Qld preview: 'Cut-throat hunger' driving Bulls rebound

Head coach Wade Seccombe has made it clear that last summer was a disappointing one for the Bulls, who crashed back to earth after winning the Shield in 2020-21 with a fifth-placed finish this time around.

In the One-Day Cup, three wins and three losses positioned Queensland fourth on the ladder, their lowest finish in the past three seasons.

"We have high standards," Seccombe told cricket.com.au. "We look at our side, and we look at our opposition, and we truly expect to be playing finals every year.

"That's not being disrespectful to anyone, but we just believe in our capabilities and the talent we've got.

"Queensland has a history of having successful years where we win a tournament, and then the following year, we don't uphold our standards.

"That's something we've really got to address; that cutthroat hunger that we need season-in, season-out.

"Not just win one, and then be complacent the following year – it's win one and then dominate the next, and dominate the next. That's what we're chasing."

Queensland's first match of the season is a day-night Marsh Cup fixture with South Australia at Allan Border Field on Monday, which will be the first clash under lights at the venue after an $18m upgrade.

Last season

Sheffield Shield: 5th

Marsh One-Day Cup: 4th

Squad: Xavier Bartlett, James Bazley, Max Bryant, Joe Burns, Jack Clayton, Blake Edwards, Liam Guthrie, Sam Heazlett, Usman Khawaja* (c), Matthew Kuhnemann, Marnus Labuschagne*, Michael Neser, Jimmy Peirson, Matthew Renshaw, Kane Richardson, Gurinder Sandhu, Mark Steketee, Bryce Street, Connor Sully, Mitchell Swepson*, Sam Truloff, Jack Wildermuth. Rookies: Will Prestwidge, Jackson Sinfield, Hugo Burdon, Matthew Willans

* Cricket Australia contract

Ins: Liam Guthrie (WA), Kane Richardson (SA), Gurinder Sandhu, Sam Truloff, Jackson Sinfield (rookie), Hugo Burdon (rookie)

Outs: Lachlan Pfeffer (delisted), Billy Stanlake (Tasmania), Jack Wood (delisted)

Possible best XIs

Sheffield Shield: Joe Burns, Bryce Street, Usman Khawaja (c), Marnus Labuschagne, Matt Renshaw, Jack Wildermuth, Jimmy Peirson, Michael Neser, Gurinder Sandhu, Mark Steketee, Mitch Swepson

Marsh One-Day Cup: Joe Burns, Sam Heazlett, Usman Khawaja (c), Marnus Labuschagne, Matt Renshaw, Jack Wildermuth, Jimmy Peirson, Michael Neser, Gurinder Sandhu, Kane Richardson, Mitch Swepson

The inside word with head coach Wade Seccombe

The pre-season: "The boys have played a fair bit of cricket. It's been T20 format because we had the (T20 Max) competition up here but I feel as though they've had a bit of time in the middle regardless. And we're into (Premier) 50-over cricket now. The game against Tasmania Second XI was really our only game against an opposition before the season starts, but we've played plenty of matches to date, so they should be fine.

"There's a lot of hunger in the group this year, that's been evident through the way they've approached their off-season.

"We've got a lot of players that sit around that Australia A standard who are hungry to get their opportunity at the higher level, so there's every reason for them to kick on and make a name for themselves."

Fitness and availability: "The one injury we've got is one of our rookies, Jackson Sinfield, who has a stress-related foot injury. It's really disappointing for him because so new to the group and so keen to do well. Other than that, we're in good health and should have full availability except we probably won't have Kane Richardson (due to T20 World Cup selection)."

New face: "Liam (Guthrie) has had an off-season in England, so he hasn't had a lot of the pre-season with us. But because he had that history with the Heat, he comes into our group knowing a lot of the players and staff, and Brisbane is just that little bit more familiar for him, so I feel like he's settling in pretty well. And he's a good one to bring into the group because he has a really nice point of difference for us (as a left-arm pace bowler)."

Areas for improvement: "Scoring shot selection, scoring rates and generally across the board in one-day cricket we can improve. We played a really good style against Victoria last year at Junction, and we've just got to replicate that.

"In red-ball cricket, we just need to be more disciplined (with our batting). It's something we've prided ourselves on (previously); there's knowing when to be disciplined, and there's knowing when to take the game forward, and that comes down to decision making. That's something we've really discussed this year.

"Our bowling is somewhat similar. We know that we have to do the hard yards – we can't just expect to turn up and take wickets. That's about discipline with the ball in hand and knowing when to hold our lines and when to attack.

Young gun: "Jack Clayton is one of a few (young talents). He was very impressive coming into the group and making a (Shield) hundred on debut. He's switched on, he prepares the right way, he's very professional. He captained our Second XI (last week) for the first time, and really took to that very well so I think there's a future there for him. He'll add to that competition for batting spots."

Talking points

Two spinners?

"I hope we have the chance to play (Swepson and Kuhnemann) in the same XI, because they're both world-class bowlers. And maybe as a Queensland unit, we've got to change the way we think usually, because traditionally it's the quicks and one spinner. That's generally dictated by the conditions we play in, but we're going to play a few games at Allan Border Field, and then with our away games as well, we might have the luxury of playing two spinners, which I'm all for."

Where to bat Matt Renshaw?

"It's a conversation that we've got to have with Matthew because the whole way along when he was batting in the middle order, I always said he's an opener, but he just happens to be batting at five for the minute. So it's always our intention that he moves up to the top of the order at some point in time, and I think he'd be mad not to want to do that with the current openers in the Australian team (Usman Khawaja and David Warner), who are locked in for the immediate future, but they're both probably closer to the end of their career than the start of their careers."

Key player: "Without dancing around the question, I'm pretty comfortable in saying we've got a lot of players in that late 20s age group, they've been around for a while, they're on the fringes of Australia or Australia A, and they're all leaders. Swepson. Peirson. Neser. Steketee. That style of players. On any given day, or any given match, any given training session, one of those guys steps up and leads in some way. One thing we're very mindful of is, 'How do we bring the group forward?' We need to do that through the leadership of some of these guys, and they're taking the young guys under their wing, which has been really great to see."

Team to beat: "We always respect the boys from WA. They've got a core that has been together for a while, and I like to think that we owe them a couple. I'm quite looking forward to those matches with WA, I don't think we've put our best foot forward against them in recent times so that's the one that I want to tick off."