Hunter to the hunted: Kiama prepared for the challenge of defending Group 7 title
Tallon Smith
Kiama Knights captain Tom Angel said his side knows they have gone from the hunter to the hunted in 2026 as the club prepares to defend its title and aim for back-to-back Group 7 premierships in 2026.
After missing the finals in 2024, Kiama bounced back emphatically last season, emerging from a congested pack at the top of the ladder to claim the title with victory over the Shellharbour Sharks.
Angel said that the Knights are well aware that they have an Artie Smith premiership trophy-shaped target on their backs this season, but have focused more on building on their success rather than looking at the long-term goal of consecutive premierships after enduring a tougher rebuild heading into last season.
“I don’t think we’ve really touched on the back-to-back factor, I mean it’s always there that we’ve got something now that everyone’s wanting to chase, we’ve got the silverware in our hands, so everyone’s going to be at us,” he said.
“We’re not going to be able to fly under the radar so much this year, but we’re very excited in the fact that last year we came into pre-season with a new squad, new gameplay, new structures, and now this year we get to come back and not have to do that again, we get to build on what we built last year.
“We’re very excited and we’re just going to take it week by week.
“As I said, everyone’s going to be coming after us, so it’s going to be a tough season, but we’re looking forward to it.”
After taking out the title, the Knights have had a very quiet season on the recruitment front, with Bega duo Sam Lever and Jasper Kelly the club’s first grade signings as of the time of publication.
However, aside from the pair of new signings and the loss of Travis Barrett-Hancock, who has joined Orange CYMS, Angel said that Kiama will field an almost identical team to last year’s premiership side.
“We’ve pretty much got the same side as last year, we haven’t actively gone out and tried to buy anyone,” he said.
“We’ve retained the few blokes that we signed last year, and we’ve got a couple of young blokes coming through the grades, so they’ll probably get their chance at some stage throughout the year.
“We’re looking good, another good pre-season, we’ve been getting touched up a bit at training, so we should be fit again, which was the backbone of our season last year.”
Looking back at this time last year, there were plenty of questions about the Kiama side, including those surrounding the return of halfback Cameron Vazzoler following a battle with Guillain-Barre Syndrome.
Fast forward to September, and Vazzoler completed the ultimate fairytale, capping his first season back on the field with a premiership victory.
Reflecting on the grand final win, Angel said that it was made all the more sweeter by all the storylines surrounding the side.
“It was obviously an unbelievable feeling, and I guess if you took a flashback to the 12 months prior to that we were in a bit of a ‘where do we go from here’ situation, after finishing second last,” he said.
“I touched on it before, just all the little bits and pieces, all the fairytale stories that came together to make it happen, it was such an unbelievable feeling.”
One added bonus of the draw for the Knights is a quartet of blockbuster home games inside the opening six rounds, with the club set to host Stingrays in the season opening Magic Round, Gerringong on Anzac Day, returning first grade side Warilla in round four and the Shellharbour Sharks in the Grand Final rematch in round six.
When asked about hosting Magic Round to open the season, Angel said he is looking forward to returning home to Kiama Showground in front of an expected big crowd to take on the ‘Rays.
“I’m very excited for that one, it’s a bit of a different one because we usually play our rivalry round [in the] first round of the year, so we usually come up against Jamberoo,” he said.
“I’m really looking forward to it, Stingrays are always a strong side, they’ve got plenty of talent in their squad, and I know that Tommy and the boys at the Stingrays will have their side firing for round one, so it should be a good contest.”