Wests Tigers NRL Head Coach Jason Taylor says he is excited with the progress his side is making after a stirring 26-14 upset win over the North Queensland Cowboys
Taylor said post-game he was confident the side would put in a good performance against the strong Cowboys outfit after winning their last two games against more less fancied opponents, stating that the manner in which they did it was most pleasing.
“The three in a row is really good," Taylor enthused.
"We really felt the momentum building in this game.
“We had a really good week of training and the opposition was a really good team so we’re always wary of that but I just felt that confident this week — the team gave me that confidence with the way that they trained.”
“Their working really hard for each other and supporting each other, there’s really a lot of passion with the way we’re playing.
“That stuff has been building in us for a few weeks, it’s what wins footy games.”
Taylor said he was really pleased with the new halves pairing, with Mitchell Moses and Jack Littlejohn, who combined strongly throughout the game.
“Mitch was in control of our game and we knew Jack Littlejohn would do a great job which he did,” Taylor said.
“Mitch had done most of our kicking the first half and we wanted to get Jack into that in the second half,”
“He (Littlejohn) put in a couple of kicks that were really crucial — one that got us the repeat set. He just supported Mitch really well.
Captain Aaron Woods was quick to praise his front row partners, who put in extra minutes following the loss of lock forward Elijah Taylor early in the first half.
“It’s a big credit to guys like Timmy Grant who had to step up. I think he had to play near the full forty in the second half.
“Blokes like Jesse Sue and Ava — they’ve just been ripping in”
“I think the boys just believe in each other and the crowd was really good for us today. It felt like 30,000 out there.
“We just wanted to back ourselves and get up in front of them. We know Mitch is out the back and he can do some crazy stuff with Teddy and Jack Littlejohn”
Taylor echoed Woods’ praise towards the side’s big men.
“The biggest challenge for us was going to be handling their forward pack," he said.
It’s a massive improvement for us in that area."
“It’s really exciting and it’s a credit to our players led by Woodsy."
Sunday afternoon footy returns to Leichhardt Oval when we take on the Cowboys!
