Coaching Insider: Round 5

A month in to the 2019 NRL season, Wests Tigers Head Coach Michael Maguire reflected on his side's good start to the year — saying that there were a number of positives to date but also still plenty of things for his side to improve on going forward.

Rather than seeing those as a negative, Maguire said the opportunities to improve while also putting together some strong performances to date was a positive, and said that last week's loss to Penrith still showed plenty of improvement in the side.

"I thought there were a lot of good things in our game last week and we managed to put some pressure on the opposition," Maguire told reporters on Wednesday.

"That's something that every team is trying to do and we did it well, we've just got make sure now that we get that last part of the game right and execute.

"We're getting better and better with our game plan and the cohesion around that. 

"Josh Reynolds coming in added a little bit there too with us, and I've been pretty spoiled to have two special players in him and Benji in that position.

"As we're going from game to game, we're starting to grow with the style we're putting together and I was really happy with what we delivered defensively.

"We know that we can be a lot better, though, and that's a positive."

With plenty of talk throughout the week about the home side, Maguire said he was undaunted by the focus on the hosts — highlighting the battle between the two forward packs as a particular battle to watch for on Thursday night.

"It's going to be a great challenge [up front]," Maguire enthused.

"Everyone has said a lot about the Broncos team but I'm really comfortable with where we're going as a team. Our forwards are growing and I think the amount of work they're doing in the background to achieve what we want will pay off.

"If they keep doing that, there's no doubt the rewards will come.

"I'm going to pick on performances... and we're not hitting some of the things we want to achieve at the moment, so it's a reward for those guys coming in now.

"What I'm after is a performance from our boys," he added.

"We went pretty close last week, but what we've got to make sure is that we get that 80-minute performance out now.

"We're aware of our environment this week but it's more about how we go about things and that's something this team has been big on."

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