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You would have to be very impressed by the current form of your side, what is the main reason for the nine wins in a row?
Jason Taylor: A number of things have come together at the same time. The boys have started working hard on their leadership and encouraging each other – that was something we really lacked. Lou Goodwin, who was our captain, was doing that for us in the first part of the year but decided to leave the Roosters and return home.
While we’ve started pushing each other, we also bought a couple of new guys into the team from SG Ball, and we’ve also had Dylan Nappa return to the side from injury. Having three front-rowers come into the side has made a big difference to what we’re doing in the middle of the field. We added a bit to our attack as well – so all of that came together at the same time.
You have had a few blow-out scores, but defensively it seems you’ve kept things quite tight, which is something uncommon in the Toyota Cup. Is that something you’ve particularly worked on?
JT: We’ve been working hard on our defence the whole season – it’s something that I’m pretty big on. It takes time though for it to really sink in and for the boys to get exactly what we’re trying to do – you can’t just get it going in a couple of weeks. We’ve been working on it since pre-season, and they’re understanding it now and buying into the importance of defence.
Moving back into coaching would have been a bit different for you after being out for a couple of years, but how do you find the coaching of a Toyota Cup team different from the head coach role?
JT: The biggest difference for me is it’s part time coaching - it means I’m not working on players outside of their lives as an NRL coach, but the players are part time as well so it goes hand-in-hand. But really, I haven’t approached it any differently.
A lot of the guys are old enough to play in the NRL anyway, and I’ve approached it the same. It’s been really good for me to keep working on the same areas I was as a NRL coach. I didn’t give the players as much at the start, but I realised when we got to the point everyone is talking about, where we made some adjustments to what we’re doing, I actually started focussing a bit more on the guys as far as what I wanted them to do in attack and it’s all come together.
How important do you think the Toyota Cup competition is for the development of our next generation of superstars?
JT: I think it’s a really good competition – I’ve really enjoyed being involved with it. It probably gets a bad rap due to the high scores in some games, but there’s a lot of really talented players in the competition and most youngsters put more emphasis on attack than they do on defence.
It’s not until they get into the higher grades where the coach puts a greater emphasis on defence. Everyone’s a bit critical of the lop-sided score lines, but there’s a lot of really good attack.
You have to remember we’re playing NRL rules – the 10m is very big and the play-the-ball speed is pretty fast, so with the talent in the competition, it’s hard to keep teams to a low score especially when they get on a roll. Being involved closely with it, I can safely say it’s a good standard and there’s some really good footy being played. It’s a great stepping stone for players.
Are there any players in this group who you feel are ready for first grade right now?
JT:Tautau Moga is ready for the top grade, but as he’s still 17, he can’t play first grade yet. There are a couple of others who are knocking on the door and will push their claims for an opportunity early next year, that’s for sure.
Also guys like Kane Evans – he’s been instrumental in getting us going. Brandon Tago has a big future. There’s a few others as well that I don’t think are quite ready for it, but if they keep working on their game and improving over the next few years, they could be guys who find their way into the NRL a bit later in their career. The likes of Ethan Lowe and Alofa Alofa – these are a couple of guys who will be staying in the Roosters system next year. They’ll play with Newtown and try and make their way into the first grade team.
The Warriors have been the stand outs in the NYC this year, and are an obvious threat to your side. Are they deserving favourites?
JT:The Warriors are the team to beat – there’s no two ways about that. We’ve faced them twice, but we haven’t played them since we turned our season around. They’re genuinely the yardstick and we look forward to hopefully getting another shot at them – they’re a high quality side, very big, very strong, very skilful.
Where do you think your side will need to improve, or keep working, to go all the way this year?
JT:Our defence is still the most important area for us, particularly when you look at that Warriors team – they’re just so strong in the middle of the field. We need to keep working hard on the quality of our tackling and getting control of the game in that way. When you play the Warriors, if you’re not really strong with your tackles and don’t give it the attention it needs, they just play the ball too fast and they’re really hard to stop. Defence wins the big games and we’ll keep working hard on that.
This weekend you’re up against your former side in Parramatta – how are you shaping up against them?
JT: They’re a tough one – they’re pretty desperate, and I know their coach Matt Cameron well, we worked together when I was at the Eels. We often talk to each other through the week about our upcoming opposition, especially if one of us has played that team in recent weeks.
He sent me a text this week saying “We’re playing the Roosters – can you give me any tips?” I told him that his side should drop the ball as often as they can. They’ve just been pushed out of the eight, so they’ll need to win probably both their games, or it could all be over. This will be a grand final for them, so it’ll be a tough game.
Jason Taylor: A number of things have come together at the same time. The boys have started working hard on their leadership and encouraging each other – that was something we really lacked. Lou Goodwin, who was our captain, was doing that for us in the first part of the year but decided to leave the Roosters and return home.
While we’ve started pushing each other, we also bought a couple of new guys into the team from SG Ball, and we’ve also had Dylan Nappa return to the side from injury. Having three front-rowers come into the side has made a big difference to what we’re doing in the middle of the field. We added a bit to our attack as well – so all of that came together at the same time.
You have had a few blow-out scores, but defensively it seems you’ve kept things quite tight, which is something uncommon in the Toyota Cup. Is that something you’ve particularly worked on?
JT: We’ve been working hard on our defence the whole season – it’s something that I’m pretty big on. It takes time though for it to really sink in and for the boys to get exactly what we’re trying to do – you can’t just get it going in a couple of weeks. We’ve been working on it since pre-season, and they’re understanding it now and buying into the importance of defence.
Moving back into coaching would have been a bit different for you after being out for a couple of years, but how do you find the coaching of a Toyota Cup team different from the head coach role?
JT: The biggest difference for me is it’s part time coaching - it means I’m not working on players outside of their lives as an NRL coach, but the players are part time as well so it goes hand-in-hand. But really, I haven’t approached it any differently.
A lot of the guys are old enough to play in the NRL anyway, and I’ve approached it the same. It’s been really good for me to keep working on the same areas I was as a NRL coach. I didn’t give the players as much at the start, but I realised when we got to the point everyone is talking about, where we made some adjustments to what we’re doing, I actually started focussing a bit more on the guys as far as what I wanted them to do in attack and it’s all come together.
How important do you think the Toyota Cup competition is for the development of our next generation of superstars?
JT: I think it’s a really good competition – I’ve really enjoyed being involved with it. It probably gets a bad rap due to the high scores in some games, but there’s a lot of really talented players in the competition and most youngsters put more emphasis on attack than they do on defence.
It’s not until they get into the higher grades where the coach puts a greater emphasis on defence. Everyone’s a bit critical of the lop-sided score lines, but there’s a lot of really good attack.
You have to remember we’re playing NRL rules – the 10m is very big and the play-the-ball speed is pretty fast, so with the talent in the competition, it’s hard to keep teams to a low score especially when they get on a roll. Being involved closely with it, I can safely say it’s a good standard and there’s some really good footy being played. It’s a great stepping stone for players.
Are there any players in this group who you feel are ready for first grade right now?
JT:Tautau Moga is ready for the top grade, but as he’s still 17, he can’t play first grade yet. There are a couple of others who are knocking on the door and will push their claims for an opportunity early next year, that’s for sure.
Also guys like Kane Evans – he’s been instrumental in getting us going. Brandon Tago has a big future. There’s a few others as well that I don’t think are quite ready for it, but if they keep working on their game and improving over the next few years, they could be guys who find their way into the NRL a bit later in their career. The likes of Ethan Lowe and Alofa Alofa – these are a couple of guys who will be staying in the Roosters system next year. They’ll play with Newtown and try and make their way into the first grade team.
The Warriors have been the stand outs in the NYC this year, and are an obvious threat to your side. Are they deserving favourites?
JT:The Warriors are the team to beat – there’s no two ways about that. We’ve faced them twice, but we haven’t played them since we turned our season around. They’re genuinely the yardstick and we look forward to hopefully getting another shot at them – they’re a high quality side, very big, very strong, very skilful.
Where do you think your side will need to improve, or keep working, to go all the way this year?
JT:Our defence is still the most important area for us, particularly when you look at that Warriors team – they’re just so strong in the middle of the field. We need to keep working hard on the quality of our tackling and getting control of the game in that way. When you play the Warriors, if you’re not really strong with your tackles and don’t give it the attention it needs, they just play the ball too fast and they’re really hard to stop. Defence wins the big games and we’ll keep working hard on that.
This weekend you’re up against your former side in Parramatta – how are you shaping up against them?
JT: They’re a tough one – they’re pretty desperate, and I know their coach Matt Cameron well, we worked together when I was at the Eels. We often talk to each other through the week about our upcoming opposition, especially if one of us has played that team in recent weeks.
He sent me a text this week saying “We’re playing the Roosters – can you give me any tips?” I told him that his side should drop the ball as often as they can. They’ve just been pushed out of the eight, so they’ll need to win probably both their games, or it could all be over. This will be a grand final for them, so it’ll be a tough game.
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