By Mary Maidiotis
St George Illawarra Dragons halfback Benji Marshall admits belief within the playing group is growing ahead of their match against the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs at ANZ Stadium, Olympic Park on Monday.
Marshall, 30, believes completion rate will be the key when facing the Bulldogs and commended the Red V forward pack for laying the foundations for victory.
The halfback credited continuing confidence for improving the side’s ability, in addition to the hard work they put into training during the week which is paying off on the field.
“The feeling within the Club is great, we’ve got a lot of belief in our ability and we’ve got a lot of fans coming out and supporting us,” said Marshall.
“We’re enjoying the support we’re getting and loving playing for the Red V.
“I think the best part about us at the moment is we are performing on the field, the way we are training and we are training pretty hard.
“We’ve scored a lot of points in our last two games but those points have come off the back of our defence.
“I thought we frustrated the opposition into forcing their hand and making a few errors which lead to us gaining better possession, and it’s just nice to see the things we’ve been practicing at training come off on the field.
“Without the platform our forwards lay, it would be hard for us to play so I think they have been outstanding and probably the shining light of the competition so far.
“Our completion rate will be the key against the Bulldogs, every game we’ve completed over 85% we’ve gone on to win so holding onto the ball goes a long way towards winning those games.
“They’ve got a very big forward pack as well which we’re going to have to try and turn around with a good kicking game and if we can turn up with the same attitude and intent in defence we have had the last nine weeks, it’ll go a long way towards us winning.
“Our confidence is definitely growing and when you start building that confidence within yourself and your ability, things are more likely to work out for you on the field.
“Gareth and I are putting a lot of work in at training surrounding our combination and we do a lot of work on video footage to try and improve as well, so to see the things we’ve been practicing and working on coming off is probably the most pleasing thing.”
