Tigers finding form at right time Benji Marshall
August 7, 2011
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Timing is everything, and I do feel that we are starting to time a run at the right time. I don't want us to get too far ahead of ourselves, but I really feel like things are coming together for us. We're trying things and they're coming off.
We really needed those two last wins, against St George Illawarra on Friday night and Manly a week earlier. To come from behind against both of them shows we are a different side to Tigers teams of the past. There is no way that, three or four years ago, we would have won games like that. I think we're a smarter team and certainly more mature.
I feel that we are really starting to bond at the right time. We're gelling really well. Before we won four in a row, plays just weren't coming off for us. But now, those same plays are coming off. The turning point came when we sat as a group and came to the realisation that, with a few of the boys leaving, we had to do something together for the very last time. This is the last time this team will play together. We really want to play for each other, and especially Bryce Gibbs, Tim Moltzen and Andrew Fifita, who are leaving us.
Advertisement: Story continues below We really want to play for each other and send our mates out on the right note. The whole saga with all those players leaving was a distraction; we didn't want it to be but it was difficult to avoid. It did play on our minds. But we have gotten past that now.
I'm a big believer that a successful team has to have a consistent 1/6/7 and 9, the so-called spine. If you can keep the same group together and build combinations, the chances are that you will have some success.
We have that right now. If our halfback, Robert Lui, plays anywhere near to what he is capable of, we are a different team. Tim at the back has been playing unbelievably well, and Robbie Farah is starting to find his form.
All of us have had injury problems through the season, whether it be Tim coming back from a knee reconstruction, Robert having an ankle problem and me injuring my knee and shoulder a few weeks back. I'm probably still not 100 per cent after the knee injury, but I had the strapping off for the first time on Friday night and I was able to run more freely. If the players in those four key positions are on song, you get results. And that's where we are now.
Combine that with our forward pack, which I think is well underrated; Keith Galloway has been the best front-rower in the competition over the past four weeks, Gareth Ellis is hitting hard, Liam Fulton is in incredible form and Chris Heighington is the heart and soul of the team.
Hopefully we don't lose our centre Chris Lawrence for any significant length of time because he has really added another point of attack on the left side since he returned from his dislocated hip.
I've always had belief in our side; it was just a matter of putting it all together. In the first half of the
year we were dropping too much ball, which quality sides can't do. But we've improved that area and our defence has also been working well for us.
That said, we cannot get too excited. It's still relatively early. It is a good time to find some form, leading into the finals, but as quickly as teams improve, they can also fall apart. If we don't keep performing, those wins won't mean anything. We need to keep playing the way we've been playing.
We want to get higher on the table and to do that we need to keep doing what we have been doing.
We've still got a lot to work on. We can't afford to get too far ahead of ourselves, and we'll be kidding ourselves if we do.
August 7, 2011
\
\
Timing is everything, and I do feel that we are starting to time a run at the right time. I don't want us to get too far ahead of ourselves, but I really feel like things are coming together for us. We're trying things and they're coming off.
We really needed those two last wins, against St George Illawarra on Friday night and Manly a week earlier. To come from behind against both of them shows we are a different side to Tigers teams of the past. There is no way that, three or four years ago, we would have won games like that. I think we're a smarter team and certainly more mature.
I feel that we are really starting to bond at the right time. We're gelling really well. Before we won four in a row, plays just weren't coming off for us. But now, those same plays are coming off. The turning point came when we sat as a group and came to the realisation that, with a few of the boys leaving, we had to do something together for the very last time. This is the last time this team will play together. We really want to play for each other, and especially Bryce Gibbs, Tim Moltzen and Andrew Fifita, who are leaving us.
Advertisement: Story continues below We really want to play for each other and send our mates out on the right note. The whole saga with all those players leaving was a distraction; we didn't want it to be but it was difficult to avoid. It did play on our minds. But we have gotten past that now.
I'm a big believer that a successful team has to have a consistent 1/6/7 and 9, the so-called spine. If you can keep the same group together and build combinations, the chances are that you will have some success.
We have that right now. If our halfback, Robert Lui, plays anywhere near to what he is capable of, we are a different team. Tim at the back has been playing unbelievably well, and Robbie Farah is starting to find his form.
All of us have had injury problems through the season, whether it be Tim coming back from a knee reconstruction, Robert having an ankle problem and me injuring my knee and shoulder a few weeks back. I'm probably still not 100 per cent after the knee injury, but I had the strapping off for the first time on Friday night and I was able to run more freely. If the players in those four key positions are on song, you get results. And that's where we are now.
Combine that with our forward pack, which I think is well underrated; Keith Galloway has been the best front-rower in the competition over the past four weeks, Gareth Ellis is hitting hard, Liam Fulton is in incredible form and Chris Heighington is the heart and soul of the team.
Hopefully we don't lose our centre Chris Lawrence for any significant length of time because he has really added another point of attack on the left side since he returned from his dislocated hip.
I've always had belief in our side; it was just a matter of putting it all together. In the first half of the
year we were dropping too much ball, which quality sides can't do. But we've improved that area and our defence has also been working well for us.
That said, we cannot get too excited. It's still relatively early. It is a good time to find some form, leading into the finals, but as quickly as teams improve, they can also fall apart. If we don't keep performing, those wins won't mean anything. We need to keep playing the way we've been playing.
We want to get higher on the table and to do that we need to keep doing what we have been doing.
We've still got a lot to work on. We can't afford to get too far ahead of ourselves, and we'll be kidding ourselves if we do.
