“It seems to be a bit of a common trait, sides coming back at us in the last quarter,” Rawlings told kangaroos.com.au.
“In the last few weeks we’ve been able to stand strong, get our hands on the ball and not try and save the game but still win it. I think our last quarters are getting a lot better in that regard.”
“If you keep a side to five goals at three-quarter time, if they’ve got anything in them they’re going to have a crack in the last quarter. It happened to us against Melbourne and it happened to us against the Saints, but we matched it with them when they came at us.”
“All year we haven’t been able to quite break side’s backs and finish off with a six or seven-goal win. But any win’s good from my point of view.
“It’d be nice to go into a last quarter with the game in the bag, but it seems like we need to be on edge a little bit.”
The Kangaroos’ midfielders have shown the ability to run free and turn defence into attack at great pace so far this season, but Rawlings said they can still get down in the trenches when a team wants to play hard and in close.
“It was a very physical game and I think that sort of game suits us down to the ground,” he said.
“We’ve got some good, hard bodies around the ball. As a group, we’ve all grown in terms of playing a full game and finishing off four quarters and fighting through to the end.”
Rawlings said it was nice to get back on the winner’s list after losing for the first time in over six weeks to the Eagles in Perth last week, and he said the win was that much sweeter having just made the long trip across the Nullarbor.
“A lot sides struggle when they come back after a Perth trip, but I didn’t see any signs of that today from the boys,” he said.
“It’s a good sign that from the captain all the way down, we can get everyone switched on to go out there in a good frame of mind and really want to hunt the opposition.
“If we go in with a mindset like we did today then we’ll keep going well.”
