Sheffield Eagles’ Jack Bussey calls for improvement despite win over Rochdale Hornets
Sheffield Eagles’ loose forward Jack Bussey spoke after last Sunday’s win away at Rochdale about the progress his team will need to make to build on their already great form.
Although the Eagles had a strong offensive showing, the side still has a lot to improve on for the rest of their season’s campaign.
Commenting on the win and the errors his side needs to fix to maintain their current unbeaten league form, Jack said, “It's nice to win, but it was another frustrating game.
“I feel like we're not quite shutting them out, and you know we're going to come unstuck one of these weeks.
“So I think we need to just be shutting games out now and completing on our terms.”
Adding further detail on the specific areas where crucial improvements are needed, he remarked that, “When we complete on our terms, we obviously starve them of the ball next to our tryline.
“So, when we're completing up near their tryline, they've got to come ninety plus meters to score against us.
“It's very taxing, the more defence you've got to do. So I think you can see in parts of the game, when we kept giving them the ball, we were fatigued and not able to get as much line speed.
“So the more we start completing, finishing, and controlling them more, the better you'll see us.”
Last weekend’s game marked Jack’s first try of the current 2026 campaign, which may be a big feat for some, but for a humble veteran of rugby league like him, it’s something he seems to have taken rather lightly.
“It was a couple of meters out, fell over the line, nothing special, but they all count for four points, and that's all that matters.”
The next outing for Sheffield Eagles is a 1895 Cup preliminary round draw away against Swinton Lions. This important match will decide whether either side will go on to face Rochdale Hornets in the next round of the Cup. The fixture takes place this Sunday, with a 3 pm kickoff.
With the new implementation of preliminary rounds in the 1895 Cup for this season, it means teams that will be taking part in them get an extra game to test their side in, something that Jack Bussey sees the benefit in.
Jack stated, “I didn't really know much about the preliminary rounds. I think it's new this year.
“But it's another game that we can be better ourselves, and if we start implementing some of the stuff we've spoken about, I think we'll see a more rounded performance.”