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Farah: Wests are primed
08/04/2010 3:31 PM
John Greco
Sportal
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Wests skipper Robbie Farah believes the 2010 Tigers side now has the mental toughness to match their attacking prowess which he hopes will help the club end their five-year finals drought.
The Tigers have long been regarded as one of the most exciting teams to watch in the NRL but have also earned the reputation of having a soft underbelly when the blowtorch is applied.
The club has failed to make the finals every season since winning the premiership in 2005 which simply isn't good enough with the talent in the squad.
But there's a renewed confidence coming out of the club this season which has seen the Tigers open with three wins from four matches.
They produced a spirited comeback from 18 points down to beat the Raiders in Canberra last weekend and did something similar to knock off Manly in Round 1.
While not wanting to make a habit of the slow starts to matches, Farah believes it's a sure sign this Tigers team is much stronger proposition this season.
"You definitely learn a lot from those games," Farah said before training on Thursday.
"Last week we showed some good character at 22-4 down, we could have easily packed our bags, got on the bus and gone home."
"But we dug deep and come away with the win."
"We've got that belief now when we're down on the scoreboard we can come back in to the game."
"The key to that is our defence, in both games we were down we held them scoreless in second half if you do that you give yourselves a chance to come back in second half."
"We know we can score points but when get our defence right we're a big chance of winning footy games."
Just how well the Tigers are travelling will get a stern test on Saturday night when they face the Cowboys in Townsville.
But they will have to do so without prop Keith Galloway, who has been ruled out of the Cowboys clash with a shoulder injury.
Galloway is likely to only miss a week with Sheens to name a replacement before the team heads to Townsville on Friday.
Centre Blake Ayshford is also unlikely to play due to a knee injury with the versatile Daniel Fitzhenry expected to slot into the backline.
"It would be a huge shot in the arm if we can come up with a win this week," Sheens said.
"At the moment the competition is still very tough and if don't prepare right you get beat."
"Once they get in front they are hard to beat … last year put 40 on us."
"That was our worst loss."
"We'll work hard on mentally preparing ... we'll need to be on our game."
Not surprisingly Sheens believes shutting down Johnathan Thurston will be the key to victory but said the Cowboys were anything but a one-man team.
"They've got (Aaron) Payne and young (Ray) Thompson at five-eight and some smart forwards too," Sheen said.
"The Cowboys throw more at you up there than they do away."
"We need to limit what opportunities (Thurston) gets the same way you do with any good player but if you focus solely on one player you do so at your peril, particularly up there."
"He's not the only player but he's obviously there main go-to person."
08/04/2010 3:31 PM
John Greco
Sportal
\
\
Wests skipper Robbie Farah believes the 2010 Tigers side now has the mental toughness to match their attacking prowess which he hopes will help the club end their five-year finals drought.
The Tigers have long been regarded as one of the most exciting teams to watch in the NRL but have also earned the reputation of having a soft underbelly when the blowtorch is applied.
The club has failed to make the finals every season since winning the premiership in 2005 which simply isn't good enough with the talent in the squad.
But there's a renewed confidence coming out of the club this season which has seen the Tigers open with three wins from four matches.
They produced a spirited comeback from 18 points down to beat the Raiders in Canberra last weekend and did something similar to knock off Manly in Round 1.
While not wanting to make a habit of the slow starts to matches, Farah believes it's a sure sign this Tigers team is much stronger proposition this season.
"You definitely learn a lot from those games," Farah said before training on Thursday.
"Last week we showed some good character at 22-4 down, we could have easily packed our bags, got on the bus and gone home."
"But we dug deep and come away with the win."
"We've got that belief now when we're down on the scoreboard we can come back in to the game."
"The key to that is our defence, in both games we were down we held them scoreless in second half if you do that you give yourselves a chance to come back in second half."
"We know we can score points but when get our defence right we're a big chance of winning footy games."
Just how well the Tigers are travelling will get a stern test on Saturday night when they face the Cowboys in Townsville.
But they will have to do so without prop Keith Galloway, who has been ruled out of the Cowboys clash with a shoulder injury.
Galloway is likely to only miss a week with Sheens to name a replacement before the team heads to Townsville on Friday.
Centre Blake Ayshford is also unlikely to play due to a knee injury with the versatile Daniel Fitzhenry expected to slot into the backline.
"It would be a huge shot in the arm if we can come up with a win this week," Sheens said.
"At the moment the competition is still very tough and if don't prepare right you get beat."
"Once they get in front they are hard to beat … last year put 40 on us."
"That was our worst loss."
"We'll work hard on mentally preparing ... we'll need to be on our game."
Not surprisingly Sheens believes shutting down Johnathan Thurston will be the key to victory but said the Cowboys were anything but a one-man team.
"They've got (Aaron) Payne and young (Ray) Thompson at five-eight and some smart forwards too," Sheen said.
"The Cowboys throw more at you up there than they do away."
"We need to limit what opportunities (Thurston) gets the same way you do with any good player but if you focus solely on one player you do so at your peril, particularly up there."
"He's not the only player but he's obviously there main go-to person."
