Dewsbury Rams were victorious against Barrow Raiders on Sunday and head coach Lee Greenwood was delighted with the win.
He told the press afterwards: “We didn’t start that well, that was partly down to us and partly down to a good kicking game from Barrow, and that gave them a bit more ball than what we did to start with. We should have defended the first two tries a lot better, Barrow are a team that like to play when they get down near your line, and we knew that. So it was about not giving them that opportunity but we did that early doors.
“I thought we battled back well and then conceded a really soft one just after half time, Riston is quick and broke through us too easy to score that try.
“Crazy as it sounds I sensed something at half time at Widnes, I left the players to speak to each other at half time and we saw more spirit in the second half. We then took that into York and could have won last week, and then the players have turned up today and performed and got stuck in. That has probably been a frustration for me and the previous coaches too, that you don’t know what team you are getting week to week. If we had turned up with that attitude and performance more then we wouldn’t be in the position we are in. We have spoken about that and we turned up last week and gave away two points at York and we have turned up today and got the two points.
“We wanted to keep hold of the ball which was an issue but we stuck at it, we knew there was some areas where we could get at Barrow and we did in the end. When the lads turn up everything just looks better. When we don’t turn up and aren’t at the races then everything just looks like we are a group of strangers. The last couple of week’s the defence has looked good, more aggression, that first contact and even when the opponent has shifted the ball we look good.
“We haven’t spoken much differently behind the scenes but maybe the penny has dropped. We know there is a good team hiding in there and if they rock up and fight for each other then we know we are good enough to be well away from the bottom of the table. Maybe now we have turned a corner, and maybe the half time at Widnes is where we changed if so good.”
On the half back pairing of Sykes and Finn, Greenwood continued.
“We haven’t had them long enough, we didn’t have Liam for the start of the season. So they didn’t have a pre-season to start with. Before Paul’s injury they started to show some good stuff and as they are quality players who have been there and done it. We are a type of team who need these people as well as your Rob Worrincy’s and Michael Knowles. People can look around the dressing room at these people who have been there and done it. I am confident that if we send any team out with those two in it, we could beat anyone.”
Two new players in Conor Mcgrath and Dom Speakman scored on their debuts for the Rams on Sunday, and Greenwood praised both for their performances.
He commented: “It was a necessity bringing those two in. We wanted to bring the right characters in and Halifax rate Conor highly, he did OK at York on loan, then got injured. He has been waiting in the wings at Halifax not quite getting the chances he might have wanted being honest, so we’ve been able to bring him in on loan. He did a couple of shakey things which is to be expected from someone who hasn’t played week in, week out at this level. He then produced a really great high catch and finish for a try which is one of his positives, he has a really good catch on him. I thought Dom was outstanding, again someone we had to bring in as Robbie Ward is injured and Sam Day is still doing it tough even though he played today. Dom didn’t just come in and shuffle the ball about I thought he did great.”
On the positive feeling moving forward, Greenwood said: “I know we can attack well, I know we can defend well and I know we can be a good team. We can go to Sheffield with confidence on Friday and give them a good game.”
