Wollongong Vikings coach Harry Swanenburg is not silly enough to suggest his struggling Illawarra rugby side will end their 673-day wait for a victory on Saturday against a Shoalhaven side who hasn't lost in almost two years.
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The former Vikings premiership-winning player though is adamant the current group is on the improve, despite the fact Illawarra's oldest rugby club has lost all four games it has played this season.
The Vikings did not field a first-grade side in 2023 but there was renewed hope of better times ahead when they returned to the first-grade competition ahead of season 2024.
Swanenburg for one still believes the club is heading in the right direction and the Vikings aren't too far away from being competitive consistently and breaking through for a first win of the new campaign.
"Obviously it's been a hard road so far," the coach conceded.
"We've been competitive in the first few matches that we played, but we've also then lost quite a few players through injury. We are hoping to get a few back this week against Shoalhaven. That will be good.
"When we played Shamrocks, we were down six of our regular starting first graders in the first few matches, so it was a pretty tough day from our perspective because as we're building the club, we're still building the depth and we just don't have the depth to replace starters with the same quality players that we lose through injury.
"So it's been pretty tough, but we're getting a few guys back and we're still very determined and we will do our best to be very competitive and we go out there to win, that's for sure."
To breakthrough for their first win this year though the Vikings will have to end the 28-game winning run of the back-to-back Illawarra rugby union premiers Shoalhaven.
The all-conquering Shoals' last competitive loss came on July 30, 2022 when they were beaten 31-12 by Avondale.
The Will Miller-coached Shoals head to Vikings Rugby Park in second-place, having won all four games they've played in 2024.
The difficult task is not lost on Swanenburg, who vowed the Vikings would leave no stone unturned in pursuit of victory.
"It's a big hill to climb but we're going to do our best, I can assure you," he said.
"We haven't won this season but I've seen signs of improvement and I think we're heading in the right direction.
"If you look where we've come from over the last couple of years, two years ago we would have had six players turning up for training and having to actually forfeit games and all that sort of stuff.
" Last year we managed to build up the stocks so we could regularly field a competitive second grade side this year.
"We've built up our numbers again and we've got some quality players and we have no trouble fielding two teams every week even to the point where if everybody is turning up at the same time, we could possibly field a third team.
"Now, it's just developing the talent to get it to the level that it needs to be, to be absolutely competitive and start winning on a regular basis.
"And we're working on that. We're doing our very hardest to do that and we're getting some support from ex Vikings coaches like Phil Green. So we've got plans to keep growing that side of things as well.
"The club is definitely heading in the right direction and we will continue to get better and better."
In the other round eight fixtures on Saturday, Camden hosts Kiama and Campbelltown is at home against Bowral.
Agron Latifi
Wollongong born and bred. I love reporting about the Illawarra region and have been doing it for more than 20 years. I've moved into sport recently after covering the education round for the last five plus years for the Illawarra Mercury. It's been a great pleasure.
Wollongong born and bred. I love reporting about the Illawarra region and have been doing it for more than 20 years. I've moved into sport recently after covering the education round for the last five plus years for the Illawarra Mercury. It's been a great pleasure.
