Wests Tigers coach Jason Taylor says the team has had a long hard look at themselves and want to put the first 10 rounds behind them by playing much better the rest of the season.
“We have drawn a line in the sand and now look towards improvement in our performance, starting this week,’’ Taylor told a media conference this morning.
The Tigers host fellow strugglers Newcastle Knights tomorrow [Saturday, May 21] in a round 11 NRL clash at Campbelltown Stadium, which will kick off at 3pm.
Those first 10 rounds produced two Tigers wins to start the season, six losses on the trot, a win against Souths, followed by last week’s capitulation to the rampaging Bulldogs.
Taylor conceded that inconsistency loomed large over those 10 matches of the 2016 season.
“Our opposition this week is irrelevant, to be honest, it doesn’t matter who we’re playing, we haven’t been playing well enough, and we need to improve,’’ Taylor said.
“We thought long and hard about it, we trained well this week, and we want a much improved performance.
“After last week’s match with the Bullldogs we talked long and hard about where we’re at and what we need to do to get out of there, and the guys have responded well.
“We haven’t be far off in what we’ve been doing in preparation, but you can always do more.
“And this week we’ve found some more and the guys have come together really well, so we’re confident we’ll play well, but we have to do it when it matters.’’
Apart from getting some consistency, Taylor is pinning his hopes on new recruits Mat Ballin, who’s in for Robbie Farah, and Elijah Taylor, who made his debut last week.
The coach said he had been impressed by Ballin’s attitude at training.
“It’s been great, he’s a professional and a great leader and I’ve really enjoyed watching him interact with the other players,’’ he said.
The coach said he was confident the former Manly hooker would be ready to relaunch his NRL career.
“He will be ready for it. It’s not as though he’s unsure what the NRL is; he’s played it 10, 11 years or so.
“He knows what to expect.’’
Taylor also praised Elijah Taylor.
“His input in that game against the Bulldogs was massive; he played 70 minutes and made 50 tackles and really improved us in that area.
[social_quote duplicate=”no” align=”default”]“The Bulldogs caused us problems on the edges, but that’s behind us and as I said, we’ve had a strong week and it’s a line in the sand, we need to do better.[/social_quote]
“We’ve got to get it done tomorrow.’’
