Aston angered by Eagles again
Sheffield Eagles coach Mark Aston was left fuming, after his players had to work hard to beat Swinton 31-30 at Owlerton Stadium on Sunday.
Aston made several surprising substitutions during the game, taking off star full-back Quentin Laulu-Togagage as well as scrumhalf Dominic Brambani.
The experience of seeing his team scrape home against one of the Championship‘s weaker sides was not one Aston wants to repeat soon.
“Am I shattered? I’m drained! I’ve been drained all year, and this has taken me over the edge,” he told reporters after the game.
“I thought I might try some sky-diving off the roof of the stand at one stage!
“It’s where we’re at, and it’s what we’re about. They want to moan and groan about what I’ve just talked to them about in there, and they need to look at the man in the mirror.
“He doesn’t lie, and if he is, then you’ve got a serious problem.
“It was poor, poor, poor. It was disrespectful, and we nearly came unstuck again.
“When you’re winning 30 points to 18, you expect to kick on. You look at Michael Knowles taking a drop goal, and that just shows tells you where we’re at at this moment in time with our mindset.”
Aston has also promised more changes to the team for next week’s game with Whitehaven.
“There will be changes next week, 100 percent,” he added.
“I reckon there were about three or four people who played well out of the 17 today.
“I’m sick of week-in, week-out speaking about individuals making mistakes.
“Individuals today weren’t doing what they’re supposed to do, and there’s a job spec. You’re asked to do that job, and if you don’t deliver, then you get taken off.
“There were no injuries for any of the players that were taken off. They were taken off because I wasn’t happy with them.”
Aston was pleased that his team managed to win, something that they have found hard at home this season. He felt that the game itself was a very poor spectacle for fans, however.
“There’s one positive, and that’s the three points. That’s all we can take out of it,” he said.
“We speak about how you are what you train. Training on Tuesday this week was sloppy, and today we were sloppy.
“They need to be better than that. It’s not about what we’re doing on the training field, and it’s not about Owlerton at all, it’s about the mental strength of the group.
“I think too many of them aren’t hitting the mark.
“Hopefully now we’ll be clear, and push on, but I’ll be looking at some different options next week, for definite.
“I thought it was a crap game of rugby league, and I wouldn’t pay to watch that.
“It was slow and boring, and that was down to the teams.”
