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Rabbitohs success no fluke: Taylor

16/03/2009 08:17:56 PM Comments (0)

South Sydney coach Jason Taylor says his side's impressive start to the NRL season is the culmination of two years hard work.

The Rabbitohs crushed the Sydney Roosters 52-12 - their biggest win since 1980 - in their season opener on Sunday.

But far from an overnight sensation, Taylor said the result was the product of hard work since he took over as head coach in 2007, as well as experience gained by key players such as skipper Roy Asotasi.

"I think it's just a bit of time, we're into our third year now," Taylor said.

"When you come to 2009 and why do some of those players look the way they do, it's not an overnight thing, it's just the fact that we've been working on it for a few years now.

"I've learned a lot out of those two years, I know Roy's learned a lot over those two years and the players that have been with us for that time have learned a lot as well, so we're just now putting that into practice I suppose."

But after losing 11 of 12 matches early last season which effectively ended their season before it began, Taylor wasn't getting carried away by the result.

"It's just one game, a good performance," he said.

Taylor said his confidence had been boosted by St George Illawarra's spirited one-point loss to the Storm, knowing his team had comprehensively beaten the Dragons in their trial match.

"We probably got a fair bit out of the trial games that we had but you're sort of always a little bit unsure of how opposition teams are approaching games.

"When the Dragons played well on Friday night I thought, well, that's a bit of a good sign for us, we did well against them a couple of weeks ago.

"That made me feel confident before the game.

"I knew that we were ready to go and I knew that we were well prepared and I thought whoever we were playing (in round one), they would have to play well to beat us but you don't sort of sit back and say the scoreline's going to be this."

The Rabbitohs still have to welcome back gun utility Craig Wing, who had off-season shoulder surgery.

Taylor said a fit and in-form Wing would definitely find a starting spot in his line-up, however he wasn't sure just where.

"It's not an issue for me," Taylor said.

"He's watching at the moment and seeing the quality the boys are putting in and he's excited about being part of it.

"He knows that he wants to be there and I think the most positive thing about it is he's going to have to earn that spot ... and he will."

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