St George Illawarra Dragons captain Gareth Widdop is confident his side has learnt from the lessons of 2017 as they embark on their first interstate trip of the year.
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The Dragons 2017 season was crippled by losses to clubs sitting beneath them on the ladder, with the side suffering six defeats to teams who missed the eight. The season was punctuated by a loss in the final round to the 11th-placed Bulldogs.
“We played two good teams in the last two weeks, we did some really good things and to come away with two good wins is really pleasing, really positive,” Widdop said. “But we know it’s a long season, it’s about consistency, which we keep speaking about at the club. It’s all cliche, but week by week, we need to back it up and be even better again and fix up what we didn’t do too well.
“There was that period there when we lost five games to teams down the bottom of the ladder. We shouldn’t be losing those games and the competition’s getting tougher and tougher each week. Each and every week’s tough, so it doesn’t matter who you play, you need to be on your game and if you’re not, you’ll get hurt.”
The first test of this new-found belief will come on Sunday afternoon as the Dragons take on the Gold Coast Titans in Toowoomba.
After starting the season with two straight wins against highly-fancied Broncos and Sharks sides, the Dragons head into Sunday’s game expected to win. Exactly the type of match the team struggled with last season.
The Titans are coming off the back of a loss to the New Zealand Warriors, a performance in which the team fought hard but struggled in attack without halfback Ash Taylor. Widdop knows they will be eager to bounce back with a win, especially if Taylor returns to the side.
“They’re a good side, they’ve got some good players. They’re a gritty team, they grind out a lot of wins and every game against them is difficult. Going up to Toowoomba to play, for us it’s about having the right attitude. I believe if we turn up with the right attitude and stick to the way we want to play, then we’ll go well.”
The Dragons forwards have outpointed the opposition forward pack in the opening two games of the season and Tariq Sims said the pack is determined to make it three from three against the Titans.
“We take every week as a personal battle,” Sims said. “There’s 13 of us and 13 of them, if one to 13, we outplay our opposite number, the result usually would be leaning in our favour.
“We don’t take any game lightly, this week we’re definitely focused on consistency throughout our 80 minute performance.”