Verne Cotter and Blues ready to roll in 2025

Having had time off since beating the Chiefs 41-10 in the 2024 final, their first championship since 2003 [in regular season play], Cotter said because of what the side went through in achieving their success, and all that was involved, they are ready to let the handbrake off and get stuck into their next season.

"We had a get-together a couple of weeks ago, and there was a great buzz. It was good to see everybody.

"Some guys need some regeneration time, and some are in the gym trying to get bigger and stronger and some guys are trying to get faster and some are trying to do what they have to do to become good Blues men."

Cotter, who has added a one-year extension to his contract until the end of 2026, said there has been a lot of preparation for the season.

"There's been a lot of rugby and we've been watching a lot of rugby and watching players involved with the All Blacks, and players coming back from injury. It's a constant living document around every individual and where they're at."

Cotter explained the core of his approach, which saw the team succeed on his watch, whereas so many others had failed.

"We take our job seriously, but we don't take ourselves seriously.

"The key to it is making sure everything's about having fun and you have your mixture of doing your job properly, and a bit of levity, a bit of fun, around that. It's a good balance."

Coaches also bought into the approach.

"It's always good you can show a lighter side every so often and not get judged.

"What's important is what happens next, our focus moving forward, and there's a keen focus to keep winning.

"And we, the boys, understand now what it takes to win. And we keep driving that desire to win and to become better.

"We want to make sure that it keeps moving forward."

There was energy and desire among the players, coaches, and management to nail down that attitude.

"We're doing it in a relaxed manner without stressing or fretting about 'what-ifs'.

Cotter said he was proud of what the Blues achieved last season.

"Probably the proudest moment was the Thursday of the final when we trained and you could feel there was a bit of nervous energy. How much do we need to do? Are we ready? Are we right?

"We didn't stay out there for as long as we'd planned because I felt it was good. The players looked around to see if the coaches had something else to say, and we just said, 'No, you've got this.'

"The players turned in and spoke to themselves, finished with themselves, and that's great if you can finish training without a coach coming at the end and trying to round things up.

"The players have got it, and now we're taking ownership, and they're taking responsibility. That was an awesome feeling.

"And then from there we went to the captain's run, then went to the game and from the kick-off all the way through, we were just enjoying what we were doing, piling pressure on, scoring points, going back to score points again.

"It was nice to see things come off, things you had worked hard at. The players adhered to it and did it together."

With that success, he felt a growing connection with Blues fans and built on that by having the team bus pull up outside the stadium with the players walking through fans to their dressing room and feeling the vibe and contact that developed. 

"It's a real connection. It was great, and the players enjoyed it. I was apprehensive at the start to see how it would be received, but it became better and better, and I could feel the energy. It's great, and it will be interesting to see how far it goes and gets picked up.

"I know that everybody who supported the Blues was proud of the performances they put in and the results they got.

"They'll be back I'm sure, and hopefully they can bring some friends with them."