Improved Blacks ready to give new season a red hot crack

Returning as coach will be James King who has extra knowledge under his belt and he hopes his new learnings will help his side do well this year.

"I'm about to finish a level two coaching course," King said.

"I learned about rugby laws, rugby strategies and education around the game in regards to increasing player participation."

King has high hopes for his side and believes his players have the potential to go deep into the Illawarra District Rugby Union season this year.

"We've managed to maintain about 70 per cent of our players from last year," King said.

"Others have moved on to university or moved away from the area, but we've managed to recruit about eight new players.

"We should have a bigger and slightly older side as well.

"If we can maintain a healthy pack with minimal serious injuries, I think we should make the semifinals this year."

Reflecting on 2023, King said the players developed substantially and he hoped they would put their learnings and experiences from last season to good use.

"We have a young side that learned a lot last year in terms of playing men," he said.

"A lot of them were fresh out of high school coming up against former professionals and they held themselves well in patches.

"Hopefully they will be able to execute our phase play to how we want to and not let the bigger guys or teams with more experience than us dictate how we execute our game plan."

King has been the coach of the Blacks since 2022 and he said he loved the club because everyone involved put in a lot of effort.

"I love the Blacks because they are a good bunch of people ranging from the committee to the volunteers, to the players and the supporters," he said.

"People come down to be a part of it because they want to."

The Avondale Wombats pulled out of the competition recently, meaning the season will now begin in the second half of April.

"I've pushed back the start of preseason by a few weeks, or we'd be burnt out by round one," King said.

The Bowral Blacks will begin their campaign against the Vikings at the Vikings Rugby Club from 3pm on Saturday, April 20.