Keeping up with the daily grind

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greeneyed
Don Furner
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Keeping up with the daily grind

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Interview with Laurie Daley from today's Canberra Times:

Keeping up with the daily grind

Laurie Daley speaks about how the Canberra Raiders’ confidence has surprised a few people

Q: Has the Raiders’ progress been a surprise?

LD: I didn’t think they’d be wooden spooners but I didn’t think they’d be around where they are at this stage – they’ve surprised a lot of people. I think they’re playing some really good footy while earlier in the year they were a bit patchy with their form. And I probably think they’re likely to get further results like that – they’re a young up and coming team and when you have a young team you can get inconsistent results. But I think they’re on the right track. I speak to a few of the guys quite regularly and the night before they played the Cowboys I had dinner with Woolford and Croker. They were telling me they’d beat the Cowboys and I was telling them I wouldn’t even back them with their money. But speaking to them, they were that confident they were going to win. And the bigger the side, the more confident they are, which is surprising. I don’t know what they do or how they do it, but they’re always confident when they play those top sides.

Q: Winning without Smith?

LD: Young Todd *'s played very well over the past couple of weeks, but again, *'s been in the system now for a few years. While *'s only 19 or 20 you can’t be calling him young anymore because *'s starting to get his games up. *'s time for him to produce. He needs to set that level, *'s his benchmark that he needs to be at at least every week.

Q: Do they deserve to be in the top eight?

LD: I think the way they’re going now, they’re like a couple of the older sides. I think they can certainly improve. The question mark you’ve got with a young and developing footy side is consistency. They’ll lose a game where you think ‘How’d they lose that?' where they’ll win a game and you’ll say ‘Geez *'s a good performance, why can’t we do that every week?' They’ve just got to make sure they’ve got 17 blokes that are giving it their all each week and play as close to their ability as they possibly can. Their carrying of the football through the middle of the field is good. They still need to work on a few nice plays when they shift the ball. They’ve got some talent there – Adam Mogg and Phil Graham, they’re very good when they get the ball, and sometimes they don’t get it enough – but you’ve got to make sure you’ve got the quality of player to give them the football and know when to give it.

Q: What about Neil Henry taking over?

LD: I’ve talked to guys at NRL stats and they say *'s one of the best assistants they’ve ever worked with. I’m sure he’ll be able to make a good fist of the first grade position when he gets down to Canberra. I think it’ll be an easy transition period for him.

Q: Matt *'s last season?

LD: I think it shows the quality of the person and the quality of the organisation, that they’re all working in the one direction and prepared to work hard, while not worrying about outside influences. They know what they’ve got to work with and they know what they’re capable of and tactically they always come up with good plans – *'s just a matter of putting those tactics into the mix and delivering them under pressure.

Q: Should they be happy with how they’re placed leading into the second half of the season?

LD: I would say if they finish their last 13 weeks the way they’ve started the first 13 weeks they’ll make the eight. 28 points you would think would make the eight, so they’re on the right track. But obviously injuries are a problem, keeping your key players on the paddock and winning the games you’re expected to win but also being able to surprise a couple of other teams.
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