Lack of game management hurting Canterbury Bulldogs in tight matches, says Aiden Tolman
FORWARD Aiden Tolman has conceded his side has fallen into the habit of losing tight games and the lack of game management in the crucial moments is killing their chances at a victory.
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IF competition points were awarded for effort Canterbury probably wouldn’t be sitting at the bottom of the ladder.
They’ve lost 10 games so far this year and of their last six losses, five have been by six points or less.
The Bulldogs are trying but can’t seem to get over the line, especially in the tight ones.
Forward Aiden Tolman says sometimes footy teams get trapped in a cycle of losing games and that losing turn into a ‘habit’.
“It’s a combination of things. At the moment we just can’t find a way to win. I don’t know if it’s we don’t know how to win those tight games or we are just so used to losing those tight games. It can become habit.
“It’s not what we go out there to do, it’s just that we can’t finish it off at the moment. It’s frustrating, it’s tough.”
According to Tolman, finding that little bit extra, whether it’s resilience or a clutch play, is not something you can necessarily prepare for in training.
“I think it’s a bit of training and it’s a bit of the individual working on it as well,” he said.
“There’s only so much training you can do to prepare for a game and once you’re out there you are there by yourself and you’ve only got the 13 players around you.”
In a candid admission, he said the lack of game management was also proving the difference and was hurting his side’s chances.
“I think we just don’t know how to close out a game and really manage a game and that comes to everybody nailing their individual roles. If we do that I’m sure we’ll get a win,” he said.
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A penalty goal was the difference in their 18-16 loss to St George Illawarra on Monday and Tolman says that is proof they are capable of turning things around.
“We know we aren’t too far away. The Dragons are one of the competition favourites and two penalty goals at the end of the game got them home. They didn’t score a try in the second half, our defence has been strong.”
He says a victory is sorely needed to lift team morale with the string of heartbreaking losses beginning to dampen the spirits of the playing group.
“We’ve had a few losses in a row now and we really need to win just to lift the boys’ morale around the place. We are sitting down the bottom of the ladder and we don’t want that wooden spoon,” he said.
The finals might be out of the question but Tolman says the Bulldogs have no intention of being the competition’s easy beats and they will be a thorn in the side of their rivals in the run to September.
“We know there are things that we need to improve on but we also know if we can string a few wins together we’ll be a very tough side to play.”
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