Knights
Souffs
Eagles
Pretenders (Eels)
Is avoiding the spoon better than blooding new players / trying new things? Do you see anything changing (even down to our attitude on the field) between now and the end of the season? Will this go down as simply a learning curve for Benji OR a continuation of what seems to be an inevitable chain of ongoing mismanagement at the WT?
Sounds a bit like a 2024 season review...but what else is there really to talk about? ;-)
Great question.
I am in the minority here, but we have to be careful about the concept of how wooden spoons are perceived. There is no relegation in the NRL, so from a strictly logical perspective there is no difference between finishing 9th or finishing last. It's also very hard to expect any team to perform at 100% when there is no Jeopardy for either winning or losing once making the finals becomes impossible.
Even if Wests Tigers avoided the spoon this year our existing reputation issue that impacts recruitment, retention and salaries already exists regardless. So again, finishing last or 3rd last doesn't really change much, (except for pride and prestige of course - which is also important)
Recruiting journeymen, has-beens and faded former players will shift the WT needle up to about 9th or 10th place at best. That's a fact, and its been true since our very first season in 2000. That's why Richo always returns to his "Definition of insanity - doing the same thing over and over" sound bite. Fundamentally, we are not going with that approach anymore, but unfortunately we might have to eat another wooden spoon as a result.
But we shouldn't let fear, pride or short term prestige knock us off our path and then give in to the temptation of going back to the usual process of recruiting journeymen and has-beens to fizz up to finishing 9th again. Would it be nice to avoid another wooden spoon? yes. But at the same time, I'm actually proud and relived that the club is growing in confidence and self respect in terms of it being a development club.
TLDR: Id swap 2 wooden spoons that produced a core team / era, than 9 seasons finishing 9th.
