Grange men and Watsonians women start the defence of their Premiership titles

A new Premiership season beckons – there will be new challenges and fresh aspirations rumbling about in the management ranks of each of the 24 competing clubs. Whatever the final outcome, all the sides will start off with a clean sheet.

What better place to start – to consider the fortunes of the Premiership champions – Grange men and Watsonians women. It is intended to focus on the aspirations of other Premiership clubs in succeeding weeks.

Grange won last season`s men’s Premiership title by a point from runners-up Edinburgh University. However, they did not win a place in the EHL, which went to Western Wildcats in the play-offs.

So does that put Grange under additional pressure for the season ahead?

Well this is what manager Martin Shepherdson has to say. “We will always put pressure on ourselves to perform at as high a level as possible, and retaining the league is one of our goals. That doesn’t bring any pressure that we are not used to.”

But like many other teams in the division, there have been comings and goings in the Grange camp.

The goings are Joe Waterston who has moved to London, Cale Walsh has gone back to Australia and John McCluskey is taking a season out. However, there is a balance with the return of striker Jacob Tweedie, the champions have recruited two additional Aussies in Ola Williams and Nick Spencer, while on the coaching front Steve McCurry will act as assistant to Stevie Grubb.

Grange`s preparations for the coming season have been a little curtailed, as explained by Martin Shepherdson. “Our preparation has been slightly disrupted due to a long injury list. Aidan McQuade and Callum Lothian are out for first half of the season and several others are likely to miss at least a few weeks at the start of the season. As a result we have not played many games.

“However we have good depth and the players have trained well and are looking forward to getting into action.”

The Grange manager will certainly be looking for an opening three points with a home fixture against newly promoted Dunfermline Carnegie – the Fifers return to the top flight after winning the second tier.

If last season is anything to go by Edinburgh University and Western Wildcats are the likely Premiership aspirants. Despite the likelihood of the annual change of personnel in the ranks the students to gather the opening points from ESM

Western will set out to be a viable threat to Grange’ Premiership hegemony and they have Vishal Marwaha back at the coaching helm. Further the Auchenhowie pack have added to their ranks, particularly the signing of Scotland teenage international Tommy Austin from relegated Kelburne. Also recruited are young Dutchman Just Noordzij, he is studying at Stirling University, along with the return of Scott Menzies after a year out.

And there might be more.

Another highlight of the men’s opening day is the local Glasgow derby between Hillhead and Clydesdale – traditionally the outcome of this feisty clash is unpredictable. However Hillhead had their noses in front last season by finishing sixth while the Titwood-based outfit fell into the bottom group, and the prodigal Callum Duke returns to Hillhead after a very successful sojourn with Western.

In the remaining games on the card Uddingston take on Inverleith and there must now be aspirations in Lanarkshire of a further improvement to last season`s creditable fifth spot.

An opening three points in Edinburgh must be the aspiration for Watsonians as they entertain a Dundee Wanderers side that came to life towards the end of the season.  However, the Edinburgh side did well to claim fourth spot and take their place in the play-offs. With a bit more consistency they could perhaps do even better.

What a baptism of fire for Premiership first-timers Fjordus Reivers in the women`s Premiership – they travel to take on last season’s triple winners Watsonians on the opening of hostilities in the women’s Premiership.

In the last couple of seasons Watsonians` coach Keith Smith has been used to success, and it`s not a habit he will want to discard. But nothing will be taken for granted – the champions are up there to be shot down.

So on pressure this is what Keith had to say, “Pressure’s a funny thing. It never goes away, but how it manifests changes. When we first won the league [in 2021/22] it was the pressure of the unknown as we didn’t have any experience of getting over the line to rely on. The following year, as champions, suddenly it was because there was a target on our backs and for the first time we had something to lose. Last season it was largely about how we measured up against some of the best teams in Europe, while also trying not to lose our focus for the big domestic games on our return.

“This season it’s different again, and most of the pressure probably comes from the weight of our own expectations instead, because we know we can still improve and play even better.”

Perhaps not much solace there for the chasing pack.

Keith announced little player turnover for the coming hostilities – keeper Amber Murray and Darcy Littlefield have moved south to England while Sarah Hill joins from Reading until January when she heads out to play in Australia.

Like Grange men the preparation programme has been a little truncated as Keith explained. “Preparation for the Euro Qualifiers (and some much-needed recovery time afterwards) has meant we’ve not seen much of our internationals yet, while others have had work and family commitments at various points in the last few weeks, and overall it’s been a long few seasons for everyone, so we’ve tried to be mindful of that, both in how we approach pre-season and the early stages of the league. On the plus side, that’s meant plenty of opportunity for some of our youngsters to be involved more, and it’s been really encouraging to see how quickly they’ve progressed and how hard they’re pushing to be selected.”

The Borders team will be hoping they might catch the champions cold on Saturday.

So who else might scupper the Watsonians` bandwagon?

Edinburgh University were the main challengers last season, and may be so again, depending on the comings and goings in their ranks. However, they are not in action this weekend.

If last season is anything to go by Clydesdale Western and Western Wildcats could again be in the mix and it will be interesting to see if either, or both, can sustain an effective challenge. However, both will hope to start off with three points against Inverleith and Hillhead respectively – they finished in the bottom rungs of the league last year.

Grange and St Andrews University were both success stories last season, the former finished a creditable fifth with a couple of notable scalps while the students comfortably survived their baptism in the top flight. They clash in Edinburgh on Saturday – it could be an interesting encounter.

And so could GHK’s home fixture against an Uddingston side that looking to make further progress this year. Only one place separated the sides last season so again this could be a close affair.

 

 

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