Coaching Insider: Round 6

Wests Tigers Head Coach Ivan Cleary gives the final word ahead of his side's Round 6 clash against the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles this Sunday at Lottoland.

While understandably pleased with the start his side have made to the season, Cleary was also equally aware of not just dwelling on those results — keen for his side to keep moving forward.

"We're obviously happy that we're winning games but we know there's improvements to make," he said.

"We're focussed on improving that, but we've been able to develop a bit of confidence out of our first five games and now it's just about trying to improve on what we haven't been good at.

"It's only early in the season and we understood where we were at the start of the year; we banked on having some close games to start the year because that's how the NRL goes in many respects.

"But for our team, having close games has been a good thing because it's shown that we can compete all the way down to the 80 minutes and come up with a result a few times.

"There's still some elements to improve at and that's what we're trying to do."

Without Russell Packer and Elijah Taylor for Sunday's game, Cleary said the team would get a huge boost of energy with Josh Reynolds in the side after missing the first five weeks of the year with injury.

"It's been a long wait for him to go all the way through the pre-season at a new club and then sit back and wait again," Cleary said. "He's really excited and that's been a nice addition to our environment.

"His effort and energy was one of the reasons why we wanted to bring him to this club in the first place.

"I think he's the kind of guy who can really add to our team right now where we're at.

"We've played some pretty good defensive units so far, but our attack has to improve and I'm sure it will.

"I think he can really add something new to our team and the timing of him coming back is great.

"Josh is one of those players who just by being on the field — whatever position he's in — he will play what he's good at and play his role at the team. He's definitely pumped and that's great," he added.

See what Ivan Cleary had to say in full about this week's game in the video above!