Rugbycoach wantsmore
go one better in the Shield competition – having lost the 2023 final to Stewartry at Murrayfield – they will have to put in the graft.
He said:“After the Christmas period we have got Kilmarnock up first and then we have the Scottish Shield starting soon after.
“Obviously, we got to the final of the shield last season so that will be playing in people’s minds as well.
“So what I am really looking for is a commitment from the players to get better. To say that we are really going to try and win it this year.
“At the start of the season, you ask the question of the players about what they want to achieve.
“It is easy to say I want to win the league or I want to win the shield. Things like that roll off the tongue really easily, but the reality is none of that happens without work – that is where the focus needs to be now.
“How hard do the players want to work to make these things work for us?
“I am really hoping in the Christmas break that the guys can sit down and really think about how hard they are willing to work for the rest of the season.
“The question is how hard do you want to work to achieve the things you want this season?”
The 3-15 derby defeat to Strathaven in their last outing on December 16 still hurts. And Brown added:“We are a better team than Strathaven.
“I have no doubt about that, but they worked harder than us and wanted it more than us.
“That is down to the commitment of the players that we have.
“It is tough to see some players putting their bodies on the line and giving everything for the team and that not being reciprocated by some others in the team.
“The team is quite young and it has to mature quite quickly, realise rugby is about more than beating a team by a particular scoreline and realise it is about how you work as a unit and working for more than just yourself.
“There is so much more to the game and we need the players to realise that.”