“I’m happy with the effort that was put in (in 2013), but there’s a whole new level that needs to be reached for us to be really competitive again,” he said.

Carty, who was recently reappointed as coach, took United’s senior team to seventh place last season.

“For us it was a transitional year, a step towards where we want to be,” he said.

“We still had high expectations and an appetite for trophies but we fell short of our expectations.

“However, I certainly wouldn’t call last season a shortfall or a failure in any sense.”

Carty took over from club legend Scott Kidd, who had spent 17 years in charge of the team, after United won the cup final last year.

“We had quite a few players finish up after the premiership win the season before, so that’s always going to be difficult the following year,” Carty said.

“You have to realise they’ve had the same coach at the club for 17 years straight, so they’re accustomed to the style and how things are played, but then someone new comes along and has a different style.”

“It can be a lot for a playing group to change to and adjust to in a short time frame.”

“I threw a lot at the team and they responded well, but maybe I threw too much at them in one hit.”

Carty is keen to work on his team’s structure once United start their pre-season training early next year.

“I think we need to be a little more tuned as to how we should be playing and the structure of how we play, and the discipline around that play, but that should come,” he said.

“Once we bed down the structure and get that right we’ll start to get better performances on the park, and hopefully better results as a consequence.”