‘Lazy’ Nomads must work harder: coach
by Matt Nicholls (Armidale Express, 21/05/2010)
New England Nomads will have to lift their work rate significantly if they are to challenge Tamworth Kangaroos tomorrow, coach Brendan Meehan said.
After the Nomads faded away in the final quarter against Inverell last week, Meehan said he is confident his side can bounce back.
But only on one condition.
“We have to work harder. A lot harder,” Meehan said.
“Inverell put us to shame in that department last week.
“They wanted the ball more, tackled harder, ran harder and used the ball better when they got it.
“When we got the ball we tried to kick off one step and turned it over.”
The Nomads coach said the only positive to come from the Saints match was the fact his side couldn’t play worse tomorrow.
“We did everything wrong that could have gone wrong,” he said.
“Even if we improve 10 per cent on that effort we’ll be very competitive.
“But I think there’s a lot more improvement left in us than that.”
New England was comprehensively beaten at the centre stoppages against Inverell, despite Omphile Temoso dominating the hitouts.
“I thought our midfielders were caught a little bit flatfooted at stages,” Meehan said.
“That’s something we’ve worked on at training this week.”
Still desperate to play a possession-style game plan, Meehan said it was now up to the players to back his instructions.
“It comes down to laziness,” he said.
“The guys are instructed at training to push back five metres when they take a mark before kicking it.
“On Saturday they rushed their kicks and didn’t want to push those four or five hard strides before looking for an option.
“We can beat the Roos but we have to be smarter and work harder.”
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