He said a top-three finish would be his best-case scenario for this year. 

“If we finished in the top three we would get two cracks at the finals, so I would say that everyone else would have the same idea as me,” he said.

Ryan believes his group of forwards will be among the best in the Group XI competition, second only to reigning premiers, the Forbes Magpies.

“The hit-out against Forbes will be a real test. I think there will be a few sore bodies after that game,” he said.

His side currently has a two-week break from matches – the weekend just passed and this upcoming weekend – before heading to Forbes to take on the Magpies in their first official hit-out of the year on April 30.

“We’ve had a great pre-season, so I’m really looking forward to getting this season started... everyone has trained really hard,” Ryan said.

“I’ve been playing First Grade at the club for about eight years and I have to say that this was probably the best pre-season I’ve seen here.”

Ryan said all the boys are on the same page and his thoughts have been echoed through other senior players.

“Some of the older guys we’ve got at the club are really feeling good about this year too… they’ve been around for a while and have been through the good and the bad, so to hear they’re excited is a really good feeling,” he said.

The Cowboys will enter the season with both a pre-season win and loss under their belt and Ryan said he is happy about the high-scoring nature of both matches.

“Our problem last year was that we weren’t scoring points! So I’m really happy we’ve put on two high scores.

“We do need to tighten up our defence still, but just the fact that we came away with a win in Narromine is great. I didn’t expect it.

“We were very undermanned and for the young guys to stand up the way they did is fantastic.

“It gives me a lot to think about.”