New Pirates co-coach Michael Squires says they won't be resting on their laurels as they chase an unprecedented fifth straight Central North premiership.
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After last season becoming the only club to have won four-straight premierships twice, they again sit on the precipice of history with no side having gone back-to-back four times.
Squires and Todd Pascoe have stepped up to steer the ship this season after Mat Kelly elected not to go around again.
"Todd and I are pretty excited about getting hold of that playing group and putting our spin on it," Squires said.
They officially kicked off their pre-season on Tuesday night, although a lot of the players have been doing some training during the off-season with Jake Douglas at Snake CrossFit.
Douglas is again running the pre-season program. Squires said they will also be looking to make use of his talents throughout the year in a coaching capacity of some sort.
There was some speculation that he would also be strapping on the boots again but he recently underwent surgery. Andrew Moodie and Brendan Rixon have also been rumoured to be returning but haven't yet committed.
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They did though have a couple of new faces there on Tuesday night, and Squires is excited about how things are shaping up with the majority of last year's first and second grade sides on deck again.
Last year was a hugely successful one for the club with the under-19s and second grade also reaching the grand final.
Squires, who was co-coach of the second grade side, believes that will stand them in good stead.
"There's probably never been more competition for spots," he said.
"For what the guys are trying to achieve this year, we couldn't be in a better position."
Training continues on Thursday night from 6.30pm.
For the moment they are training down at the Riverside grounds (Max Sutton Oval) as opposed to Ken Chillingworth Oval.
"What we like to try and do each year is get the ground resown," Squires said.
"Obviously with the drought we're trying to look after the oval as much as possible and trying to stay off it."
