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TODD PAYTEN SEARCHES FOR RIGHT MENTALITY
By Wayne Cousins
6/03/2012 5:57:16 PM
Wests Tigers NYC Coach Todd Payten says his players must adopt the right mentality in playing smart football after watching his side squander an “unbeatable lead”.
It was a case of two halves for Payten in his first NYC match as a Head Coach. His men dominated the first half to lead 20-6 at the break in sweltering conditions before falling away to lose 28-26 to Cronulla at Leichhardt Oval on Sunday.
“We started well, controlled the ball, completed our sets. The boys showed a fair bit of composure after Cronulla scored first and fought their way back into it to hit the lead. It should have been an unbeatable lead,’’ Payten said.
“I gave them a bit of a wrap at half-time as we were pretty happy with the way they were playing. And then…well , I don’t think the conditions helped but we just came out not switched on enough.
“We made a couple of errors that were compounded by a few penalties in the heat. We played some brain dead footy and took some soft options defensively.
“I told them afterwards we had to change our mentality. A lot of the 20s kids coming through want to do all the flashy stuff with the ball and don’t really want to get down and dirty in defence so we need to change that.
“We had opportunities at the end to win but we started playing off the cuff instead of playing what we practised using our structure and using the stuff that got us to the lead.
“The way we play and the way the Wests Tigers first grade side play burns up a lot of gas. We are always supporting and running angles in attack and then you have got to work hard in defence.
“I told the players the only time you take a blow is when we have the ball. The players are thinking we will spark up in attack and catch our wind in defence and that’s just not the way it is done because you leak too many points.”
Payten said the players’ player award went to winger Marika Koribete with the Coaches Award going to centre Michael Kai.
“It was pretty hard. It was the first time I’ve voted for a back in 15 years,’’ joked the former premiership winning prop.
Wests Tigers play Manly at Bluetongue Stadium on Friday night at 5.15pm in round 2.
By Wayne Cousins
6/03/2012 5:57:16 PM
Wests Tigers NYC Coach Todd Payten says his players must adopt the right mentality in playing smart football after watching his side squander an “unbeatable lead”.
It was a case of two halves for Payten in his first NYC match as a Head Coach. His men dominated the first half to lead 20-6 at the break in sweltering conditions before falling away to lose 28-26 to Cronulla at Leichhardt Oval on Sunday.
“We started well, controlled the ball, completed our sets. The boys showed a fair bit of composure after Cronulla scored first and fought their way back into it to hit the lead. It should have been an unbeatable lead,’’ Payten said.
“I gave them a bit of a wrap at half-time as we were pretty happy with the way they were playing. And then…well , I don’t think the conditions helped but we just came out not switched on enough.
“We made a couple of errors that were compounded by a few penalties in the heat. We played some brain dead footy and took some soft options defensively.
“I told them afterwards we had to change our mentality. A lot of the 20s kids coming through want to do all the flashy stuff with the ball and don’t really want to get down and dirty in defence so we need to change that.
“We had opportunities at the end to win but we started playing off the cuff instead of playing what we practised using our structure and using the stuff that got us to the lead.
“The way we play and the way the Wests Tigers first grade side play burns up a lot of gas. We are always supporting and running angles in attack and then you have got to work hard in defence.
“I told the players the only time you take a blow is when we have the ball. The players are thinking we will spark up in attack and catch our wind in defence and that’s just not the way it is done because you leak too many points.”
Payten said the players’ player award went to winger Marika Koribete with the Coaches Award going to centre Michael Kai.
“It was pretty hard. It was the first time I’ve voted for a back in 15 years,’’ joked the former premiership winning prop.
Wests Tigers play Manly at Bluetongue Stadium on Friday night at 5.15pm in round 2.
