By Liam Cook

Wests’ vice-captain Connor Anderson is confident his side will improve on their current form ahead of a clash with Souths at Chipsy Wood Oval this weekend.

“I think we’re sitting third at the moment which is probably where we belong,” Anderson told Rugby News.

“We’re struggling to put eighty-minute performances in against the good teams.”

The Bulldog’s are currently situated behind ladder leader’s UQ and Bond after eight rounds of the 2022 season.

The boys from Sylvan Road will now confront a South’s side with a strong scrum, according to Anderson.

“They’ll have a really good scrum. Ever since they got George Francis they definitely see themselves as a scrummaging team, which is how we have reviewed it.”

“We’ve shifted a few guys around to nullify their scrum and hopefully take it away from them and ideally beat them around the park.”

“We don’t want to make it a slow game. Something we’ve been trying to do the whole year is speed up our game so we don’t have to get into these scrummaging battles with a good team like Souths.”

Sitting at three wins and three losses at the bye, Wests’ handled the lowly Norths with relative ease at home last weekend to improve their position.

The contest marked one-hundred first grade games for Anderson, who initially began his premier grade career at the Eagles.

“I originally played colts and my first maybe twenty first grade games at Norths and then came over to Wests in 2017.”

“Reflecting on it, I didn’t think too much of it. I was a little bit nervous going into the game.”

“When a hundred first grade game’s for Wests rolls around I might be a bit more pumped for that.”

Despite not reflecting on the milestone extensively, Anderson says he has relished the opportunity to play alongside prominent Australian players throughout his Wests’ career.

“Ever since I’ve come to Wests I’ve got to play with guys like Mark Chisholm and Scott Higginbotham.”

“There have been professional guys who have helped me along and taught me a few things which has been helpful.”

In 2022, Wests are confident they can take the next step and compete with strongest sides in the competition.

“I think we definitely want to prove that we can compete with these really good teams. I think we know that we can we’re just not there yet.”

“Uni we started quite well and couldn’t finish it off. Brothers we started slow and nearly came back.

“Against the good teams we’re just not putting it together for the full eighty which is hurting us.

“I do think we deserve to be sitting where we are on the table currently.”

New recruit Bradley Kelegai and centre Fletcher Spicer have been contributing strongly for Wests’ this season according to Anderson.

“Bradley Kelegai, who came over from Souths in the pre-season, has been really impressive both for the team and for me personally. Just as someone who can compete it a similar spot to me.”

“Fletcher Spicer’s come a long way in the last couple years and he’s really starting to develop as a real solid first grade player.”

Anderson believes his side can go a long way in 2022 if they are able to execute both the physical and mental aspects of the game.

“The way that Elwee’s trying to train us is to be physically tough and mentally tough as well.”

“If we can get that mental toughness correct and put it together for a full eighty, then we should be able to compete with these top teams.

“As always, we definitely want to be in the four and give ourselves a chance in finals time.”