Wishing that coach Greeny is a keeper
FROM a player’s point of view we’ve said all along that Greeny is a great coach and we all want him to stay at the club.
The contract extension he’s trying to negotiate is between him and the club; as players we have no control over how that unfolds.
When I re- signed for five years recently I was hopeful through my negotiation process that he would follow suit but it never got any further than that.
The club made an offer to me I was very happy with. Yes, it would have been nice to know what Greeny was doing but at the same time I was happy with how I was looked after.
He’s a very good teacher and knows the game really well because he was a smart footballer himself. He’s very good at getting his point across and teaching players what he wants from them,
It’s probably good timing for the team to be heading over to New Zealand. We can get in our own bubble before we play the Warriors tomorrow in a match we’re desperate to win to turn the season around.
You never want contract talks to be a distraction and I don’t think it will be. We have some pressing issues to worry about in the here and now in recovering from a 1- 3 start to the year.
Assistant coach Todd Payten and JT have both commented this week that we’re playing a bit uptight and tentative, and I tend to agree.
JT hit the nail on the head when he said we’re not playing enough “eyes up” football.
When you’re not playing that well players can be scared of making errors and doing the wrong thing, but you can’t play like that. At times that’s what we’ve been doing, and that’s what’s hurting us. When things aren’t going your way you tend to get uptight and worry more about making a mistake next time.
The stomach injury which sidelined me for the first two games of the year is still lingering. I knew when I came back that it would, but I wouldn’t be playing if I wasn’t ready.
From the outside looking in, the biggest factor behind the Warriors’ unbeaten start to the year is the way they’re competing in games now.
They used to be perceived as a team where if you could get on top of them early, you come out on top more often than not.
They’re staying in games and they showed against the Raiders a couple of weeks ago plenty of resilience by coming back from seven points down in the dying minutes.
It’s attitude, they’re scrambling for each other and working hard and when you play like that you’re really hard to beat.