2024 - Season Expectations / Hopes

A bit non plused that Luai is seemingly not coming this year.

For all the talk of plans ,progression and administrative changes, they may or may not directly yield improvements. Never actually seen long term football operations plans lead to improvements without a major roster change or breakout prodigies.

Trouble with long-term plans is really that in the interim senior players retire/leave or lose form and juniors are often poached or underwhelm. Long-term plans are at their best when simmering just below.

I expect these changes to yield improvements however the club needs an on field spurt to lock any plans in.

We need semis and we need them now.

So without Luai where can we look for an edge .

Assuming that Bula and our forwards are in decent shape I'm thinking that the only way we make semis this year is with a massive leap in our halves performances.

With still what looks to be a rather weak 3/4 line we probably need Fainu to probably start the year with either Sezer or Sullivan. Fainu is big enough and a good enough defender to really cover the edge.

And to think semis Fainu probably has to slot in immediately at a high 1st grade level aka Lamb, Alexander, Cleary off that bat.

Otherwise, we're in for another ho hum year.
 
Magpie_Magic said:
A bit non plused that Luai is seemingly not coming this year.

For all the talk of plans ,progression and administrative changes, they may or may not directly yield improvements. Never actually seen long term football operations plans lead to improvements without a major roster change or breakout prodigies.

Trouble with long-term plans is really that in the interim senior players retire/leave or lose form and juniors are often poached or underwhelm. Long-term plans are at their best when simmering just below.

I expect these changes to yield improvements however the club needs an on field spurt to lock any plans in.

We need semis and we need them now.

So without Luai where can we look for an edge .

Assuming that Bula and our forwards are in decent shape I'm thinking that the only way we make semis this year is with a massive leap in our halves performances.

With still what looks to be a rather weak 3/4 line we probably need Fainu to probably start the year with either Sezer or Sullivan. Fainu is big enough and a good enough defender to really cover the edge.

And to think semis Fainu probably has to slot in immediately at a high 1st grade level aka Lamb, Alexander, Cleary off that bat.

Otherwise, we're in for another ho hum year.
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Ok, let’s just say Benji is crap and has a terrible year, and is moved on. Does Luai still want to come if say, Morris is coach.
This is all hypothetical but possible given our history ?
 
Halbrowne61 said:
Ok, let’s just say Benji is crap and has a terrible year, and is moved on. Does Luai still want to come if say, Morris is coach.
This is all hypothetical but possible given our history ?
Click to expand...
if Marshall is moved back to assistant coach, maybe?
 
What I would like to see is clear progression

Win 8+ games
We always see effort and never give up
Our backs run hard & straight to start our sets off
The kids grow and show they belong in the NRL
We don’t play players out of their natural position unless we have a massive injury crisis


On a individual player front
- Steph to take a step up and become our forward leader
- Pole & Fainu to be used as the bash brothers
- Seyfarth takes ownership of the lock position
- Fainu, Bud and Galvin step up and give Benji a headache for 25
- We find a 2nd center and Olam plays 18+ games
- We find a replacement winger for Tupou
- Bula continues effort plays, supports around the ruck and starts to provide a 2nd man ball playing option both sides
- AD finishes the year injury free & shows defensive improvement.
 
With the introduction of a revamped backline I am not expecting miracles in the first couple of months both in attack and defence, as both rely on combinations been formed. From around the halfway mark of the season I expect to see some real improvement and a competitive side.

Of course luck also plays a massive role, injuries and dud calls, but those things are out of your control
 
As Wests Tigers fans, we are all fully aware of the indicators surrounding effort and execution.
We have seen a lack of both in some form or another for 24 years now.
I’m not looking for us to go on big winning runs or start piling on cricket scores in 24.

Probing, intelligent attacking structures and dedicated defensive lines. That’s what I’m looking for. Cut out the easy turnover of possession and start our sets strongly from the back. We do this and the wins will come in the back half of the season once combinations have had time to form.
 
tig_prmz said:
when was the last time we had a season where we didn't concede 50 points in a game?

I'd start with that personally...
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That’s only going to happen if the boys remember what David Furner had them doing in defence. This is the problem with change…sometimes the baby gets tossed out with the bath water.
 
tig_prmz said:
when was the last time we had a season where we didn't concede 50 points in a game?

I'd start with that personally...
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Absolutely, like in any sport, everything starts with the D, as if you cannot defend yourself you are blown away and it is hard to recover.
 
I want to see halves capitalise on field position and create opportunities for the outside backs.

I want to see the whole team defend better both individually and as a unit.

They do both of those and they can make a case for the eight.
 
Benji is talking about 'competing on every play'. that's my expectation.

I'm not fussed on results, but I want to see every player competing from minute 1 until minute 80. that obviously includes defensive efforts and scramble, but it also means running hard lines and making yourself an option even when you're not getting the football.
 
innsaneink said:
Sparty... We have trials in a tick over a fortnite... That's season start for me
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Trials can be more exciting than the actual competition games as we get to see a lot of our up and comers without the worry of losing any competition points if things don’t go to plan.
 
I'm looking for three things this year and none of them have to do with the talent of our players: Leadership, Effort and Communication. If we improve on these three areas we can claim it to be a successful season and will be very well positioned for 2025.

Leadership: we are already streets ahead of where we were by sacking the board. The positive influence of the interim board is already being felt. The media have backed off, Benji has set standards and followed them through and we have landed a marquee player for 25. This is a great start off the field - but looking a little closer to home we already have some great leadership in the forwards through Api and Klem. I expect Stephano to step up this year; he really didn't announce himself as a future leader last year. I trust that I'm not dissapointed this year because we need him to deliver - Klem and Apu will move on soon enough. Salad and Olam add some experience to what is a pretty young backline. I trust that they both have leadership characteristics that permeate the backline and align it with our forward. If Benji has bought wisely I can see a significant improvement in our backline. If Salad and Justin don't lead we will be in for another long season.

Effort: If we get the leadership right; on and off the field, I think Benji's call for effort on every play is achievable. I have no doubt that it will be a bit clunky at the start but effort leads to quality execution. I believe that we will see our forward pack improve in attack now that they have had a season to get used to working with a quality 9. Timing was not quite there last year. We should start to see our middles combine with Api to create a little more space around the ruck. That should allow our halves the time to start pulling apart defensive structures and gettign away quality kicks This in turn provides time, space and confidence for the outside backs. If the effort is ther from the start I'm predicting that we start to kick into gear about round 6; maybe earlier if Salad or his 5/8 partner shines from the get go.

Communication. The third thing I want to see happening concurrently is healthy communication. This starts off the field. Having GI at training is a clear indicaotr that Benji and Richo have a plan that is focussed on the individual as a means to create the team. There are two meaningful outputs from improved communication; coordinated attacking structures and a coordinated defensive line. Get these right and add a bit of effort around our scramble in defence and I think we will see the compounding effects of more points on the board and less agaisnt us. If we can get down to under 18 points against per game we are definitely on the rise. Our attack will improve simply because we have turfed Voldemort and Wakeham and added some real depth and pressure in that area. If one or two of the younguns click into gear and really have what it takes to be an NRL half - we could be in for a real treat. I realistically expect them to be erratic in 24 as we develop them.

I'm predicting 12th after a slow start with some exiciting wins, a couple of games where we just don't get it right but fight to the final whistle and one or two golden games where we put 50 in someone as the kids shine. however, if the young kids are as good as some on here believe we could push for the bottom of the 8 if we get off to a flyer.

I'm really looking forward to the trials to see how much fo a change we will see from the last two years.
Bring on the Faders for rond two though; i'm excited!
 
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