A SIMPLE ingredient might be a key reason why St George Illawarra are one of the in-form teams in the NRL competition.
Three losses in a row threw the spotlight on the team and young coach, Steve Price, at the start of the 2013 season. So they decided to find some fun at training sessions and bring it to game-day.
The result: a more composed performance across the board and wins over the Sharks last week and the Knights on Sunday.
The 19-16 victory was also coach Steve Price’s third win over former mentor Wayne Bennett (Knights) from three games since Bennett left the Dragons at the end of the 2011 season.
‘‘We’re all enjoying ourselves and our football again,’’ said in-form New Zealand Test winger Jason Nightingale, who will be one of the first players chosen for the upcoming Test against Australia on Friday week in Canberra.
‘‘Yeah, it wasn’t something that was happening early on and we were not following Pricey’s instructions very well, either.
‘‘We needed the big crowd and the local derby against the Sharks. Then we just decided to duplicate that defence and introduce a few more attacking plays against the Knights.’’
There has also been the performance of five-eighth Jamie Soward, who looks like he’s having fun again, too. His kicking and running game is back, even after dropping back to fullback to fill in for the injured Gerard Beale. And his front-on defence is worthy of a front row forward (and probably inspired the bigger boys too).
Nightingale has enjoyed his first full off-season of training in seven seasons — injuries and Test duties affected his earlier years — and so there is no surprise he is one of the form outside backs in the game, outside Soward.
But he also revealed being one of the side’s ‘‘plus 25s’’ could be helping the side.
‘‘Being 27 entitles me to rev up the young blokes at training,’’ explained the winger with one of the toughest running styles to defend against in the NRL.
‘‘I guess I’ve learnt a bit, so my experience could be starting to rub off on some of the younger players.’’
Price was a relieved man after his side backed up their performance against the Sharks.
A no-show at last year’s finals and three losses led to talk he might be replaced. Now, he’s got a team playing and believing in themselves. ‘‘It was a tough start ... unbelievable pressure on us all,’’ Price told the Leader after Sunday’s game.
‘‘It’s the caper of this business, but I have to admit those two wins and the way the boys performed make it fun again.’’
Fun. That word again.
We should all have some of it ...
See more in Tuesday's Leader and a photo gallery above.
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