It's the statistic none of us are proud of and says plenty about where we are at as a footy team and why we are there.
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I'm told we are now the worse defensive team in the competition over the final 20 minutes of matches. Not surprising given what happened against the Sydney Roosters and Manly.
Unfortunately, we have fallen into some old bad habits around not having enough desire, resilience and will to win when a game is on the line at the back-end when things get tough. In many ways, it's close to the worst stat you can have I reckon. When you think about it, it's a stat that tells you everything about a team's character.
It's why we are in this hole we have dug for ourselves that is threatening to swallow us up and ruin everything good we have achieved this season if we don't do something about it before it's too late.
For whatever reason, our energy levels have shifted dramatically over the past month to six weeks and it's hard to put a finger on why. We are preparing really well, making all the right sacrifices and saying all the right things in a bid to get the right result each week. But when you lose a few in a row, your confidence takes a hit and the battle becomes that much harder again and that hole gets bigger.
There have been different factors at play in each game that have led to our downfall over the past five matches but let's be brutally honest, defence has been the biggest issue. To be leaking points like we have been at the back-end of games is inexcusable.
It's basically an open invitation for rival teams to simply hang around and wait for us to crack. They know if they hang tough with us for three quarters of the game, the floodgates will open for them when the result is on the line.
It happened against the Roosters and Manly but even the Bulldogs managed to hang in and hang in before swamping us at the end.
That we are still in the fight for the play-offs with five games left should be all the motivation we need to recapture our best form and get back on track. But as always, words are meaningless if there are no actions to follow.
It all boils down to a pretty simple premise at the end of the day. If we are enthusiastic, run hard, tackle hard, limit mistakes and don't let up for 80 minutes, we'll give ourselves a big chance of beating anyone. It's not rocket science. All of that will be what's needed on Saturday against Parramatta.
To be leaking points like we have been at the back-end of games is inexcusable.
In a bid to change things up this week, we have tinkered with our preparation to try and get a positive response. On Monday, we did our recovery at Merewether baths before a 45 minute video review of the Manly game.
We looked at stuff we did wrong, some stuff we did right and also some good stuff from earlier in the season as a contrast. I put it out there earlier in the week that my own personal game against the Eagles was well short of where I need it to be and a lot of the boys probably felt the same about their own performances.
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All of us could do worse than take a leaf out of big Klem's book. He has just been ultra consistent every week in working his backside off to provide a platform up front and I thought Connor [Watson] was really good again as well against Manly. But at this stage of the season, everyone has to be making a wholehearted contribution for however long they are on the field for things to change.
We can't afford the fragility that we have been dishing up, particularly after mistakes or after lapses in discipline that invariably have led to us letting in points.
In a further change from the norm, instead of traveling down for a Sydney game the day before the game following captain's run, we are going a day earlier this week and busing it down today. We'll have our final session at the NSWRL centre of excellence tomorrow at Homebush. Everyone knows how vital this game is in the context of our season.
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