Josh Hannay says it is time for the Souths Logan Magpies to start winning in 2016

THE Souths Logan Magpies are out to end a four-season finals drought when they begin their Intrust Super Cup campaign on Sunday.

South Logan Magpies Photo Elise Searson

SOUTHS  Logan Magpies coach Josh Hannay says it is time for the Magpies to start winning in season 2016.

The Magpies have not played finals since 2011 but Hannay said he felt the club were poised to at least compete for a finals berth this year.

“We’re striving to play finals football,” the former Queensland Maroons centre said. “It’s going to be a challenge — there are a few other clubs like us who finished in the lower half of the ladder last season but look to have improved over the off-season.

“I think the ability is there for us to play finals though.

“The big thing is going to be health and keeping the nucleus of the side on the park — you look at the teams that do well and they almost always have quite a good run with injuries.”

There has been much ­fanfare over the off-season arrivals of multiple Brisbane Broncos after they were aligned to the Magpies but Hannay said it was ­important not to overlook the club’s other squad ­members.

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“We’ve got some good young players and a few experienced guys who are still in the prime or have at least got some good football left in them,” he said.

“We managed to blood a lot of young players last year — hopefully we won’t blood as many this year because hopefully we won’t have as many injuries as we did last year.”

Magpies chief executive Jim McClelland said he had noticed a new vibe around the club as it looks to return to the success of the 2008-10 period.

“There is a marked difference to this time last year,” McClelland said.

“This time last year we had only just joined up with the Broncos so we didn’t know what we were getting there, this year we’ve got a few players from them.

“I think all of the boys are also training better and we’ve continued building a better roster.”

McClelland said he felt the squad had been well rebuilt after the loss of many players from their golden era.

“We lost a lot of guys who were good players as they came to the end of their careers,” he said.

“We’ve had to rebuild the squad but the young guys have brought enthusiasm.

“I think going higher than mid-table will be tough but I would be disappointed if we’re not in the top six.”

The Magpies begin their season against the PNG Hunters on Sunday at Davies Park. Kick-off is at 2.05pm.