Western Force coach Simon Cron is confident the side can bounce back against the Blues in Saturday's Round 2 clash of the Swyftx Super Rugby Pacific competition at HIF Health Insurance Oval, Arena Joondalup.
There was much soul searching after the disappointing first round defeat to the Brumbies and at the CD Dodd Coaches’ Conference on Thursday, Cron said there had been plenty of "honest conversations".
"Our leaders were really good around the conversations, so were our game drivers, around ownership of some of the things we did," Cron said.
"The guys have reviewed very closely as we have as coaches. All great teams have to be led by the guys on the field.
"It's important for us as coaches we give them the tools to help them do that."
He said a big part of the build-up to the game tagged ‘Force In The North’ (kick-off 4.35pm) was making sure players had clarity and understanding around big moments.
Players were frustrated against the Brumbies when a pass went stray, there was an intercept or the ball was thrown away and Cron said they had to treasure the ball, not give it away easily.
"We just can't be doing that," he said. “We looked at how we fix that and talked a lot around our mentality of not overplaying.
"It's really easy to point out the key areas we went wrong. It's individual moments. We will be better."
He said they could not be a "50-50 team".
"There is no 50-50's in rugby. You can't throw a 50-50, it doesn't exist," he said.
"It's about decisive decisions. If we need to carry, we carry. If it's on to pass, we need to communicate it. Just be decisive in what we do."
Cron has shuffled his tight five after Nick Champion de Crespigny suffered a knee injury against the Brumbies.
Darcy Swain comes into the second row with captain Jeremy Williams moving to blindside flanker, a switch Cron said had been discussed in pre-season.
"The great thing about Jeremy is he's got the mobility and skill to play at No.6 and as a lock," Cron said.
"It's a smart move. We were planning on doing it anyway. We talked about it a lot. Just gives us the opportunity earlier."
History is against the Force.
The Blues are unbeaten in their last 13 Super meetings with 12 wins and a draw and, in that time, undefeated against the Force in Perth, five wins and a draw.
But Cron is not looking backwards.
"Different teams, different places, different people," he said.
"You never know with the Blues. They've got some key DNA that they've worked off.
"They've got some pace either side, they've got power through the middle.
"Their outside backs are big and strong and you can't just focus on the front door. You've got to make sure you're covering the field.
"We've got guys who are big enough, strong enough and ugly enough to handle those edges too and they have got a job there.
“At the same time we've got to attack them. It's not about defending all the time, it's about attacking, maintaining the ball, controlling it and building pressure.
"I think that's where we went away from after that first 40 (minutes) last week. It's also about us playing our game. That's our plan."
Force kickers spent extra time getting used to playing on the oval at Joondalup.
"It (the field) is a different beast," Cron said.
"There's a couple of them out there doing some extra kicking, getting used to the direction of the field.
"It's grass, it's quite long, there's two posts, we're alright."
Western Force starting side: 1 Tom Robertson, 2 Brandon Paenga-Amosa, 3 Harry Johnson-Holmes, 4 Franco Molina, 5 Darcy Swain, 6 Jeremy Williams (c),7 Carlo Tizzano. 8 Vaiolini Ekuasi, 9 Nathan Hastie, 10 Ben Donaldson (vc), 11 Bayley Kuenzle, 12 Hamish Stewart, 13 George Bridge, 14, Divad Palu, 15 Mac Grealy.
Reserves: 16, Leonel Oviedo, 17 Sef Fa’agase, 18, Misinale Epenisa, 19, Lopeti Faifua, 20, Kane Koteka, 21, Henry Robertson, 22, Max Burey, 23, Kurtley Beale.
Blues starting side: 1 Joshua Fusitu'a, 2 Bradley Slater, 3 Marcel Renata, 4 Laghlan McWhannell, 5 Josh Beehre, 6 Anton Segner, 7 Dalton Papali'i (c), 8 Hoskins Sotutu, 9 Finlay Christie, 10 Stephen Perofeta, 11 Caleb Clarke, 12 Pita Akhi,13 AJ Lam, 14 Cole Forbes, 15 Zarn Sullivan.
Reserves: 16 Kurt Eklund, 17 Mason Tupaea, 18 Ofa Tu'ungafasi, 19 Che Clark, 20 Torian Barnes, 21 Sam Nock, 22 Xavi Taele, 23 Codemeru Vai.
Game details
Western Force vs Blues
Saturday 21 February, 4:35pm WST
HIF Health Insurance Oval, Arena Joondalup, Joondalup
Live on Stan Sport (TV) & 91.3 SportFM (radio)
