2 weeks Ago
MC: You have had to deal with a lot of questions on George Whitby and he had a lot of focus ahead of that Good Friday game and a lot of attention on him. He handled it really well, didn't he? PW: He handled it so well for a young man, playing in that position in a Derby game. He was dominant, he used his skill, took the line on, made a line break and obviously kicked the ball really well and effectively.
All the signs with George are really positive and what I love about the kid is that we reviewed the game on the weekend and sat down with our half backs. I love how for a young man he takes responsibility. So there's certain things that didn't quite go as we wanted them to and he's not shying away from that.
He's really wants to get better and improve, so there's a lot to like about what George is doing at the moment. MC: He’s brought a kicking game to the side, but you just mentioned there his line break. He was unlucky with that forward pass for the try.
He’s a player who's not just a one trick pony? PW: No, he's not and he's got a running game, he has got a kicking game, he can organise, he can pass the ball really effectively, has a really good skill level. You talk about the basics of the game – catch and pass – and he is really sharp in that area. He gets the ball where it needs to be quickly.
He's done that at every level he has played at and it looks like Super League level is not a level too high for him. We're excited for George because he's obviously getting an opportunity at this moment in time. But we're also going to be patient with him because we don't expect perfection.
He is a young man making his way in the game and we'll give him all the support he needs. MC: I know you have praised Jonny Lomax for his support, but was there any element of leaving Jonny out of the 17 so George can be his own man in that position. Would it have looked like a fudge if you'd put them both in the team at this stage? PW: When picking the team, what we needed on the bench was an outside back because if we lost the centre or wing there we had no other real options to cover it.
So it was important Dayon Sambou was there on the bench and we needed George Delaney and Agnatius Paasi there to provide the impact that they do. Then I needed someone who has played nine regularly so that's why we went with Daryl Clark. So Jonny missing out wasn't anything to do with the fact that George Whitby was playing.
MC: Is that situation still quite fluid now? Because you've got four players who can play those three pivotal positions. Are you going to let that that bed in for a spell or are you going to constantly monitor that? PW: I think quite naturally throughout the course of the year things will change at some point because we'll be quite fortunate to have three players go through 20 odd games and have no issues. It will certainly be great if that was the case, but like in every other position we need to be flexible.
Players that are in the team need to perform and do well and continue to take that shirt and the players that are out of the team need to be patient and when they get an opportunity, take it. It's the same for every single player. MC: George Williams is not playing this week – had he not played in the previous three games against Saints you'd probably have won but it is not going to fall into your automatically, is it?.
PW: There's no getting away from the fact George Williams is an exceptional player and has been for a long, long time. He certainly adds a lot to them. And I know what Warrington will not do is look at George Williams is not on the team so we can't win.
They're a competitive team - they'll find a way to do things a little bit differently and quite naturally – like us - when you miss some of your best players it can impact, but you can certainly limit that impact by what you're doing. We'll go to Warrington expecting nothing else, but an extremely tough game. MC: Do you go to Warrington confident that the win will come against a big team? PW: We are building confidence as a team and it might sound strange to say that when you've lost a couple of important games.
Statistically, we're more than in the fight in all those games but unfortunately games are not won on statistics. We've hurt ourselves in a few areas and we're working hard to fix those up and we have to take responsibility for that because it's all well and good talking about how well we're doing in certain aspects of our game. What we've got to do now is take that next step and start winning some of those big games and part and part and parcel of doing that is taking ownership of what we need to do better.
MC: I've never seen a top nine pull away from the rest so early and it be so tight at the top a third of the way through. I suppose all these games now against teams above and around you are going to big by the end of the end of the year in terms of the league table, aren't they? PW: I can't speak for other clubs but the run of fixtures that we've had in the last five or six weeks have been some of the toughest challenges they can get. So we feel that we're in a good spot in terms of playing high competitive games because we got another a few coming up this week and next, with Warrington on Thursday and then magic with Leeds.
So you know, playing important games with teams that are in and around us on the Super League ladder. MC: Did you set yourself a target within this block before you hit that week off after magic. Or has it been a game at a time? PW: In most recent times, we've just been taking it game by game, but in the past we have certainly blocked fixtures out at times as well.
And that's something that we will use every now and again. But where we're at the moment, we are just taking it game by game with obviously trips to Catalans, Good Friday game, short turnarounds and different challenges that come our way and we get another short turn around today. MC: Good to see Owen Dagnall back.
I was impressed with him in the West Hull cup game where he was probably unlucky not to have two or three tries. He gives you another option in that backline line, doesn't he? PW: He's a really athletic kid, a very fit young lad who carries the ball well and contests his kicks really well. He certainly comes into the reckoning.
So we've got two options there- if he doesn't play with us at Warrington, he can get some game time in the reserves on Saturday. I haven't quite finalised which way we go yet but at the same time, it's great to have more options in the outside backs given where we've been recently..
