BRIAN SMITH MEDIA CONFERENCE - ROUND 3
27 March 2004
Q - HAVE YOU BEEN A PART OF A MORE DRAMATIC GAME OF FOOTY?
A - It had a bit of everything didn't it? From our point of view we are obviously happy with the win but the game losing Andrew Johns at this point in time, as well as Newcastle, is just shocking. I was just talking to Michael Hagan and sometimes I think we all forget how much pressure these boys put their bodies under - both o fthe major injuries tonight have happenned without major contact, but it is because of the way they have to prepare to play tha tthey set themselves up for it - we also lost Aaron Cannings tonight for up to 3 months with a broken arm, so it was dramatic for a numbe rof reasons tonight.
Q - WERE YOU CONFIDENT WITH THAT LAST VIDEO REF DECISION?
A - I don't know anyone who is EVER confident with the video referee. I honestly beleived it was a try, and I also beleived the last try by Newcastle, Kurt Gidley I think was a try - I think Mick Stone came up with the right decision and did a great job. They were all tough calls. I don;t think he pressed the red button tonight - it was just a green night.
Q - HOW MUCH DID YOU IMPROVE FROM LAST WEEK?
A - There is no doubt that we improved. We played against a side who is a high calibre team, and despite the fac tthey lost their gun player I think we showed a glimpse of what we can do, particularly we re-inforced the fact that no matter what our boys are not going to back off or get separated by any external factors - they kept coming back tonight, some of the calls again - 2 weeks in a row now, and I don't know that Tony Archer got them wrong but for sdome reason or another tonight they just mounted up - it was not just the numbe rof penalties but some of the penalties that came put us under so much pressure - most of them were self inflicted so we have got a truckload of work to do in that area. It is hard ot have 34 points scored against you and walk away happy - you can feel happy because it is a win but you can't do that too often - I think you have to play in Papua New Guinea or somewher elike that in order to win games like that.
Q- DEFENCE CLOSE TO THE LINE WAS A PROBLEM AGAIN?
A - It sure was , and again we will re address that. Those sorts of thingscan't be fixed in a few days there are generally a whole heap of things that have to be attended to there. We will continue to work at it.
Q - YOU MENTIONED AARON BUT ARE THERE ANY OTHER INJURIES?
A - No, I don't think so. There are some pretty sore boys down in the sheds even though there was only aobut 50 minutes of footy layed with all the tres and kicks at goal..it is past my bedtime. By the way - the Parramatta Club played 5 games of football today from Harold Matthews through tot he NRL - we had 4 wins and a come from behind draw - not bad for a Club in Crisis.
