new faces. Pat's and Villa are a bit vulnerable. Reasonable results from year 10 has them looking better for 2023.
Prediction;
1 SLC
2 MCA
3 Iona
4 Padua
5 Peters
6 Eddies
7 Pats
8 Villa
Gentlemen?
