Showing posts with label lauds. Show all posts
Showing posts with label lauds. Show all posts

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Cartwright lauds 'in the zone' Gallen

Posted June 26, 2011 07:06:00

Titans coach John Cartwright, who stepped down as Ricky Stuart's New South Wales Origin assistant to stand by his struggling NRL club last month, believes Cronulla skipper Paul Gallen is "in the zone".

Gallen smashed his way over for two powerful tries in the Sharks' impressive 36-12 win over a despondent Gold Coast at Skilled Park on Saturday night before being given an early mark by coach Shane Flanagan for his effort.

Gallen drew high praise from Stuart and other rugby league luminaries like Glenn Lazarus after playing 80 minutes in the front row as the Blues levelled the interstate series in Sydney 10 days ago to set up a third game decider in Brisbane on Wednesday week.

Cartwright said Gallen had developed into "the most effective player in the game" with his recent performance in Origin II taking his confidence to an all-time high.

"Every now and then a sportsman gets in the zone," said Cartwright, who is in a different zone altogether with the Titans following their 11th loss of the season.

"He's in the zone and he's added a few strings to his bow."

Titans skipper Scott Prince said Gallen's Origin II heroics had boosted his confidence enormously.

The same, however, can not be said for Prince or the Titans who are going through a rough patch with no end in sight.

"It's a weird feeling (being at the bottom of the ladder)," said Prince, unable to put his finger on what is going wrong.

"It hurts, it hurts a lot."

Cartwright did his best to search for positives after another demoralising defeat, saying the club was going through something it had not previously experienced since entering the competition in 2007.

"You (media) can write what you like, I can see the effort being put in," he said.

"They don't deserve that (36-12) scoreboard but it is what it is."

The biggest home loss in the club's history was amplified even more with the rookie Gold Coast Suns playing an AFL game down the road and drawing several thousand more fans to their match, which they also lost.

- AAP

Tags: sport, rugby-league, nrl, australia, nsw, cronulla-2230, sutherland-2232, qld, robina-4226


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Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Stuart lauds Blues brotherhood

Updated May 24, 2011 11:58:00

NSW coach Ricky Stuart says his State of Origin side has come together the fastest of any representative side he has worked with.

Stuart says forging "mateship" has been the focus of his 10-day camp, which has culminated with the Blues' final training session at Lang Park on Tuesday.

"In all the rep teams I've coached, I've never had a group of people come together so quickly," Stuart told reporters ahead of Wednesday night's clash with Queensland.

"It's a credit to them, they're a genuinely good bunch of blokes, there's no individual.

"The important message of the week was we get some mateship and camaraderie.

"That's all I've said, I haven't had to go any further.

"They're as close as an NRL team."

The Blues will need all of their trench mentality when they attempt to turn around the Maroons' five-series winning streak.

They go in as massive underdogs, even against a Queensland side missing Test centres Justin Hodges and Greg Inglis.

- AAP

Tags: sport, rugby-league, state-of-origin, australia, nsw, sydney-2000, qld, brisbane-4000

First posted May 24, 2011 10:44:00


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