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Canno says we shouldn't be happy with aiming for 8 wins:
THE Force have been pulling the great western con job on us all, but I fear that it may backfire on them.
At the start of the year, coach Michael Foley and chief executive Mark Sinderberry stood side by side and declared that eight wins this season would be a good result.
With my history at the club as a proud former Force player, I was incensed and embarrassed. They were telling their supporters and sponsors that it was acceptable to aim to win just half the games they played.
That was the extent of the ambition of a club now in its eighth year, a club that has regularly underperformed.
But I suspect that was all a ploy by the Force to ease pressure on themselves and shock the eastern teams.
They are out of sight, out of mind in Perth, and by declaring underwhelming goals for 2014, it was as though they lulled rival teams into a false sense of security.
How they managed to string together a club record five straight wins was incredible, built around unwavering defence.
They conned us all. I freely admit picking them as my worst-performing Australian side before the season began.
But after watching their defeat to the Melbourne Rebels on Friday night, I am concerned that the eight-win declaration by coach and boss may have also had a psychological impact on the players. When I was there, the joke was that WA stood for Wait Awhile, you naturally have limited expectations.
What happens when you’re publicly sold as a team that can only hope to win half your games in a season?
They are already three wins away from achieving the goal, and from what I saw of them in Melbourne, they may be getting stage fright.
It is true they were missing a number of key players, but the way their scrum was marched backwards by the Rebels pack was humiliating.
Their scrum was demolished by the Rebels and that will ring alarm bells for Foley as they approach a run of four games against South African opposition.
But I think the Force can bounce back and do something special this year if they truly believe they are better than an eight-win side.
http://www.foxsports.com.au/rugby/br...-1226889916726