AS a coach Kurt Hancock has often formulated plans to take down specific rivals in Group 10’s premier league competition, but now the St Pat’s mentor is adopting a different approach.
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For the remainder of the season he will not devote time to scrutinising opponents – his focus will instead be on making sure his Saints are doing everything they can to win matches.
The switch comes as the Saints head into the second half of the season sitting in seventh spot with two wins from nine games.
The situation is not yet dire – two points the difference between the top five – while the Mudgee Dragons outfit the Saints will host this Sunday is four points ahead.
That sort of gap can be closed if Hancock’s side can produce its best football.
“We are going to have to win more games than we lose and if we do that, then we can make the semis. So it’s a pretty important game against Mudgee this weekend, it’s a game we need to win,” the coach said.
“We’ve got a pretty good record against Mudgee at home too.
“It is totally about us now, the focus is on us for the rest of the season and we will be doing more individual reviews. We are going back to the simple way, focus on us and what we can produce, focus on our game.
“We are really going to back ourselves for the rest of the year and see what happens. If we do well enough to make the semis and start to play well, then teams are going to starting looking over their shoulders at us because of the style of footy we play.”
Teams might already be taking a second look at the Saints following last Sunday’s performance against the undefeated Orange CYMS.
Many had expected CYMS to dominate, but in the end just four points separated the pair.
“We wanted to compete well and send a message that we’re not done yet, and I think we did that,” Hancock said.
“I think CYMS have done well with the players they’ve picked up and Panthers as well, then everyone else is pretty much level pegging.
“But we showed last week that if you can produce your best, you can be up there. That’s what we need to do now, play our best each week and we are not going to shy away from that.
“We are going to try and meet it head on and see what happens, there’s no pressure on us, the pressure is on the sides in the top five.
“We just really want to have everyone enjoying their footy, for us now it’s about playing for your mates.”
Back in April when the Saints previously met the Dragons, Mudgee enjoyed around 70 percent of the possession as it posted a 16-10 win.
Naturally Hancock does not want to see such a one-sided statistic this Sunday, but he also wants his men to push the pace of the contest.
“If we can play nice and fast and try not to get into that grind rhythm, it puts you in good stead,” he said. “We want to get quicker.”
Sunday’s match at the Sportsground kicks off at 2.15pm.