Rugby League is a ‘simple’ game, so says Sharks Captain Paul Gallen.
Heading into the Finals on the back of a defeat at the hands of Minor Premiers the Melbourne Storm, the Sharks will be out to turn around the loss on arguably one of the competition’s toughest road trips.
It was the Raiders who inflicted the side’s first loss in a 16-game run way back in Round 22, and Gallen said the Sharks dip in form can be attributed to excessive errors.
But that’s an easy fix.
“We’ve just dropped too much ball in bad areas in recent weeks. We’ve just got to hold the ball and not giveaway possession to the good teams. It’s that simple,” Gallen said.
Saying the team’s lead in to the business end of the season has been ‘not ideal’, the Captain believes lessons learned from losses on the run in to the Finals now holds the Sharks in good stead.
“(The Raiders) are a really big physical side… they’ve good halves playing good footy, and a good hooker which is key. It’s going to be a really good game,” Gallen said.
“We’re just looking forward to going down there and playing to our potential. If we play to our potential, we can beat anyone.”
Though well aware that the side’s potential stems largely off the back of confidence, Gallen said good work up front starts, ultimately, with the men at the back.
And with plenty of focus on the work done by the Raiders right-edge in recent weeks, Gallen backed the Sharks flyers to get the better of their opponents this Saturday night.
“We need our blokes who are on top of the league 6 or 8 weeks ago to get back there again,” Gallen said.
“Our back five were the best in the comp a month ago … we need our outside backs to find their form quickly. If they do that, and our middle do the job against their big boys, it’ll be a good game.”
