Penrose Warrior
Coach
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http://www.sportal.co.nz/league-news-display/warriors-get-the-message-190752
The penny has dropped.
Warriors coach Brian McClennan has reached an understanding with his players, which he expects will bring out the complete performance everyone knows they're capable of - but have failed to deliver so far this season.
In the wake of their most recent implosion - blowing an 18-point lead against Manly - the Warriors finally had the epiphany needed to lift their woeful form and make use of the remaining five games on their schedule.
Not that they needed to search hard for the answer, it was a matter of paying attention to the obvious, according to McClennan.
"We've talked about it again and I think the penny has dropped, I'm pretty confident the boys understand where I'm coming from now," McClennan said of his side's lethargic second-half offence.
"If we had a bit more play about us we'd find ourselves finishing our sets further down the field and defence will be easier.
"With the ball in hand [against Manly] we very rarely passed the ball and we were easy to defend.
"It's about making sure we continue to play a bit of footy with the ball."
If the Warriors were awarded points for their first-half performances alone, they would be sitting in fourth on the NRL ladder - with a record of 12 wins, 6 losses and one draw.
A review of their second-half showings would lead one to believe the Warriors were a victim of a second-half curse - having capitulated on five occasions to gift their opposition a full game's reward for half the effort.
There were certainly signs of <i>deja vu</i> against Manly - almost identical to the previous loss against Newcastle - but McClennan, a man of reason, was quick to reject any notions of the supernatural affecting his side's results.
"You've just got to look at the reasons why and be factual about it," he said.
"I'm no psychiatrist and all I can look at are facts and if you aren't going to play footy and you're not going to work hard on your defensive systems you will get run down."
"That's why I believe the penny's dropped with us. You've got to carry on playing with the footy on offence, make sure that you keep your structure in your defence going and keep your rhythm going, and if you do that the results will come."
Having made all the appropriate calculations, McClennan hopes his side will adopt his winning formula when they enter the final 40 minutes against Cronulla on Sunday.
With five games remaining - a possible 10 competition points - the Warriors have a mathematical chance of making the top eight but will definitely need some luck to avoid a single defeat against quality opposition in coming weeks.
The Warriors play Cronulla at Mount Smart on Sunday, kickoff is at 2pm (NZT).
Interesting read...depressing that we'd be fourth if it was solely based on first half performances. Remember the first few weeks when we thought the issue was our starts?
The penny has dropped.
Warriors coach Brian McClennan has reached an understanding with his players, which he expects will bring out the complete performance everyone knows they're capable of - but have failed to deliver so far this season.
In the wake of their most recent implosion - blowing an 18-point lead against Manly - the Warriors finally had the epiphany needed to lift their woeful form and make use of the remaining five games on their schedule.
Not that they needed to search hard for the answer, it was a matter of paying attention to the obvious, according to McClennan.
"We've talked about it again and I think the penny has dropped, I'm pretty confident the boys understand where I'm coming from now," McClennan said of his side's lethargic second-half offence.
"If we had a bit more play about us we'd find ourselves finishing our sets further down the field and defence will be easier.
"With the ball in hand [against Manly] we very rarely passed the ball and we were easy to defend.
"It's about making sure we continue to play a bit of footy with the ball."
If the Warriors were awarded points for their first-half performances alone, they would be sitting in fourth on the NRL ladder - with a record of 12 wins, 6 losses and one draw.
A review of their second-half showings would lead one to believe the Warriors were a victim of a second-half curse - having capitulated on five occasions to gift their opposition a full game's reward for half the effort.
There were certainly signs of <i>deja vu</i> against Manly - almost identical to the previous loss against Newcastle - but McClennan, a man of reason, was quick to reject any notions of the supernatural affecting his side's results.
"You've just got to look at the reasons why and be factual about it," he said.
"I'm no psychiatrist and all I can look at are facts and if you aren't going to play footy and you're not going to work hard on your defensive systems you will get run down."
"That's why I believe the penny's dropped with us. You've got to carry on playing with the footy on offence, make sure that you keep your structure in your defence going and keep your rhythm going, and if you do that the results will come."
Having made all the appropriate calculations, McClennan hopes his side will adopt his winning formula when they enter the final 40 minutes against Cronulla on Sunday.
With five games remaining - a possible 10 competition points - the Warriors have a mathematical chance of making the top eight but will definitely need some luck to avoid a single defeat against quality opposition in coming weeks.
The Warriors play Cronulla at Mount Smart on Sunday, kickoff is at 2pm (NZT).
Interesting read...depressing that we'd be fourth if it was solely based on first half performances. Remember the first few weeks when we thought the issue was our starts?
