Walsh described the Sharks’ pre-season preparation as one of the worst he’s seen in terms of numbers at training.

“About two weeks ago we were looking pretty light, but the last couple of weeks we’ve had a few extra blokes come along,” Walsh said.

“It’s probably the worst pre-season I’ve been a part of in terms of numbers of blokes at training so I think we might be month or two underdone.”

Across first and reserve grade Walsh estimates the Sharks have lost around 20 players, including a host of first grade regulars.

“Off the top of my head Bronx Goodwin, Matt Hillcoat, Matt Docker, Michael McKinley, Pat Moulton, Ryan Schuster, Justin Rodrigues and Ben Stratton are all gone from first grade.

“In saying that we’ve got a few blokes recently and we had a game last weekend where we looked pretty sharp.”

Shellharbour defeated rivals Warilla 48-10 in their annual Jarrod Morgan Shield pre-season clash.

The Sharks won the Group 7 under 18’s title last year and Walsh believes a few members of that side will see plenty of time in first grade this year.

“Emmanuel Sultana will come into first grade this year and Matt Jurd played for us on the weekend and looked good, he’s in the Dragons’ under 20s though so we’re not sure how often we’ll have him.

“There’s a few other blokes playing SG Ball who can still play another season of 18s, but I’d say they’ll see some first grade this year.

After coming within one game of last year’s decider, Walsh said there is plenty of motivation among the side to go one better, but he knows it will be no easy feat.

“The motivation for every club is to win the comp and we’re no different, but there’s a lot of teams out there who will be tough.

“Nowra-Bomaderry look like they haven’t lost any, Gerringong are always tough no matter what, Warilla still have some class and even sides like Albion Park have some good young blokes who’ll give you a run.”