Lam organising Soward's game
St George Illawarra's Jamie Soward is getting organised, and he holds Queensland hero Adrian Lam responsible.
Five-eighth Soward, who enjoyed the best season of an erratic career in 2009, says new assistant coach Lam is improving his ability to organise the Dragons' backline.
The minor premiers' attack was at times predictable in 2009, something Soward is determined to rectify as the side looks to improve on its finals fade-out.
"(Lam's) just a smart player, you watch him play and he's done it all and already he's started working closely with me and getting those organisation skills a little bit better," Soward told reporters on Friday.
"Organisation's probably not the best part of my game. I think if it was I probably would have been a halfback a couple of years ago.
"It's something I'm working at and it's something that (halfback and captain) Ben Hornby helps me with.
"I'm working hard this year on getting my organisation skills better and obviously ball-playing a bit more."
Soward looked as if coach Wayne Bennett had given him a confidence transfusion this season as he made a first grade No.6 jersey his own for the first time.
"The blokes around me made me comfortable, I owe a lot to Benny Hornby and obviously Wayne coming up with the game-plan that sort of suits me a little bit more," said the 25-year-old, who is off-contract after the 2010 season.
"I guess in the past I haven't really had that sort game-plan where I could just do something if I wanted to.
"With Benny controlling the team and me just getting the backs organised a little bit I think that worked for us.
"Obviously we'll have to maybe come up with a few new ideas this year to get us that one step further."
And that means a transformation from a good team to a great one, Soward says.
"We had a good year and we were the most consistent team all year, I think that was pretty easy to see but it just didn't come together for us in the finals," he said.
"The good teams, that's what makes them great teams. If they have an off night they're still winning or if things don't go their way they find a way to win.
"We did that throughout the year I think."
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