Our main issue has always been defence which would then compromise our attack as heads dropped. In the last five or so games last year IC had the players on board with his idea that they were fit enough but their psyches had them believing that they couldn't raise the extra effort required at the back end of games.
Once that hurdle was mostly out of the way, the team began to compete for the 80 minutes. The net result was that we gave some of the more fancied teams a real red hot go for the money. Of course the defensive systems were tinkered with and our right side and our scramble improved greatly.
With the off season geared to playing the coach's style, I think we will see another, bigger, step up next year and we might just shock some of the salary cap wranglers and the first six weeks will be very interesting to watch, even if it takes a few weeks to lock in combinations and the new playing style.
So, for me, our immediate future is looking brighter than last year with a few rough patches along the way. I am, as always, the eternal optimist; why else would I have followed Wests/Wests Tigers for the last 56 years. (but who's counting? Not me!)
