Do you feel everyone’s been able to get the bitterly-disappointing events of last Friday at Wigan out of your system and are ready to beat Catalan Dragons at home tomorrow night?
That’s certainly the intention.
Straight after the Wigan game we had a good look at some systems-based things and the reasons why we didn’t execute what we needed to.
But, at the end of the day, the simple fact was that we didn’t turn up.
That dented the personal pride of everyone, so it’s up to us to do something about it.
We’ve been looking for the right response from everyone, and I’d like to think we’ve got it.
We’ve put some really good days together in training in regards to our attention in what we’re trying to achieve, and I’m looking forward to seeing the results against Catalan.
Is there a collective feeling after last week that you need to prove yourselves again as a group?
We have a collective feeling that we know we weren’t great and we need to be better.
To be honest, I couldn’t care less who people think we need to prove things to.
It’s more about ourselves and what we think, and going out and showing on the big stage what we’re capable of doing, that’s the key.
But how important do you believe it is to put a show on for the fans in what will be the Giants’ last home game of the season?
The main thing about tomorrow night is finding a response to what happened at Wigan.
And we know if we do that then we should make the fans happy again, because I said we owed them one for what we dished up last week.
Our supporters were great at Wigan, so to play like we did with such great following behind us added to our sense of disappointment.
We obviously enjoy playing at home in front of our own fans, and I really hope they get behind us in big numbers again for what is a massive game for us.
Knowing a win would take us to within a game of the Super League Grand Final at Old Trafford should inspire everyone.
How big a threat are Catalan Dragons, and how much time have you spent on them this week?
Given the events of last week and how much we need to fix up things ourselves, our time looking at them as a group has been limited.
We probably spent about 10-15 minutes looking at them on Tuesday morning, but that’s about it.
This is obviously the third time we’ll have played them this season, so we already know a thing or two about them.
They’re a good, hard-working team, who won’t be coming to us lacking any confidence.
While they had their watershed moment by beating Leeds at Leeds for the first time, in the play-offs on Saturday, they’ll have seen what we dished up the night before.
I’m confident Laurent (Catalan coach Frayssinous) will be telling his players to start with all guns blazing, be patient and wait to get their rewards.
My response to them would be ‘good luck to them!’
I know I do keep repeating myself when I say it’s all about us, but that’s never been more the case than right now.
The players were hurting after what happened at Wigan last week, and I know how much they want to get back out there and get a victory when it’s never mattered more.
