TODD'S BLOG

[Guest]

TODD'S BLOG
15/02/2012 8:34:20 AM

Under 20s coach, Todd Payten will write a weekly blog for weststigers.com.au to update us all on the progress of the Wests Tigers Under 20s team. This week he tells us about his first few months in the new coaching role as well as looking ahead to the coming season.

After finishing my playing career and taking up the position as head coach of the Under 20s, I’m now excited about the next stage in my life.

Coaching is something I’ve always been interested in. I was involved in some coaching during my playing days with some of the younger sides so it was the natural step for me to make.

At the start of pre season last year, I had 45 players to choose from and I have had to whittle that down slowly but surely to carve out a side that I think can win this year’s title.

A lot of people might ask how you’d go about that. Well I guess it’s looking at a player’s work ethic, how they train and perform as well as some gut instinct.

I’ve also had the privilege of learning from a guy like Tim Sheens. Tim has a great eye for detail and never misses a thing. He has helped me appreciate the many different aspects to the job which you don’t necessarily see when you are a player. His knowledge of the game is second to none and his ability to plan for the future is one of the key ingredients to his longevity as a top grade coach. I look forward to learning more and more from him over the coming season.

The selection process has been made a lot easier for me when you have knowledgeable staff working with you. Grant Jones (Elite Junior Player & Coaching Manager), Balin Cupples (NYC Strength and Conditioning) and Tony Carson (Welfare Manager/NYC Football Operations Manager) all have a wealth of experience when it comes to talent identification so they have been a useful sounding board for me when it’s come to the tough selection decisions.

As for the here and now, I thought our guys had a good hit out last Saturday against Parramatta. I guess the focus for us was more about ball control and completion. We completed 16/17 sets in the first half which did not give our opposition much of a chance. However we made a lot of mistakes in the second half which meant a lot of defending. We got tired as a result of this and our completion rate was only 7/15 which is something we need to improve on.

It was unfortunate for us to lose one of our experienced players in Jesse Sue to an ankle injury that will most likely sideline him for 4-6 weeks. Being in his second year, Jesse is one of our leaders so it’s a shame that he will not be fit for our Round One game against the Sharks.

This week, I will go in with our top 20 players and treat the first half like a competition match. I’ll look to use the second half to work on some combinations and just give game time to those who need it.

All in all, I’m happy with where we’re at. It’s a young squad but I think it’s a very talented one. There are a few potential first graders in there for sure.

Now that the season is almost here, I guess a few are wondering whether I miss the playing side of things. As I mentioned earlier, it was the right time for me to take on another challenge. That said, I do miss the camaraderie and team atmosphere but I still get a taste of that in my new role so I guess it’s the best of both worlds.

It’s been a great few months and I’ve enjoyed every minute. I’m very impressed with the young talent we have here. It’s really exciting times at the moment.

 

[The_Phantom]

Will look forward to Todds weekly blog,great initiative,

 

[tiger_one]

It's great to get an up-close background to what's really happening in the coach's mind.
Great initiative.

 

[Guest]

TODD’S BLOG: I WANT THEM TO PLAY THE ‘WESTS TIGERS WAY’
22/02/2012 10:35:23 AM

Under 20s coach, Todd Payten, gives us the latest instalment of "Todd's blog".

It’s an incredibly fine line when you’re out there in the heat of battle. You want to remain positive and keep pushing ahead but at the same time consolidate your position so you don’t give your opponents a look in.

On Saturday, in our last trial match against the Roosters, we had put in a pretty good performance to be leading 28-10 with around 20 minutes to go.

One of the main things I tell the guys is to complete your first set after a try so the opposition are not given any easy opportunities. That said, you do not want them to go into their shells too much and protect the lead as that can also count against you.

It’s the Wests Tigers way to continually ask questions of the opposition so that’s the way I want my guys to play.

In this instance, we pushed a pass and it didn’t go to hand. That gave the Roosters some good field position. They then converted that into points.

From there they got a roll on, we got tired, made some more mistakes and in the end we got fortunate and managed to sneak home.

I just hope that this group will learn from that experience so they all can come up with better decisions when they’re confronted with similar situations in the future.

Overall, I was happy with our performance. I saw improvements in our structure and our combinations are working much better.

I was extremely happy with the performances of Kyle Lovett (off the bench), Kurtis Rowe (at the back), Nathan Brown (prop) and Ben Saunders (dummy half).

It was also pleasing to see our halves, Jacob Miller and Manaia Rudolph work well together. I think they complement each other nicely which is important. Manaia is new to the system and is a quiet kid but having him there takes the pressure off Jacob a little. Jacob is a good player and has already played first grade so I think he’ll be good for Manaia’s own development.

With just around a week and a half to go before our first competition game I’m mindful of working the guys too hard. This will be the first time a lot of them will have played a full 26 round season so I need to work them into it. I will give them some tough fitness sessions on Tuesday/Wednesday and we’ll go for a team dinner on Wednesday night.

Thursday to Sunday will be days off so they can freshen up in time for next week when the serious preparations begin.

 

[Vicious]

This is fantastic reading each week and I`m predicting Todd Payten will become a super coach for many years to come.
I`m also predicting Kyle Lovett to break into the first grade top 17 before seasons end.

 

[Guest]

This is fantastic reading each week and I`m predicting Todd Payten will become a super coach for many years to come.
I`m also predicting Kyle Lovett to break into the first grade top 17 before seasons end.

I liked what I saw of Lovett last week against the Roosters. He's still got some growing to do before I'd throw him in FG though (I know he's listed as 100kg). The Roosters pack hammered him a couple of times, but he's tough as nails and very fit and also came up with some decent runs too. I just feel he's probably a bit light for FG at the moment given how hard they hit, and may need to adjust his running style, he's very upright when he hits the line and looks a good target. Definitely has the right attitude as far as I can tell though.

 

[Goose]

Im hearing good things about this Mania Rudolf, will be interesting what they do with him once Sironen returns.

I was thinking Siro to the back row, Luke Lewis style may be the go, but we have a cast of thousands there already, in fact some good players are already missing out.

 

[tigerbenji]

Yes you are right Goose, Rudolph can play football & is a special talent.

 

[Guest]

Im hearing good things about this Mania Rudolf, will be interesting what they do with him once Sironen returns.

I was thinking Siro to the back row, Luke Lewis style may be the go, but we have a cast of thousands there already, in fact some good players are already missing out.

He's pretty slick and very good on his feet. It will be very interesting to see what Payten does with him when Sirro returns. The problem with moving Sirro to the backrow somewhere, as already mentioned, is the amount of talent the Tigers have in the backrow…Kyle Lovett, Andrew Vela, Brendan Santi, Joel Luani, Ino Innoesio...Someone may miss out, but I hope not.

 

[happy_tiger]

Im hearing good things about this Mania Rudolf, will be interesting what they do with him once Sironen returns.

I was thinking Siro to the back row, Luke Lewis style may be the go, but we have a cast of thousands there already, in fact some good players are already missing out.

Must be a bloody handy goal kicker as well taking over from Miller

 

[Furious1]

It’s the Wests Tigers way to continually ask questions of the opposition so that’s the way I want my guys to play.

My favourite part. Happy to see one of our legends putting back into our club after some great service during his playing time. Good luck Toddy!

 

[Guest]

Im hearing good things about this Mania Rudolf, will be interesting what they do with him once Sironen returns.

I was thinking Siro to the back row, Luke Lewis style may be the go, but we have a cast of thousands there already, in fact some good players are already missing out.

Must be a bloody handy goal kicker as well taking over from Miller

He strikes the ball very sweetly.

 

[Tigersmurf]

Im hearing good things about this Mania Rudolf, will be interesting what they do with him once Sironen returns.

I was thinking Siro to the back row, Luke Lewis style may be the go, but we have a cast of thousands there already, in fact some good players are already missing out.

He's pretty slick and very good on his feet. It will be very interesting to see what Payten does with him when Sirro returns. The problem with moving Sirro to the backrow somewhere, as already mentioned, is the amount of talent the Tigers have in the backrow…Kyle Lovett, Andrew Vela, Brendan Santi, Joel Luani, Ino Innoesio...Someone may miss out, but I hope not.

Am I right to say that it is Curtis' defence that lets himself down at the moment? This is odd considering he is a fairly solid kid.

Is Rudolph's defence any better?

 

[The_Phantom]

Todd's bloggs are a great read ,will look forward to reading them throughout the year. What a talented bunch of kids we have coming through the system.

 

[Guest]

Im hearing good things about this Mania Rudolf, will be interesting what they do with him once Sironen returns.

I was thinking Siro to the back row, Luke Lewis style may be the go, but we have a cast of thousands there already, in fact some good players are already missing out.

He's pretty slick and very good on his feet. It will be very interesting to see what Payten does with him when Sirro returns. The problem with moving Sirro to the backrow somewhere, as already mentioned, is the amount of talent the Tigers have in the backrow…Kyle Lovett, Andrew Vela, Brendan Santi, Joel Luani, Ino Innoesio...Someone may miss out, but I hope not.

Am I right to say that it is Curtis' defence that lets himself down at the moment? This is odd considering he is a fairly solid kid.

Is Rudolph's defence any better?

Rudolph is a lot smaller, but quicker than Sirro. Different style of players though. Defensively I can't really compare. I didn't see a lot of Sirro last year, but what I did see, he tended to arm grab a bit. Rudolph doesn't hesitate to throw himself in there, but because he's smaller, he can get brushed off easier. If Sirro starts to put his size, shoulder and weight into the tackle more, he'll be a good defensive player. Either way, Payten has a heck of a backline at his disposal this year.

 

[Guest]

TODD’S BLOG: BRING ON THIS SUNDAY
29/02/2012 9:36:05 AM

In this week's edition of "Todd's blog", Todd looks ahead to his first competition match as coach and reveals how excited he and the boys are ahead of this Sunday.

I’m really looking forward to this Sunday and so are the guys. It’s great to finally get into the rhythm of the season and to kick things off at Leichhardt Oval in front of a massive crowd will be a great experience for the team.

It will also be my first competition match as a coach which is exciting.

As a player, I had my own routines on game day. It was all about rest and conserving as much energy as possible. I’m much more relaxed on the day of a match now that I’m a coach. So much so that I had to tell my wife that she didn’t need to leave the house to give me some peace and quiet on game day anymore!

I mentioned last week that I was planning a little team dinner last Wednesday night. I’m a firm believer that you need to do that sort of thing as a team from time to time. It’s not always possible to arrange when the guys are scattered all over Sydney but there is definitely a time and a place for it as it gives everyone an opportunity to bond outside of regular training hours.

This week, I’ve tried to iron out some of the cobwebs which tend to come from having a few days off. We’ve done some fitness, contact work as well as looking at our structure in attack.

The next time we train is on Thursday and from here we will scale things back a little so the guys aren’t fatigued heading into Sunday. We’ll go over some tap plays, some right and left defence and generally just brush up on our skills.

The main focus for us is on our ball control. The team who wins the first 4-6 weeks of the competition will be the side who makes the least mistakes. Sides aren't fit enough at this stage of the year to overcome a lopsided possession count or a lopsided penalty count. Therefore, completing sets, in particular after scoring points, is at the forefront of the message I'm trying to get through to the team.

The Sharks will be a tough side for us to start off with. They beat us last year and finished third on the ladder but it’s hard to work out exactly where they are actually at now. A lot of last year’s team have graduated to higher levels of footy so a few unknown faces have come in.

Their halfback, Penani Manumalealii, is a dangerous player and one we’ll need to watch. They also have a pretty strong back-rower in Sione Masima. He runs a great hole and our boys will need to communicate well in defence to combat his effective running angles.

I’m hearing that this week’s match is being televised. All the boys have been talking about it and they’re really excited. I’m sure a few of them will turn up with brand new boots and/or new haircuts in readiness for the big day!

As the boys finally run out this Sunday, they should have three main messages from me ringing through their ears-“Control the ball. Talk to each other and don’t switch off.” If we do all three better than the Sharks the result should take care of itself.

 

[Tigersmurf]

I thought the Warriors game was being televised?

 

[Guest]

TODD’S BLOG: WE BEAT OURSELVES
7/03/2012 9:23:22 AM
This week, Todd tells us what he really thinks of his team's loss against the Sharks and how they will improve this week against Manly.

The Sharks didn’t beat us on Sunday. We beat ourselves. It was a really good first half but unfortunately our second half was poor and we got the result we deserved.

We were complacent, went away from our game plan and as a result we dropped ball and gave away penalties. Some of the boys have joked that I might need to work on my half time speeches from now on!

Of course, there were a lot of positives to come out of the game. I thought our left edge was excellent in attack. Marika Koroibete (left wing) finished extremely well and I was impressed with Michael Kai (centre) who played a big part in helping Marika pick up his two tries as well as scoring one himself.

Marika won our Players’ Player Award and Michael picked up the Coaches Award but I thought Kyle Lovett, Ben Saunders and Joel Luani put in some performances too.

The boys enjoyed the Leichhardt experience. Who wouldn’t? A big crowd for the first game of the year was a great occasion for all of them. Although I don’t think any of the players, on either side, enjoyed the heat too much. A lot of our guys lost a fair bit of body weight due to dehydration.

Because of that, coupled with the short turn around, we’ve adjusted the training schedule to lighten the load a little this week.

I could have had them train yesterday but speaking from experience I knew that we wouldn’t get much out of it. We would have been flat. Instead they got a day off and we’ll use today to have a really sharp and focussed session.

That will leave us with a light session tomorrow before we head up to Gosford on the bus together on Friday morning.

Friday night’s game is really important for both sides as we’re both coming off first round losses.

Overall, I’m hoping for a much improved effort in defence, in particular around the middle of the ruck. We also need to be more aggressive off the line on our right edge.

It’s a mentality thing. Every side in this competition will grow an arm and a leg when they have the ball in their hands but the real work comes from your defence. We can’t take any shortcuts.

Despite our loss last Sunday, I enjoyed my first match as Head Coach. It was a really good buzz when a few of our plans were executed well although there are times when you feel helpless.

That’s part and parcel of coaching I guess.

Before I go, I’d just like to thank the many fans who took the time to send their well wishes to James Tedesco. I’m told there were hundreds of comments on our website, Twitter, Facebook and Wests Tigers Social accounts. James’ injury was incredibly unfortunate but I have no doubt he’ll bounce back. Everyone at the Club is behind him all the way.

 

[Guest]

TODD’S BLOG: HOLD THE BALL AND WIN THE GAME
14/03/2012 11:24:57 AM

In today's edition of "Todd's blog", Todd gives us more background information on some of his players as well as telling us what he thinks is the key ingredient for winning a game of footy.

The way to win games, particularly at NYC level, is to hold the ball. Whichever team is the most consistent with its ball control and completes the most sets will always win the game from what I’ve seen so far.

That’s what I’m trying to instil in the guys over the next few weeks.

I was obviously very happy with our 50-22 win over Manly but I think there is still room for improvement.

We definitely have points in us but there are still things to work on in defence. I’d like to see us be more aggressive. As I’ve said before, defence is an attitude and mentality thing. We need to be consistent at training which will then lead to a greater consistency in the game.

That consistency is always a difficult thing to find, especially for my guys who have work and/or study commitments to fit in around their footy.

It amazes me how some of them do it.

Our hooker Ben Saunders had a superb game on Friday. Matter of fact, he’s been one of most consistent performers all year. After playing a full game on Friday, he got back home later that night and then worked on Saturday for more than eight hours in his job as an electrician. It’s credit to Ben that he can juggle that sort of busy lifestyle at this stage of his career.

It’s also a big challenge for me to ensure the team maintain a high level of intensity at training when there are other commitments that demand some of my team’s time.

Along with Ben, I thought Nathan Brown, Sitaleki Akaoula, Jacob Miller, Michael Kai and Manaia Rudolph also had outstanding games last Friday.

Manaia’s getting better every game and considering he’s only played 15-20 games of Rugby League in his life, we’ve only scratched the surface with him. He’s come from playing Rugby Union in New Zealand and he’s also had a stint at Keebra Park High School. He’s definitely an exciting talent and I look forward to helping him improve his game even more.

This week we run into a Dragons outfit that is desperate for a win after being defeated in their first two matches. It won’t be easy, especially after losing some key personnel to injury, but I’m confident we can still get the job done.
It was nice to have a big win against Manly but now we need to put back to back performances together.

I’d like us to be more patient and build pressure instead of trying to score points off every play.

If we can play smarter and stick to our plans, we’ll hold the ball for longer periods which means we’ll be extremely hard to beat.

 

[Guest]

TODD’S BLOG: WE CAN’T AFFORD TO BE COMPLACENT
21/03/2012 9:40:49 AM

In this week's edition of "Todd's Blog", Todd says that his team cannot afford complacency as they search for their third consecutive win.

We have two wins from three and all in all we’ve played some good footy so far. We’re sitting second on the ladder and as a coach I’m happy with where we’re at.

However, I’m still extremely wary that things can slip very quickly if we’re not careful.

I bang on about consistency at training. If we do the right things at training then we’ll do the right things on game day. At the moment though, I’m finding it a really big challenge to make sure we’re switched on for every practice session.

It’s easy to forget that that my guys don’t just play footy. They have their work and/or study commitments too. I always have to be mindful of that when it comes to how much training we do and for how long. Too much of one or the other can be mentally draining for the guys and unlike the first grade squad, they can get less switched off the closer we get to game day which is a concern.

After a good win against the Dragons, we had a recovery session on the Saturday followed by a BBQ. I then gave everyone time off until Tuesday. I feel that sometimes less is more.

There is an extremely fine line in this competition so I don’t want us to be complacent at any stage.

I’m also finding out that our preparations can be affected by things outside of my control. It’s hard to start off your week of training when you’re uncertain about whether you’ll lose any of your players to the NRL squad.

After the first three rounds, a number of our guys have shown that they could handle first grade, and with the top squad down on troops because of injury, I’m always wondering whether Tim Sheens will come knocking on my door.

I guess that’s part and parcel of coaching in the NYC. It happens to all teams at different times but it doesn’t make it any easier to manage.

Take the Raiders for example. One of their best players, Jack Wighton, has been lost to first grade and they have to make do without him. He plays five eighth in the 20s yet he’s been thrown on the wing in first grade and by all reports he’s been doing well in his short stint so far.

It will be a tough contest against Canberra. They are two from three like us and will be a hard side to stop. They’re a bigger side and we’ll have our work cut out if we’re to beat them.

We need to force their bigger guys into making back to back tackles and have them continually coming back from deep in their own half.

Our completions will be the key. Last week against the Dragons we completed 15 from 17 sets in the second half. That’s what we need to do again to beat the Raiders.