Wests Tigers Coaches

[Telltails]

TT, we had the "boys club" under Maguire with his initial "hand picked" assistants who were subsequently replaced by Maguire's assistants from the NZ team. You were strongly supportive of Maguire so what is the difference?

The least of the 2 ex/ premiership winning coaches problems are the assistants that they choose to work with - despite some labelling one paranoid for his choices, and the other getting the boys club back together.
The rosters that they have/ had to work with are miles away from the squads that they achieved success with - and is/was and remains the biggest handbrake to achieving anything at this club.

 

[pawsandclaws1]

The least of the 2 ex/ premiership winning coaches problems are the assistants that they choose to work with - despite some labelling one paranoid for his choices, and the other getting the boys club back together.
The rosters that they have/ had to work with are miles away from the squads that they achieved success with - and is/was and remains the biggest handbrake to achieving anything at this club.

Sheens hits out at 'garbage' Maguire claim

'No decision was ever made without Michael's approval'

wwos.nine.com.au

 

[Telltails]

Sheens hits out at 'garbage' Maguire claim

'No decision was ever made without Michael's approval'

wwos.nine.com.au

Your point -

 

[Telltails]

You would have to ask Sheens that.

 

[pawsandclaws1]

Your point -

"There's not a player there he didn't sign or sign off on. He was on our retention committee - no decision was ever made without Michael's approval. None," Sheens said.

 

[tony soprano]

Spine next year will be api, Brooks 7, AD 6, Hastings 13, Laurie 1

 

[diedpretty]

Inside Tim Sheens’ first day back ast Wests Tigers coach and bid to resurrect struggling NRL club​

Tim Sheens has wasted no time in his second coming as Wests Tigers coach. The veteran clipboard holder has made a blunt assessment of their fortunes, and how he plans to fix them.

Paul Crawley

6 min read
September 5, 2022 - 4:42PM
News Corp Australia Sports Newsroom
https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/s...3374ff6959d59254e88e9e03a3ecc?amp#share-tools
Video-link

NRL: Canberra scored 42 unanswered first half points in a big win over the Tigers at Leichhardt Oval.
A day after crashing to one of the worst defeats in Wests Tigers’ strife-torn history, Tim Sheens has spoken passionately about his bold plan to rebuild the shattered joint venture.

“You fix it with hard work,” said the 71-year-old, who famously turned up with a bucket of paint and a brush in 2003 and won a comp two years later.
But while conceding taking charge of the current NRL wooden spooners would be a tougher gig than when he first arrived two decades ago, Sheens point blank refused to publicly comment on Sunday’s 56-10 capitulation out of respect to interim coach Brett Kimmorley.
“I was not the coach yesterday and I don’t want to be critical of anything from that point of view,” Sheens said.
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Tim Sheens’ second coming as Tigers coach started on Monday. Picture: Mark Evans/Getty Images
But the four-time premiership winning coach was up front about the job ahead of him and new assistant Benji Marshall.
And with that he spoke openly about the faith he has in the gun crop of juniors coming through that reminds him of two decades ago, the fact he was still hunting more high profile recruits to join Api Koroisau and Isaiah Papali’i, and why he has already locked in his spine for next season.
That will consist of Luke Brooks and Adam Doueihi as the halves, Daine Laurie at fullback, new buy Koroisau at hooker, leaving Jackson Hastings at lock.
Plenty have been critical of the fact Brooks in on $1 million plus yet he has never taken the Tigers to the finals previously.
So why would the Tigers want to keep him going forward with Newcastle consistently showing interest?
Yet Sheens was resolute Brooks remains the club’s top choice halfback ahead of youngster Jock Madden for next season.
Asked if Madden was Penrith bound, as reports suggest, Sheens said: “He hasn’t said so. Nor has his agent. Nor have Penrith.”

Off-contract half Jock Madden’s future is up in the air. Picture: Mark Kolbe/Getty Images
But he is off contract?
“He is off contract.”
But as for the make-up of the spine he was more forthcoming.
“It sounds all right to me,” he continued.
“From our point of view, they all have a year to go on their contract. And we have to see if that is the system we go forward with.
“If it is not good enough out to take us out of last position then things will change.
“But it won’t be just the spine, it will be the team generally.
“You fix it with hard work.
“It is not just the players, it is the staff. My role as from today is as coach. So now I am thinking as the coach.
“I am planning from that point of view.
“Benji has been in contact already and we have meetings planned for this week.”
And after finishing with the club’s first wooden spoon, Sheens agreed it was a tougher task ahead than when he took charge in 2003.
“It is,” he agreed.
“I think that year, Rugby League Week, the good old magazine, ran a players’ poll which said which club would you least want to play at?
“And guess who it was?
“But funny enough in the same instance we had a good crop of kids coming through (back then).
“And in my Flegg side (this year) I reckon I have got quite a few first grade players.”

He also reminded everyone that as many as “10 first graders” didn’t play in Sunday’s disastrous loss.

“I am not throwing excuses up,” Sheens said.

“I am just saying we have got some ammunition coming back.

“And on top of the ones that are coming back we have still got the two boys, Koroisau and ‘Ice’ (Papali’i), and we are not finished recruiting yet.”

But reminded again of the train wreck this season was, he added: “I have been there before. I started when Penrith was a train wreck.

“When the CEO told me that if we win one game, one game, he would be happy.

“That was ’84, my first season, and ‘85 we made the semis.”

So does that mean the Tigers would be back fighting for the finals next year?

“Not even pondering that at the minute,” he said.

“Ask me that question six games into next year.

“Look, I know we are going to cop some stuff, but it won’t be through lack of effort.

“I can guarantee you.”

TIGERS’ FINAL INSULT TO LONG-SUFFERING FANS

- Matt Encarnacion

Andrew Johns summed it up best: Pathetic. And that was only after half an hour.

The NRL’s worst team of the year saved one of their worst efforts for last – a 56-10 rollover against an understrength Canberra side to wrap up the regular season.

The Tigers gave up a remarkable 42 points in just 26 minutes in an embarrassing first-half effort, prompting the 10,041 Leichhardt faithful to boo their wooden-spooners into the sheds.

And while the hosts matched the Raiders’ two tries in the second half, the damage was done.

With their finals spot locked in after Brisbane’s loss 24 hours earlier, coach Ricky Stuart opted to rest Canberra duo Jack Wighton and Elliott Whitehead for their elimination final against Melbourne.

But that mattered little to one of the league’s hottest teams, who showed no mercy against a Tigers side that were savaged 72-6 against the Storm just a fortnight ago.

This Wests Tigers fan summed it up perfectly.
A 10-minute period at the start of the second half where they scored through Daine Laurie and Ken Maumalo saved the Tigers from a similar humiliation.

But it failed to disguise the mammoth task Tim Sheens and Benji Marshall have of rebuilding a broken playing group that has been brought to its knees this season.

“Really poor first half. It could’ve been extremely ugly if it had’ve stayed on that path,” interim coach Brett Kimmorley said.

“It doesn’t change the fulltime result, but 16-10 in the second half was a better outcome than what it could’ve potentially got to, which would’ve been very dark, very bad for the club.”

The Tigers’ inept display overshadowed a clinical performance from an in-form Canberra side that will arrive at AAMI Park with seven wins from their past eight games.

OPENING THE CURTAINS

Raiders centre Matthew Timoko opened the scoring when he Brent Naden overran a Jamal Fogarty grubber in the sixth minute – and it was a procession from there.

The visitors scored in their next two kick-off sets through Nick Cotric and Jordan Rapana, before Hudson Young spun through some porous goal-line defence.

Xavier Savage and Jamal Fogarty finished off the 42-0 first half assault, the latter of whom finished off a 60-metre line break from Zac Woolford from dummy-half.

“This is just so, so bad,” Johns said. “They pretty much open the curtains and say, ‘Come through.’ … The only word is pathetic.”

UNWANTED TIGERS RECORDS

The Tigers’ 12th defeat in 13 games means they not only finish with their first wooden spoon in the club’s history, but with a host of unwanted statistical records.

Their four wins is the least, their 20 losses the most, and their average 14.9 points the lowest since Western Suburbs and Balmain merged in 2000.

Captain James Tamou also likely played his final game in the NRL, while second-rowers Kelma Tuilagi and Luke Garner played their final games for the club.

“The pain that the players have gone through this year is enough for them to look in that mirror and change and go, ‘There is a change coming next year, but I’ve got to do more about myself to help that change’,” Tamou said.

“Can’t just rely on other change of staff, change of scenery, players coming in. We’ve had some dark times and I think that’ll help the club… I wish the club all the best.”

 

[tony soprano]

They have a year to go on their contract and we have to see if that's the system we go forward with

 

[diedpretty]

Paul Kent: Tigers fans deserve admission fee refunded for being subjected to that humiliation​

A mid-season sacking and coaching switch up was supposed signal change at Wests Tigers. Fans deserve their money back if Sunday’s humiliation reflects change, says Paul Kent.

Paul Kent

4 min read
September 6, 2022 - 7:18AM
News Corp Australia Sports Newsroom
https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/s...f9bafc877a697b3e9dd16574ae994?amp#share-tools
Video-link

NRL: Fans at Leichhardt could be heard booing at half time as the Tigers left the field trailing 42-0.
A tremendous apathy swept the land on Sunday when the Wests Tigers, as loveable a bunch of losers as you could ever hope to meet, decided they were not going to let the season idly fade away like most teams do and so, instead of merely rolling over, they went for defeat in spectacular fashion.

Refusing to fail quietly, the Tigers took a solid attempt at the record books, and almost got there.
Alas, it surprises nobody that even when the Tigers were about to announce themselves as the best losers ever, they failed even at that.
Minutes before halftime the Raiders were hammering their line and the stats boys were sweating excitedly over their decimal points, aware the greatest halftime deficit in the history of the NRL was the 48-0 scoreline set way back in 2003 when the Knights were giving it to the Cowboys, when Benji was still a bub, and that the way things were going two minutes was more than enough time for a couple of Canberra tries to beat the record.
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James Tamou and his teammates look dejected after letting in a Canberra try during the massacre at Leichhardt Oval. Picture: Mark Kolbe/Getty Images
Then, somehow, after 38-odd minutes of keystone cops footy, the mighty Tigers turned water into wine and defended two sets in a row for the first time the entire game to thwart the Raiders and force them to head to the sheds ahead 42-0, wondering just where this spirited fightback from the Tigers had sprung.
Say this for the Tigers, few teams are prepared to attempt heroics quite like them.
The only ones more deserving of a Purple Heart were those sad souls who paid $50 to stand on the hill in light rain to watch what these men, professional athletes supposedly, dished up under the glare of the television cameras.
The Tigers were charging blood money.
The question that started well before halftime, sparked by many already trying to get a headstart on the rush of traffic by leaving early, was where do the Tigers go from here?
If sacking Michael Maguire mid-season was the necessary step to go forward, why weren’t incoming coaches Tim Sheens and Benji Marshall put into the job immediately?

A 42-0 scoreline is posted on the famous Leichhardt Oval scoreboard at halftime. Picture: Mark Kolbe/Getty Images
Instead, the Tigers wasted the second half of this season by changing nothing, from what could be seen, while Sheens sat high in the grandstand nursing a migraine at what he was seeing and Marshall was off holding coffee meetings.
Just a few weeks ago my Tigers operative was saying how Marshall’s influence was already being felt.
His ability to get the likes of James Tedesco and Mitch Moses on the phone to talk about getting them back was something the club had not had lately.
It didn’t seem to matter that for 40 cents I could make the same phone call.
And get the same answer.
The Tigers have celebrated the Sheens and Marshall appointment as a massive positive for the club, and they might well be, but one school of thought is that by trying to avoid the stink of this failed season they have put the rebuild back at least six months, possibly more.
Certainly there has been a delay in standards of at least six months.

The Tigers' brainstrust of Tim Sheens and Lee Hagipantelis look on Leichhardt Oval. Picture: Fox League
Marshall quit his Fox League television show in July to get an early start on next season. He wanted to hit the ground running, he said, when training resumes on November 1.
What he has done, though, remains to be seen.
He has been notably absent from many Tigers’ games, though.
And with such little change in the roster from this season to next there is a question why the new work that needs to be done, and there is so much to do, could not have begun immediately with all that free time available.
The Tigers have actually got worse after Maguire was sacked.
The club has shown no signs of turning it around, making you wonder if it was the coach at all.
The only two notable recruits next season are Api Koroisau and Isaiah Papali’i. Both were signed when they thought Maguire would still be coach, one of whom now doesn’t want to go anymore, and neither seem likely to be able to effect the change on the group that needs to happen if they are going to win more than they lose.
The Tigers might be the test case for change in the NRL.
While Sheens and particularly Marshall were sold as fresh voices to attract new talent, a belief held around the club, a different reality is becoming apparent.

Wayne Bennett and his new Dolphins franchise have highlighted the difficulty of recruitment in the modern game.

Bennett has failed again and again to land the marquee signing for his new club, with Cameron Munster now the only big name player coming up for negotiation on November 1 able to fill the Dolphins’ promise of landing a big name player.

The Tigers have copped the tip and quietly entered the race for Munster’s signature, knowing the only way to turn their direction in any sort of real time is to land a marquee player with considerable talents — but at a cost which will bend their salary cap completely out of shape.

Which is what started the decline in the first place.

Once again it shows the NRL needs to revisit a draft to spread the talent within the game.

The RLPA will argue a draft is illegal, defeated in court back in the 1990s, ignoring the well-known truth that salary caps were intended to work in tandem with drafts, and that one fails without the other.

Outside of that the only way left to rebuild is to invest in juniors, a rebuild that from the time it begins never happens quick enough to save the current coach.

Given Marshall is about to begin a five-year stint, it is a sobering thought.

 

[Telltails]

"There's not a player there he didn't sign or sign off on. He was on our retention committee - no decision was ever made without Michael's approval. None," Sheens said.

So we can thank Maguire for Api K Papalii and Hastings then. Let's see if Sheens can attract some additional quality to support those signings that Maguire passed on to him - because he is going to need them.

 

[pawsandclaws1]

So we can thank Maguire for Api K Papalii and Hastings then. Let's see if Sheens can attract some additional quality to support those signings that Maguire passed on to him - because he is going to need them.

I have no doubt Robbie Farah, Benji Marshall and Tim Sheens are working overtime to secure the best talent available for WTs at the NRL level and also junior grades. I have confidence in the experience and views of all three on player acquisitions.

 

[426Tlgerland]

I agree we have let 6 months slip I feel , Sheens should have stepped up , if we were still getting best he could say I’m just testing some players out to see where we are at instead they sat back and watched us get crushed so next season we jump 1 spot they did better. Poor decision, and on top of his. They have had 6 months to Sogn players and none so far , and all the bullshit of possible players signing won’t come out until clubs are no longer in the finals , well 8 clubs are out so this means we haven’t purchased from them ? , must be coming from top 8 clubs ?

 

[tony soprano]

C’mon, Tony. You don’t think Sheens has been in control of all decisions. He has gone to great lengths to distance himself, including throwing Noddy into the front row and giving him a hospital pass.

He literally left the coaching staff alone to do their best for 8 position.

After origin it was clear they were not making the 8 and he's had the priority for next season since.

He hasn't been involved in coaching all season.

Yes this made it more difficult for Kimmorley.

But I've said 100 times the season was gone so last or second third last what's the difference.

Sheens will be judged next season as coach.

I don't know how he can be judged as football director of a system he did not believe in.

 

[Telltails]

I have no doubt Robbie Farah, Benji Marshall and Tim Sheens are working overtime to secure the best talent available for WTs at the NRL level and also junior grades. I have confidence in the experience and views of all three on player acquisitions.

We know your position - but your confidence has nothing to do with the struggles this club has in attracting talent and under the watch of your main man finished the competition in a fashion that was simply embarrassing not making the task any easier when we are competing against other more successful clubs for the same players.

 

[tony soprano]

I agree we have let 6 months slip I feel , Sheens should have stepped up , if we were still getting best he could say I’m just testing some players out to see where we are at instead they sat back and watched us get crushed so next season we jump 1 spot they did better. Poor decision, and on top of his. They have had 6 months to Sogn players and none so far , and all the bullshit of possible players signing won’t come out until clubs are no longer in the finals , well 8 clubs are out so this means we haven’t purchased from them ? , must be coming from top 8 clubs ?

What for, the season was over be4 madge left.

 

[Telltails]

Sheens pedalled the develpoment
coach garb when he sacked Maguire. If you couldn't see what throwing young players into a squad that hasn't got the leadership and depth of quality to transition them properly happens in our backend results, then you are blindly buying into a dream not the reality. The players we need are at other clubs and what happened under Sheens did nothing to help our cause to get them here.

 

[TheDaBoss]

More drama pls

We deserve a good show after this horrid season

 

[pawsandclaws1]

We know your position - but your confidence has nothing to do with the struggles this club has in attracting talent and under the watch of your main man finished the competition in a fashion that was simply embarrassing not making the task any easier when we are competing against other more successful clubs for the same players.

I understand our season was finished in 2022 and you can kiss the bouquet Maguire left for WTs. It was dead, gone and buried before Maguire departed and holding Sheens, Marshall or Farah responsible is nothing more than sour grapes.