Eagles' Griffin is Prepared for Tough Road Ahead against Barrow

Sheffield Eagles will be wary of a wounded Barrow after this week’s opponents’ heavy defeat to Doncaster last weekend

Sheffield Eagles’ George Griffin looks forward to the challenge against Barrow Raiders this Sunday (3pm KO), and he knows the improvements his side needs to make if they are going to come out on top and progress further through the Betfred playoffs.

George Griffin recieving the man of the match trophy, for this performance against Batley Bulldogs last Sunday. | Jake Borrill

placeholder image — George Griffin recieving the man of the match trophy, for this performance against Batley Bulldogs last Sunday. | Jake Borrill

George Griffin made his 300th appearance for the club last weekend, in the Eagles’ 25-18 win against Batley Bulldogs, in which he managed to get his name on the scoresheet. But despite hitting this huge milestone, he is looking ahead rather than dwelling on the past.

He said, “It is a big milestone. I did not think much of it until you get tagged in all of the photos, and you think, ‘that was 15 years ago now’.

“It is lovely to make an occasion of it and obviously look back over the years, but I will probably reflect on it at the back end of the season, as my eyes are on the prize at the minute.”

Commenting on the strong comeback win against Batley, Griffin remarked, “It was a very physical game; they came with nothing to lose, and it showed in the way they turned up.

“We are really pleased that we managed to get on top of them, though, with the comeback in the second half, and then we came away with the victory.

He added, “In the second half, we stuck to the game plan; we wanted to split the field and open up where we needed to.

“We managed to do that, and we turned to the momentum of the game to progress toward the win.”

This season has been full of both ups and downs for the Eagles, with moments of strong, consistent form present throughout their campaign, but improvements are needed if they are going to progress forward for the chance to win silverware.

Speaking on the patches of good form, and what is needed to ensure that form can become consistent throughout these playoff fixtures, Griffin stated, “If I am being completely honest, I think we have maybe only strung one or two 80-minute performances together this season.

“I think when we can manage to do that week on week, we will be a massive threat in this league. It has been quite frustrating losing the games by such narrow margins, when essentially we have not played for 80 minutes in them.

“In some of them, we may have only put in a 40-50 minute performance and still came away with a really tight scoreline. So hopefully we can turn the screw in these playoffs and come away with a win.”

Further expanding on what the Eagles need to do to continue to come out on top, he explained, “ I think we wait to get something put on our chin; we are reactive as opposed to proactive.

“We wait to get hit before we throw one ourselves. We need to change that.

“It has come down to the top 10 teams in competition now, and if you allow them to get one over you in the first 20 minutes, you’re not going to gain it back.

“We need to start better; we know what we need to put right, and we will be putting our best foot forward.”

This weekend's fixture against Barrow provides the Eagles with ample opportunity to put everything they have worked on thus far into a result, and despite the Raiders' huge 72-0 loss to Doncaster last week, George Griffin knows the tough task still ahead of his side.

He commented, “They will definitely be looking to rectify the loss. I remember when we played them away earlier this year, we let them get a couple of tries on us early on, and then we took the lead and then lost it by a narrow margin.

“So we obviously need to counteract that; they are going to come out firing, especially after the heavy defeat that they have just had.

“But that is not a reflection of them; we have played them before, and they are a really tough outfit. We need to match them toe to toe at the start, and then hopefully take over later in the fixture.

“I think all of the Cumbrian teams, Craig has touched on it this year, are really tough. They come out firing, and they don’t stop for 80 minutes.

“So when you think you might have one over on them, they find a way to claw something back.

“So we are confident, quietly confident, but we are not arrogant, and we are going to go there, try and execute our game plan and hopefully come out on top.”