Blake Green: New Zealand Warriors need to start showing resilience in NRL

Blake Green. Photo / Photosport

COMMENT

We are lacking resilience. As much as it hurts to write that, it's a reality we have to face and something we have to fix quite quickly to get things back on track.

At times during the year we have showed it, and when we do we tend to get a good result.

As a team, we need to be better defensively, and stronger mentally when things aren't going our way.

When things are going well, we go fine but when things aren't going our way we don't seem to have enough toughness or grit.

So what's the answer for this Warriors team?

As basic as it sounds, it's being able to train at your best every day.

Any conditions, any time, no matter how you are feeling or whatever the training schedule is, we need to be there, no excuses and perform at our best consistently.

The last couple of weeks at training we have had some execution errors and they tend to show up on match day if that's how you perform during the week.

Often the best thing is to focus on yourself as an individual. Do your work, make your tackles, make sure your passes are on the money, all those tiny details and collectively it will come together.

You can't worry or be frustrated with everything else that is coming on, you just need to narrow your focus and sort yourself out.

Against the Storm we didn't do that, especially in the second half. Our completion was way down and we didn't give ourselves a chance. We need to be happy to get through some sets and build momentum that way.

The other important aspect in these situations is handling the flak that comes with poor performances.

I try to avoid all the views that might come across on radio, television and in the papers. The most important opinions are from the coaching staff and my teammates and they are the best guides.

It's been a strange week with the gastro bug going round the team. I started to feel crook on Sunday, and unfortunately the whole family came down with it, too. It hit a few others on the team — Issac Luke, Karl Lawton and Blake Ayshford — but things have been much better since yesterday.

This week we are marking Adam Blair's 300-game milestone, a wonderful achievement that only a select few players in the game have managed.

I was too sick to go to Adam's special lunch on Tuesday, but it was a great occasion. He told some brilliant stories about his journey in the game, and the obstacles he has faced along the way.

It certainly hasn't been easy — especially going to Melbourne at such a young age, not to mention the tough times at the Tigers, but he is made of pretty strong stuff. That has showed again this season. He was dropped to reserve grade a few weeks ago — which must have been hard for a guy of his status — but he handled the criticism, never complained and got on with his job. Hopefully we can get a result for him tonight against the Titans.