Paul Fletcher is searching for answers over a NSW Cup loss he describes as the worst, the most disappointing and the most frustrating of the season.
Having watched his side fall to pieces in losing 46-6 to competition leaders Cronulla Sharks at Leichhardt Oval last Saturday, the Wests Tigers NSW Cup coach has major concerns with four rounds remaining before the finals.
Wests Tigers sit in seventh place on the ladder and face a tough run in to the finals.
Our past two games against Newtown and Cronulla were very important in terms of the ladder and we let ourselves down badly in both, Fletcher said.
The defence has been nonexistent. Our aggression seems to have gone too. Defence is an attitude thing but it is also a commitment and we are severely lacking in both.
We opened Cronulla up left, right and centre in the first 10 minutes but didnt capitalise. The majority of our side is young and we are just not recovering from when we dont come up with points. We are not being patient and we have spoken about having patience and composure all year.
Every time we got inside Cronullas 20 metres, it was like there was an electric fence there and we didnt want to go any further. We just kept turning the ball over.
At half-time we were down 30-0. I told the players to forget the scoreboard and to get back into our team goals of going set for set. We went nowhere near to achieving that. They ended up with four repeat sets for the game and we ended up with none.
Fletcher says his side face a real danger game against the 11th placed Manly at Brookvale Oval this Saturday at 3pm.
Eighth-placed Illawarra (21 points), Mounties (20), Wentworthville Magpies (20) and Manly (18) are all breathing down the necks of the Wests Tigers (24) who sit four points out of the top four.
The way we are playing, nothing is guaranteed (against Manly). We have gone from two very good wins before the bye to two very poor back-to-back performances. This week is a semi-final for us. It has come early, Fletcher said.
The players need to start being a team again and get some desire from within to compete. Our for-and-against record has taken a severe hit. We have gone from +79 to -3 in two weeks.
This week is about getting our house in order. We had a heavy contact session yesterday because I am not happy with our softness in defence. It is totally unacceptable.
Having watched his side fall to pieces in losing 46-6 to competition leaders Cronulla Sharks at Leichhardt Oval last Saturday, the Wests Tigers NSW Cup coach has major concerns with four rounds remaining before the finals.
Wests Tigers sit in seventh place on the ladder and face a tough run in to the finals.
Our past two games against Newtown and Cronulla were very important in terms of the ladder and we let ourselves down badly in both, Fletcher said.
The defence has been nonexistent. Our aggression seems to have gone too. Defence is an attitude thing but it is also a commitment and we are severely lacking in both.
We opened Cronulla up left, right and centre in the first 10 minutes but didnt capitalise. The majority of our side is young and we are just not recovering from when we dont come up with points. We are not being patient and we have spoken about having patience and composure all year.
Every time we got inside Cronullas 20 metres, it was like there was an electric fence there and we didnt want to go any further. We just kept turning the ball over.
At half-time we were down 30-0. I told the players to forget the scoreboard and to get back into our team goals of going set for set. We went nowhere near to achieving that. They ended up with four repeat sets for the game and we ended up with none.
Fletcher says his side face a real danger game against the 11th placed Manly at Brookvale Oval this Saturday at 3pm.
Eighth-placed Illawarra (21 points), Mounties (20), Wentworthville Magpies (20) and Manly (18) are all breathing down the necks of the Wests Tigers (24) who sit four points out of the top four.
The way we are playing, nothing is guaranteed (against Manly). We have gone from two very good wins before the bye to two very poor back-to-back performances. This week is a semi-final for us. It has come early, Fletcher said.
The players need to start being a team again and get some desire from within to compete. Our for-and-against record has taken a severe hit. We have gone from +79 to -3 in two weeks.
This week is about getting our house in order. We had a heavy contact session yesterday because I am not happy with our softness in defence. It is totally unacceptable.
