Coach Kiss deflects as Reds’ penalty woes fade
In the previous two seasons, the Reds were their own worst enemies. They led the league in penalties in 2022 and set the early pace in the previous campaign.
A year earlier, Fraser McReight, a star flanker, remarked that most infractions “were just silly and absolutely in our control,” speaking for all of his teammates.
The Reds (3-1) in second place have practically cut their penalty total in half after four rounds of Kiss’s rule, giving up a league-high 7.5 penalties per game.
That’s compared to Saturday’s opponents the Western Force, who are conceding 14.5 in an 0-4 start.
“There was a turnaround late in the season that was quite evident,” Kiss said.
“We’ve built on top of that; we’re aligned, we see something the same way, there’s less ambiguity.
“We have clarity on those areas that are penalised the most and hats off to the boys they’ve just bought into it.
“You’re going to be on the back foot at times and we’ve had the Chiefs, ‘Canes and Rebels enjoy purple patches and we’ve been disciplined at those times.”
The Reds have won six of their last seven games against the Force, including the last three.
Kiss stated, “There’s nothing really that’s been done yet. The rest of us (other than the Hurricanes and third-placed Chiefs) are trying to find out how we survive in this rarefied air.” The Reds (15 points) can jump the Hurricanes (17 points) with a big win in Perth, foreign ground at this point in the season for a side that barely scraped into the top-eight of a 12-team competition last year. “But the Force beat us here (in pre-season) and they’ve been playing well, we have to be wary.”
“There will be a substantial movement on the ladder; we want to ensure that this is not a banana skin game, that much is certain.”
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