Cool, calm and collected Hornby happy to play straight bat Greg Prichard
September 25, 2010
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IF THE Dragons are as miserly against Wests Tigers tonight as they were during and after their final training session yesterday, the opposition has no chance.
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They trained sharply at Redfern Oval, with mistakes kept to an absolute minimum, before captain Ben Hornby fronted the media and delivered an even more clinical performance, answering all of the questions but giving nothing away.
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Brad Fittler was among those who watched from the grandstand, and said: ''It looked like they all knew their job. Very professional, just what you want for a last session.''
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Some assume Dragons coach Wayne Bennett tells his players how to handle the media, with the emphasis on keeping answers short and saying nothing that could return to haunt the team. But that is not the way he operates. Many of the players simply watch how Bennett handles media interviews - particularly those all-in ones, like yesterday, when the questions come thick and fast and on a variety of subjects, and you can be caught off-guard - and choose to adopt a similar style.
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The Dragons have been labelled chokers as a club because of failures by previous versions of the side. And there is the pressure that can come from the massive expectations of a fan base who have had handed down from previous generations the legend of the 11 straight premierships won by the St George half of the joint venture from 1956-66.
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Bennett's way of handling those issues is to remind his players of what is really important in terms of their approach, and to show them that what people outside of the club say is irrelevant. What his players see is a coach who doesn't carry the burden of expectation, and who doesn't get carried away by praise or flattened by criticism. They like that strength and consistency, and react well to it.
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Hornby, when asked if he thought the confidence that seemed to be coming out of the Tigers camp was hot air, replied: ''Time will tell, I guess. It doesn't matter what we say, it's how we're going to perform.''
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Were the Dragons under more pressure than most teams? ''There's pressure on everyone. If you lose you're out, so I don't think there's any more pressure on us than anyone else.''
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Do you have a Plan B, in case Plan A doesn't work? ''I guess time will tell.''
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Will you try to attack more to the right than usual, in a bid to take advantage of the dodgy left-side defence of the Tigers? ''We're not going in with any preconceived ideas about where we're going to attack or who we're going to attack. We just go out there to play our footy, and we'll attack both sides just as much.''
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Have you found any weaknesses in the Tigers? ''Oh, time will tell.''
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Did you keep something up your sleeve against Manly (the Dragons beat the Sea Eagles 28-0 in week one of the finals)? ''No, we played Manly to try to beat them. At the end of the day, we did that, so we're happy.''
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Is it the best chance, in your time at the club, that the Dragons have had to go through to the grand final? ''Yes.'' Why? ''We're fresh and we're in a good position to do what we want to do, but as I've said before, time will tell.''
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Those were a few examples of the question-and-answer session. It was the performance of a man who is focused on one thing, and it's not coming up with a few good lines for the media
**I just read Hornby's article and suddenly became confident we can win. I think the dragons are showing the weight of expectation. It looks as though they believe they deserve the grand final.\
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I think they believe if the result does not go their way they would've lost the game rather than we win it. In my opinion their mindset is all wrong. They are so focused on executing "their" game plan, they will not cope well when things go wrong - Tigers to win (and win well)**
