NSW Waratahs coach Daryl Gibson reveals he’ll use Sydney Roosters’ training plan to revive team in 2018

UNDER-FIRE Tahs coach Daryl Gibson says he is “thriving” on the tension of enduring their worst season, while revealing his players weren’t as capable as he first thought.

Daryl Gibson says the Waratahs’ pre-season schedule is in for a transformation. Picture: Mark Evans

THE Waratahs will copy the Sydney Roosters’ pre-season schedule in a bid to transform the horrors of 2017 into a premiership tilt next year.

NSW coach Daryl Gibson revealed he’d spoken to Roosters counterpart Trent Robinson about the NRL club’s off-season training methods, learning that Robinson went back to his original plan this year after a different regimen yielded poor results for them in 2016.

“We’ve looked at what the Roosters are doing, what the Swans have done successfully around their preseason schedule,” Gibson said.

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“I spoke to Trent, it’s worked very well for him this season, he definitely had a shake-up after his results last year and it’s something we’re going to follow.

“They changed their pre-season schedule to what they’d been following for the last nine years. It’s similar to us, I think it’s time for us to have a little shake-up of when we do our hard days, our heavy days, our days off, all that scheduling that goes into a preseason.

Daryl Gibson says the Waratahs’ pre-season schedule is in for a transformation. Picture: Mark Evans

“Part of learning and developing is about going to other codes, seeing how other coaches operate, finding coaches who have been in similar situations that we find ourselves in.”

Gibson shrugged off the massive pressure on his shoulders as the Tahs face one of their worst seasons in history, having already conceded a record amount of points and tries this year with a final game remaining in Perth against Western Force on Saturday.

“I’m thriving on that tension, I know I’ve got to really transform this team into a winning one,” Gibson said.

“I know the players are feeling the same, they’re sick of being in a losing changing shed, and we want to change.”

What exactly will change?

“There’s change all over the place, the first person I look at is myself in terms of what I need to do to be a far more effective head coach,” Gibson said.

“And then look at every area. We’re going through numerous internal, external reviews that will unearth those problems I’ve talked about, and then having the courage to make change.”

Remarkably, Gibson admitted he’s over-estimated the physical abilities of his players at the start of the season.

“What we’ve found this year is the assumptions we made at the start of the season around our list and what our strengths could be, didn’t materialise,” he said.

It’s been a tough season for the NSW Waratahs. Picture: Getty Images

“So we’ve had to pare our game back quite a lot from that wide, expansive style we tried to play to more pragmatic feel.

“We’re a ball in hand team, our fans like us to run the ball.

“I thought at the start of the season we’d be far more mobile than we were and a faster team.

“What we’ve found is we’re still quite a big team and didn’t move quite as well as what we’d hoped, so that restricts us in what we’re trying to do.

“Part of our selection policy and recruitment list was about finding hardworking players who are very mobile.”

Gibson dismissed a report suggesting several Waratahs players had lost faith in him as a head coach.

“I certainly won’t be entering into what amounts to whispers and rumours,” he said.

“If I felt that [players had lost faith], I’d be first to identify that.”

Tahs hooker Damien Fitzpatrick denied players had an issue with Gibson.

“I hadn’t heard about it, so I don’t know where it came from,” Fitzpatrick said.