Maguire notes marked improvement in tight Raiders clash

Wests Tigers Coach Michael Maguire says he's determined for his side to keep improving after going down 14-6 to the Canberra Raiders in trying conditions on Saturday night.

After urging his players to improve their performance from last Sunday's defeat to the Gold Coast Titans, Maguire was greeted with a steely resolve from his side through the opening hour of their clash against the competition favourites, before the class of Canberra saw them home in a tight eight-point affair.

While pleased with the progress made from last week, Maguire enthused that the biggest step still remained around consistency throughout the match.

“We played the style of footy I asked of in the first half and we just went away from what we were doing well in the second half,” Maguire reflected after the game.

“We were up against a team who is playing with the habits that were formed for a long period of time and that’s what we need to make sure we take away from this game. I thought the effort and how the boys worked hard for each other was where we needed it, and it needs to go now for a full 80 minutes.

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“The effort they put in [tonight] and the focus they put in this week are all the little things that allow us to grow the ability of what the Raiders have been doing.”

Having kept the 2019 Grand Finalists at bay for the entirety of the first half, Maguire said there was plenty to be pleased about from his side's showing in Round 5 and said execution was something that could be improved for next week's clash against the North Queensland Cowboys at Campbelltown Stadium.

“We need to drive our standards higher and for a longer period of time," he said. "That is how you get to the higher points of the competition — by continually going back for review.

“In particular tonight, the amount of times we put on pressure with really good defensive sets... that counts to the effort and working hard for each other.

"It was the execution on certain things that put us under pressure again.

“I’m looking for the consistency that I asked for last week. I’ll go back and look at the video, but I thought everyone put in effort tonight."

“That is something I expect off the back of my expectations last week and the boys delivered that.”