Titans Review - Attitude Fixed?

For the first time all season, we’re finally celebrating 2 wins in a row here at the Redhill Rants Office (N.B. No such office exists). Feels good man! I think the 28-6 score flattered us; the game was definitely a lot closer than that. But it was still a convincing win and I found myself guilty of the occasional fist pump. A bye next week is another 2 points, and the week after that we are up against the Sharks again which is a very makeable 2 points. Amazingly enough that will see us well inside the top 8 and it just goes to show that you can never write off this football team.

So what’s changed to bring about this recent run of results? Obviously, it’s the attitude of the players. If you look at our games against the Roosters, or the Warriors there was just no hunger in our outfit at all. When Alex Glenn made his try saving tackle last night at around the 48 minute mark, you could instantly tell something had changed. 2 weeks ago, we wouldn’t have laid a finger on that player, and we probably would have let him walk around and stick it under the posts for a certain 6 points. Instead we now have players risking body and limb to save our tryline, which is what we’ve come to expect from the Brisbane Broncos.

The Broncos are answering their critics. The start to the season was unacceptable and we made that very clear, but over the last 2 weeks we’ve been silenced. Darren Lockyer has hit a purple patch, and after a slow start he’s convincing this blogger that he still has what it takes to compete at the top level. I’ve never doubted that he’s been the best in the world; he is in fact my favourite player. But I was beginning to believe that he’d had his day. However his attitude has lifted in recent weeks, and his play has lifted along with it. He’ll deserve the Maroons jersey that will be handed to him next week more than any other player in the NRL.

Attitude is probably one of the most contagious things on our planet, but it’s without a doubt the most contagious thing in a sports team. When one player puts his head down you know your team is as good as dusted and we saw that against the Warriors and Roosters. But when a player puts his body on the line like Alex Glenn did last night to save that try, you could visibly see the team lift. It was no accident that from there we went on to put the game out of reach of the Titans.

I was calling for Henjak’s head just one week ago, but I believe he’s done a lot since then to justify himself. The changes he made moments before kickoff against the Storm were brilliant, even though they weren’t popular and that’s how a coach needs to be. I still think there’s room for improvement when it comes to team selection but it’s a lot harder to fault the coach when a football team is winning. I can only guess that he’s played a part in the change of attitude we’ve seen, so a tip of my hat Henjak sir.

Before I run out of time I’d like to say that Hunt and Setu were very impressive last night. Setu’s try was one of the best you will ever see from a prop forward and I bet I wasn’t the only one who felt very happy for him when he got over the line. I’m hoping McCullough doesn’t walk back into the number 9 when he returns from injury. He was one of the player’s most guilty of spreading poor attitude and has everything to prove, while Hunt has done nothing to deserve losing his spot.

Until next time 2-wins-in-a-row-celebrators. (Today’s blog was brought to you by the word ‘Attitude’)