Reserve Grade Newcastle Knights coach Simon Woolford said his men were firing on all cylinders against the Wests Tigers on the weekend to record back-to-back wins.
The ISP coach believes the 28-point defeat is a sign his side are starting to gel as a team.
“We started really well and we built some early pressure and were able to maintain that,” Woolford explained.
“Off the back of early control and pressure, we were able to put two or three tries on the back end of the first half which blew the score line out.
“We talked at half time about making sure we got on with it and there was only a ten-minute period in the second half where we let in a couple of tries but other than that, the effort and attitude of the guys was really good.”
Back together again, halves duo Brock Lamb and Jack Cogger were unstoppable in the halves.
Woolford says their exciting combination allowed the team to control the game.
“They have played a lot of footy together and I was excited to watch those two guys play together in the flesh for the first time,” he said.
“You could certainly see they’ve played quite a bit of footy together.
“They laid on a try for each other with their nice little kicks so they just fell straight back into controlling the team like they have done in the past.
“They also had good support around them with our back three (Nick) Meaney, Tommy Hughes and Tommy Cronan being outstanding.”
With eight different scorers on the board, the Reserve Grade coach acknowledges attacking efforts couldn't have been better.
“(Tyler) Randell scored one, Tyrone Amey scored a try, so it was a collective effort and we put in to practice what we trained to do all week,” Woolford stated.
“We scored some nice tries off some set structures and we scored a couple off just playing some good footy.”
Defensive structure was also paramount.
“That is four weeks in a row now where we’ve kept the opposition to under 20 points,” Woolford explained.
“It just goes to show our defence is starting to come along really nicely and towards the back end of the game when the game was well and truly gone, I think we held them out for two or three sets.
“You could see what it meant to the guys and defence was a whole lot more important to them now than it was a couple of months ago and we’re starting to see the results.”
While this season's form has been disjointed with a run of wins and losses, the ISP coach feels his side is starting to look the goods.
“It has taken a bit of time, the effort has been there,” Woolford admitted.
“We had rough starts that took us a little while to recover from and we’ve had some good performances here and there but I think the last month of footy has been really polished.
“The last four games have been some really promising signs so just looking to roll on with that.”
Next up is the Bulldogs for a three-game fixture at Belmore Sports Ground this Sunday.
“It has been a while since they’ve lost a game so they’re going to be up for it at Belmore,” Woolford added.
“They have a lot of confidence so we’ll have another good week’s preparation and see how we go.”
