Gibson confident he still has Waratahs players’ support

Editor

Waratahs head coach Daryl Gibson has dismissed a report that some of his players have lost faith in his plan, describing the notion as ‘whispers and rumours’.

Gibson took the opportunity before his Monday press conference began to address a report that some players had lost faith in the second-year Waratahs mentor, with the side on the verge of its worst season in history.

"I certainly won’t be entering into what amounts to whispers and rumours,” he said.

The New South Wales coach said he hadn’t addressed players over the issue, confident he had their backing.

“Not at all,” added Gibson.

“If I felt that, I’d be first to identify that.”

Though he disputed the report, Gibson admitted he had misjudged his playing roster at the start of the season, an error that put them on the back foot.

“What we’ve found this year is the assumptions we made at the start of the season around our list and what our strengths could be, didn’t materialise,” he explained.

“We’ve had to pare our game back quite a lot from that wide, expansive style we tried to play to more pragmatic feel.

“I thought at the start of the season we’d be far more mobile than we were and a faster team.

“What we’ve found is we’re still quite a big team and didn’t move quite as well as what we’d hoped so that restricts us in what we’re trying to do.”