Taylor: Our attack has to be better

[Geo]

Taylor: Our attack has to be better

Words & Video: Dan Talintyre

Wed 11th March, 08:57AM
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Wests Tigers Coach Jason Taylor says his side's attack needs to improve and be more clinical this weekend against the St. George-Illawarra Dragons.

Despite walking away from Round 1 with the two competition points, Taylor said the team made too many errors in the first half, particularly in attack, and that he was looking for a marked improvement this Monday night in the Club's first home game of 2015.

"We knew there would be plenty to work on out of that first game," he said.

"There was some really good football by the guys, and they showed some glimpses in attack but there were too many errors, especially in the first half.

"It was a rusty performance in attack, in my opinion, but we'll get better."

Taylor said he expected a tough clash against the Dragons on Monday night, despite the visitors going down to the Melbourne Storm in their opening match of the year.

"I thought the Dragons were actually pretty good in that first game," he said. "I know the talk has been about the fact they didn't score enough points, but defensively they did pretty well — you know you're in the match when you hold the Melbourne Storm to just two tries.

"So we'll need to really switch on and step up our performance this week.

"Having said that, though I think the confidence in everything that we've been doing is building.

"The weekend was good for that in relation to a number of areas.

"I think we've got more of an understanding about what we're trying to do and how it works."

Hear what Taylor had to say in full about this week's team and opponents above.

http://www.weststigers.com.au/news/2015/03/11/rd_2_coach_s_comment.html

 

[Geo]

We drop as much ball as we did against the Titans we'll be in strife…

JT is onto it...

 

[happy_tiger]

Our attack will come once we get our defence in order

I wonder what JT's thoughts on our defence was ??

 

[Geo]

Our attack will come once we get our defence in order

I wonder what JT's thoughts on our defence was ??

Post game presser he was Happy with it but dropping to much ball and the forward passes put undue pressure on it…

 

[Tigermama]

The Dragons were good defensively against the Storm. They always seem to lift when they play us. I was especially impressed with their winger, rookie Eto Nabuli. Our team needs to improve their defence, attack, hold on to the ball like their life depends on it, stay disciplined and follow the game plan if we are to have any chance of beating them. It's not too much to ask is it? :wink:

 

[Guest]

Yep, hold the pill and we win the game. It's so important to hold the ball, particularly in the early games when the match fitness isn't quite there yet. A team will just burn up too much juice out there if they can't hold the ball. I'd like to see Brooks and Moses start to take the line on a little more too, get some ball running options lined up outside them, run some angles and I reckon our overall attack will improve markedly.

 

[happy_tiger]

Yep, hold the pill and we win the game. It's so important to hold the ball, particularly in the early games when the match fitness isn't quite there yet. A team will just burn up too much juice out there if they can't hold the ball. I'd like to see Brooks and Moses start to take the line on a little more too, get some ball running options lined up outside them, run some angles and I reckon our overall attack will improve markedly.

Was very surprised we had a better completion rate than the Titans in the end

If memory serves at HT the Titans were at 18/21 and we were well behind that

I think Brooks had the balance right with taking on the line and passing , Moses I can only remember running once

 

[Basil_Tiger]

Our attack will come once we get our defence in order

I wonder what JT's thoughts on our defence was ??

Yep,Jack Gibson,Warren Ryan,Phil Gould etc,all said the same thing,you can't chase 20 points every Week and be successful.Only our first game but we still look look a dogs breakfast in defence IMO,lots of work needed. I thought Blair was ordinary against Souths after a good game in the UK,interesting to see what Bennett does with him.

 

[balmain boy]

Well it was one of our better defensive displays for some time so i'm not too sure what you're worried about.

An opposing team were entrenched in our half for almost the entire first half and scored from a kick with the right bounce, and a barge over that scraped on to the line after having 4-5 repeat sets on our line. Their last try came about from an off balance pirouette that wrong footed our defence very close to the line and so he crashed over.

They hardly threatened our line at all. This despite having their complete backline available in the match.

We showed much better desperation and structure than we have in the past and you can tell the boys actually know what they're supposed to be doing now.

Attack was very rusty but its hard to attack when you have 40% possession. Kicking was poor, but i'll see how they go this weekend before criticising the kicking game any further.

 

[old_man_tiger]

Personally I thought we were much more composed when sliding and showed a lot more trust in inside players. Was more concerned about our point scoring ability, but am happy to give it 2-3 months. Good defence, especially good structure, makes you a contender every year. Good attack…we've seen what that does.

If we defend well over the next few weeks I'll remain pleased.

 

[AmericanHistoryX]

personally i think the chain needs some oiling.

_Posted using RoarFEED Android 1.2.3_

 

[Basil_Tiger]

Well it was one of our better defensive displays for some time so i'm not too sure what you're worried about.
.

Cripey,we see games differently,we leaked 18 points to a no name Team,that will be 40+ against the better sides but i can see where your coming from and as its the first game lets see how they progress. Good to see the boys gel/bond so early in the season,lets hope it stays there for the next 6 Months.

 

[Tigertigertiger]

Get the defence in order and the attack will come….

 

[foreveratiger]

Didn't the Dragons win a Premiership a couple of years ago? Largely to there defence?

 

[tig_prmz]

Didn't the Dragons win a Premiership a couple of years ago? Largely to there defence?

5 years ago actually.

It would be wrong to take the blueprint of how a team won a premiership x years ago. We need to build our own style of play. In the past, we had success and failure with an attacking brand of football- just coz saints won once with a defensive style, doesn't mean we will win it the same way 5 years later.

_Posted using RoarFEED 4.2.0_

 

[Gray]

Well it was one of our better defensive displays for some time so i'm not too sure what you're worried about.
.

Cripey,we see games differently,we leaked 18 points to a no name Team,that will be 40+ against the better sides but i can see where your coming from and as its the first game lets see how they progress. Good to see the boys gel/bond so early in the season,lets hope it stays there for the next 6 Months.

Look at how they scored their 18points though. Two of there tries were nothing plays, we defended the rest. James Roberts diving on a grubber through and JR again spinning from dummy half out of brooks tackle and diving over. We shut down their forwards in the middle and everytime they tried to spread the ball. Apart from when Ryan James scored.

I thought overall defensively we were sound. Some improvement yeah, but was solid.

_Posted using RoarFEED 4.2.0_

 

[foreveratiger]

Didn't the Dragons win a Premiership a couple of years ago? Largely to there defence?

5 years ago actually.

It would be wrong to take the blueprint of how a team won a premiership x years ago. We need to build our own style of play. In the past, we had success and failure with an attacking brand of football- just coz saints won once with a defensive style, doesn't mean we will win it the same way 5 years later.

_Posted using RoarFEED 4.2.0_

The way I worded it, i made it sound like we are going to win it on the back of a good defence? I don't think we can win it, no way. If we even make the 8? We have overachieved IMO.

All I'm saying is the Dragons defence that won it a couple of years ago? Was unbelievable
If you can defend teams to very little points? Well you obviously don't need as many points to score to win games.
Defence is massive

 

[pHyR3]

Didn't the Dragons win a Premiership a couple of years ago? Largely to there defence?

5 years ago actually.

It would be wrong to take the blueprint of how a team won a premiership x years ago. We need to build our own style of play. In the past, we had success and failure with an attacking brand of football- just coz saints won once with a defensive style, doesn't mean we will win it the same way 5 years later.

_Posted using RoarFEED 4.2.0_

how many teams in the last 10 have won premierships off of great attack? aside from us i cant think of many.

chooks won off phenomenal D in a grand final against manly who had almost as impressive defence that year.

souths had good defence too, as did the dogs last year and in 2012.

defence wins premierships

 

[innsaneink]

People only judge our defense where the tries are score….try looking at the whole game...it still needs work, lots.

As for holding onto the ball....rookies push passes, they panic

 

[Marshall_magic]

I was happy with our attack in the Titans game. The creativity and ideas were there, it was timing and execution that let us down. As the team gets into the grind of week to week footy the passes will get a little crisper and we'll finish off more chances. If we looked clueless on the ball I'd be worried.