Western Suburbs Magpies Coach Tyrone McCarthy wants to see more physicality from his team this week after being outmuscled by the Warriors last start.
The Magpies went down 44-20 to the Warriors at Lidcombe Oval last Saturday with McCarthy saying some valuable lessons were taken from the loss that ended a three-game winning run in The Knock On Effect NSW Cup.
“We were challenged by a good Warriors side. Unfortunately, I don’t think the boys stepped up to the physical challenge,’’ McCarthy said.
“The Warriors had more intent and desire to win the individual battle. We just came up short in that area.
“I think we also bowed to a bit of scoreboard pressure in the second half when we could have really challenged them again.”
The loss leaves the Magpies in eighth place, two points outside the top five, with seven games remaining.
The Magpies play the fourth placed Bulldogs at Belmore Sports Ground on Sunday in Round 20. Kick-off is 2.15pm.
The two teams met in round 13 with winger Solomone Saukuru scoring four tries in the Magpies’ 38-26 win at Lidcombe Oval.
“The Bulldogs are a good attacking team and have a lot of threats across the field,’’ McCarthy said.
“We’re looking at how we can improve from our previous performance.
“We spoke last week about how confident we are in our ability, but we've got to go out there and match their physicality too because individual skills wise, we’ve got that.”
