St George Illawarra Dragons desperate to bounce back against Wests Tigers: de Belin
Dragons Den
Wake-up call: The Dragons are confident they will rebound from last weekend's loss to the Eels. Picture: AAP Image/Craig Golding.
The low-point.
That is how St George Illawarra Dragons forward Jack de Belin has labelled Saturday night’s 40-4 drubbing to the Eels.
And after losing five of their past six matches, de Belin said the team is determined to get their season back on track against the Tigers this weekend.
“You want to hope that kind of kicks us up the backside and gets us back to playing how we were because you never know what can happen in the finals,” de Belin said. “All you have to do is make it, then you can go on a run, like North Queensland last year.
“It’s not do or die, we’ve got to stay positive and get back to what we’re doing. But I think hopefully that is the kick up the backside, because they’re down the bottom of the table competing for a wooden spoon and we were up the top competing for a minor premiership, so maybe that’s the wake-up call we needed.”
To de Belin, the quickest way to turn things around is to hold on to the football.
The Dragons completed a measly 66 per cent of their sets and had just 39 per cent of possession on Saturday. De Belin knows teams can’t win NRL games with such a low share of the ball, no matter who the opposition is.
“We don’t have any ball, if we look at our completion rates we’re not holding the ball, we’re giving away errors, giving away penalties as well, so they’re getting repeat sets.
“I don’t know what the stats were, but if you looked at the Parramatta game, they would have had so much more ball than us, we would have made that many more tackles and you can’t win games when it’s like that.”
In the midst of yet another late-season slump, de Belin conceded the Dragons were suffering from an Origin hangover. The Dragons weren’t the only team to contribute multiple players, however, and de Belin understands he, and his teammates, must do a better job coping with Origin’s mental strain.
“I've learnt a lot the past couple of months. How important it is to freshen your body up, especially freshen your mind up. I’ve never had so much footy going on in my life, it was kind of a footy overload.
“You look at our squad and there’s probably a bit of a hangover happening, but at the same time, there can’t be any excuses for that. Every other club’s in the same situation we’re in, everyone’s got to do it, it’s just a matter of putting your hand up and getting it done.”
While Origin has had a detrimental effect on the team, de Belin is hopeful the high-pressure environment will ultimately hold the Dragons in good stead.
“We had five players this year that played Origin, the biggest stage in rugby league, if not Australian sport. Obviously, there was four of us playing for NSW and got the victory, we showed we can perform on the biggest stage, hopefully that can come back to benefit us.
“I don’t think anyone comes back to NRL a worse player after playing Origin. All we’ve got to do is make it first and then we can give it a good old shake up if we make it.”
https://www.illawarramercury.com.au/story/5587284/dragons-desperate-to-avoid-repeat-showing/?cs=3713
