Sheens impressed with pre-season progress
Michael Algeri &
Wests Tigers
Tue 10 Jan 2023, 08:47 PM
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Tim Sheens is happy with how things are going in pre-season but admits there’s plenty of hard work required for his team to achieve its goal of playing finals football in 2023.
The club’s new head coach has much to ponder over the next month or so before the team’s first trial against the Warriors on 9th February.
A couple of the burning questions surround the team captaincy and who will be wearing the number one jersey in the NRL season-opener against Gold Coast Titans.
“The six weeks we did before Christmas were brilliant,” said Sheens.
“We’re going into a bit more contact now in getting ready for the trials.
“Our first trial, we’ll be giving a lot of our younger guys a go, a lot of our senior boys will still be preparing for the second trial.”
“But in saying that, it gives a lot of the guys that have been training with us pre-Christmas, an opportunity to play.”
When asked what has particularly impressed him leading into the 2023 season, Sheens not only expressed praise for the playing group, but his new team of coaching staff.
Benji Marshall 'hands on' with attacking drills.
“The enthusiasm’s been great, not only from the players but my coaching staff too; that includes the new high-performance team under Peter Moussa,” added Sheens.
“Benji, Robbie, Dave Furner have been brilliant, as well as Wayne Lambkin, our Pathways Transition Coach.
“We’re well-organised, and we’re getting a lot of information down to our lower grades, so overall I’ve been
really happy with how it’s all been operating.”
David Furner chats with fellow assistant coach Wayne Lambkin.
Sheens is remaining tight-lipped on some of the key decisions ahead, but when it comes to the fullback spot, he’s pleased with the options available.
“The trials will sort that,” he said.
“We’ve got Charlie (Staines) training on the wing and at fullback, Daine (Laurie) has been training at fullback and pivot, plus we’ve also got another young fullback Jahream Bula, who’s been training really well.
It’ll be very interesting to see who grabs it.
Tim Sheens
Daine Laurie all smiles in pre-season.
The four-time premiership winning coach is up front about the team’s ambition in the season ahead, and that’s to play finals football.
For me it’s about setting a goal for the Top 8
Tim Sheens
“There’s no reason we can’t set that as a goal, but in saying that we need to work very hard to achieve that goal game-by-game, session-by-session.”
New head coach Tim Sheens has much to ponder before the team’s first pre-season trial against the Warriors in New Zealand.
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