“We’ve set some goals in place and our first one is to win the Scanlon Shield,” Bayley declared.

“Making the top two is the ultimate goal there but I’ll say it now, we’re going to win it.”

The signings of former NRL stars Frank-Paul Nu'uausala and Chad Redman have already laid the foundations for ‘watercooler conversations’ between League fans across the region.

Nu'uausala is best known for having played 155 NRL games with the Sydney Roosters stints with the Canberra Raiders and English powerhouse Wigan Warriors.

The 31-year-old also represented his native New Zealand on 15 occasions at International level from 2009-13.

Redman, who has been a renowned talent in the Newcastle Rugby League in recent years, has also featured on two NRL lists (Newcastle Knights & Gold Coast) and brings a wealth of knowledge.

Nevertheless it is the entire playing group’s commitment to the pre-season which has inspired Bayley ahead of his third year as the Greyhounds mentor.

“Frank’s been great given he’s a 200+ first grade player and Chad has been a top level player so they’ve been really good,” he added.

“We started back in December just to get everyone back together and we’ve had about 40 here every Tuesday and Thursday since January.”