It’s been a year to forget for the Queensland Reds and Samu Kerevi is one who won’t be dwelling on an underwhelming Super Rugby campaign.
The Reds host the Melbourne Rebels at Suncorp Stadium on Friday in their final match of the season.
Queensland have won just three matches from 14 starts in 2016 and are only above the hapless Force in the Australian conference standings.
Head coach Richard Graham was sacked in March and the hunt for a full-time replacement continues while veteran forwards Ben Daley and Greg Holmes are set to play their final matches for the Reds on Friday.
Kerevi says keeping the past in the past and looking ahead to the future is the only way forward for the Reds.
“We’re all disappointed with how we went this year results-wise,” Kerevi said.
“A lot of players getting injured and our placements within the team, we’ve had a lot of changes.”
The Reds will field a new-look team in 2017, with Wallabies skipper Stephen Moore already agreeing to return to Queensland while Quade Cooper’s likely return from France has been in the pipeline for several weeks.
Kerevi says the opportunities handed to the next generation of Reds players in 2016 will only benefit the club as well.
“It’s definitely a building block, we’ve blooded a lot of young players,” he said.
“You’ve seen what Taniela Tupou does on the football field, the two games he’s played. He’s got a bright future ahead of him.
“We’ve got to just keep building on the young players we have in the group, get all the positives from this year and move on into next year.”
Wallabies front-rower Holmes will play the final match of his long Reds’ career against the Rebels, and Kerevi has paid tribute to the 33-year-old.
“To see someone of Holmesy’s calibre, work as hard as he has throughout the years, is incredible,” the newly-capped Wallabies centre said.
“Definitely something that a lot of boys strive to be. Especially a one-club man, which is an amazing thing to be able to do.
“Congratulations to him for the years that he’s had and especially the last year, making the Wallabies team again after so long. I definitely want to send him off with a win this weekend.”
