Wooden Spoons

[TIGERS]

If we go well this season it will make all those dumb wooden spoons we won totally worth it. Its a joy to listen to podcasts at the minute. We are earning back love and respect week by week.

Look at the Dragons and Manly right now. They have both been putting veteran bandaids on their rosters to finish around 9th for a few seasons and having tried that they're even more than before. Sound familiar? Everyone is giving Benji and the club flowers atm but its really the result of a lot of focused and consistent work that more or less began in 2022. I've always said I'd rather finish last for good reasons than finish 9th for the wrong reasons.

Anyway's there is a massive way to go but the signs are really good. Again, we play finals footy and break the curse it won't only be a good 2026 but it adds a bit of meaning and purpose to all those miserable seasons since madge was sacked.

 

[Demps]

Gotta start from the bottom to get to the top no matter who ya are.

No losses, just lessons. Hey?

 

[Mighty_Tiger]

1 season of promise doesn’t make it worth it.

We have a looooonnnnggg way to go.

The only value 3 wooden spoons provides is if there is a legitimate wake up call that delivers a dynasty of finals & grandfinals appearances.

 

[Tucker]

Winnng three spoons in a row is never “worth it”
It was a shameful time in this club’s history.
We seem to be on the improve now and that’s great but it’s well and truly over due. We should never forget the past 14 years of ineptitude and incompetence.
Failure to play finals this year will be upsetting.

 

[426Tlgerland]

Gotta start from the bottom to get to the top no matter who ya are.

No losses, just lessons. Hey?

Well said , if your poor at most things in a company or sport you will be last or broke , we were pretty much both , times are changing but as you say lesson , we will get stronger as we go as long as the whole place works on the same page ,

 

[Spartan117]

We were a poorly led club for over a decade.

Directors
Management
Coaching
Players

We are finally different now.

 

[Tom Shines]

It’s 2 games out of 3

Promising signs … but still a long way to go

 

[Jolls]

And for those wanting to sell the joint to private owership have a look over the fence at Manly at the moment. HBG and infighting have definitely been a big part of our problem but if we continue to take steps to fix our governance we may be able to put that behind us as well. The turmoil off the field created by us fans is akin to the lows we had on it; so I trust that HBG have also learnt a lesson or two and finally turn the governance corner as well.

 

[Rock Hopper Steve]

And for those wanting to sell the joint to private owership have a look over the fence at Manly at the moment. HBG and infighting have definitely been a big part of our problem but if we continue to take steps to fix our governance we may be able to put that behind us as well. The turmoil off the field created by us fans is akin to the lows we had on it; so I trust that HBG have also learnt a lesson or two and finally turn the governance corner as well.

You're a brave man touching on the HBG debate Jolls it could explode again at any time as it has in the past, but it does look like for now they've pulled their heads in.

But just because Manly's owners are nuts doesn't mean anyone who bought us would be tarred with the same brush, if it was to happen, you'd want a consortium not a single owner.

 

[Jolls]

You're a brave man touching on the HBG debate Jolls it could explode again at any time as it has in the past, but it does look like for now they've pulled their heads in.

But just because Manly's owners are nuts doesn't mean anyone who bought us would be tarred with the same brush, if it was to happen, you'd want a consortium not a single owner.

I'm not against HBG as such but the need to sort their shit out. Silence doesn't necessarily mean progres but it is s step on the right direction. If we can achieve true reform the r is no need to hope we are purchased by a good consortium.

 

[Rock Hopper Steve]

I'm not against HBG as such but the need to sort their shit out. Silence doesn't necessarily mean progres but it is s step on the right direction. If we can achieve true reform the r is no need to hope we are purchased by a good consortium.

We will see, they are floating in purgatory at the moment, I'm still not comfortable, time will tell if they head skywards or downwards to that unforgiving hot place.

 

[TheEnz]

We will see, they are floating in purgatory at the moment, I'm still not comfortable, time will tell if they head skywards or downwards to that unforgiving hot place.

They might wait till we start to develop some real hope that things have turned a corner before they have another brain fart, maybe after we beat parra on monday. Death and taxes.

 

[Papacito]

The club definitely seems to have turned a corner.

A lot of good foundational work was done post-Covid to rebuild our development programs and infrastructure.

Reminds me a bit of Penrith who went through some very difficult years and turmoil while getting things sorted.

 

[Flippedy]

We were a poorly led club for over a decade.

Directors
Management
Coaching
Players

We are finally different now.

Maybe I’m just jaded from our bad history, but I feel we, the media and everyone is jumping the gun waxing lyrical about Benji and the team this year. I know we have played pretty good to start the season, but it’s only 3 games!!

We’ve been here so many times like this before at the start of a season, lots of hope and promise only to fizzle out over the ensuing rounds. I’d love to embrace the new found enthusiasm everyone has for the team/club, I really would, but I can’t do it at this stage, as I just can’t shake that feeling that we’re all gonna be let down by this team again as the year progresses.

Really hope they prove me wrong and finally become a real contender for the first time in forever, but right now my ptsd with regards to WT is too real to believe.

 

[hank37w]

I'm not against HBG as such but the need to sort their shit out. Silence doesn't necessarily mean progres but it is s step on the right direction. If we can achieve true reform the r is no need to hope we are purchased by a good consortium.

I really don't know much about what goes on over at Manly, but one of the complaints I have heard in the past was that the lack of money was an issue and that Scott Penn was pretty tight with the purse strings.

No idea if any of that is true but we often hear the same sort of thing about Holman Barnes Group and lack of funding.

Agree that private ownership and finances can be an issue and that you have to be careful sometimes what you wish for because the last thing you would want is the kind of situation Newcastle ended up with when Tinkler had ownership.

You've got to ask yourself is there really any great financial benefit or gains to be made in an individual or a consortium owning an NRL club or is it the case of it just being a play thing or a hobby for the very wealthy.

 

[happy_tiger]

I really don't know much about what goes on over at Manly, but one of the complaints I have heard in the past was that the lack of money was an issue and that Scott Penn was pretty tight with the purse strings.

No idea if any of that is true but we often hear the same sort of thing about Holman Barnes Group and lack of funding.

Agree that private ownership and finances can be an issue and that you have to be careful sometimes what you wish for because the last thing you would want is the kind of situation Newcastle ended up with when Tinkler had ownership.

You've got to ask yourself is there really any great financial benefit or gains to be made in an individual or a consortium owning an NRL club or is it the case of it just being a play thing or a hobby for the very wealthy.

Big difference is Penn is forking out his own cash

 

[SeanT]

If we go well this season it will make all those dumb wooden spoons we won totally worth it. Its a joy to listen to podcasts at the minute. We are earning back love and respect week by week.

Look at the Dragons and Manly right now. They have both been putting veteran bandaids on their rosters to finish around 9th for a few seasons and having tried that they're even more than before. Sound familiar? Everyone is giving Benji and the club flowers atm but its really the result of a lot of focused and consistent work that more or less began in 2022. I've always said I'd rather finish last for good reasons than finish 9th for the wrong reasons.

Anyway's there is a massive way to go but the signs are really good. Again, we play finals footy and break the curse it won't only be a good 2026 but it adds a bit of meaning and purpose to all those miserable seasons since madge was sacked.

Hopefully the boardroom doesn't self destruct again.

But your right. Manly's roster is so unbalanced and full of players that aren't up to the pace anymore. They will take 3 years to get bVk to the finals if they start now.

Dragons it's simple. Buy a halfback. Their forwards are solid enough and the backs are serviceable but you won't get anything if your 6 and 7 aren't up to it. Actually the 1,6,7 and 9 need to be placed.

 

[TIGERS]

Winnng three spoons in a row is never “worth it”
It was a shameful time in this club’s history.
We seem to be on the improve now and that’s great but it’s well and truly over due. We should never forget the past 14 years of ineptitude and incompetence.
Failure to play finals this year will be upsetting.

I'm not defending entirety of the last 14 years. God no.

I feel like in general, once we sacked Madge, that was the moment we stopped trying to take shortcuts, and we started to make the longer term calls although it was going to cause even more pain in the short term. Ideally we would have avoided finishing last, but if that's what it's going to take to do what's best for the club so be it. Up until that time, The club either didn't have the guts, or the exec's didn't have the political headroom to take on that pain.

I feel like Richo came on board and took what was already being planned and ran with it in an even more efficient way. He came in with way more cap space to manoeuvre with than any of his predecessors did and from the looks of things now didn't shank it.

After Madge, we could have just as easily hired an Anthony Griffin or a Flanagan and had a nice little middling fizzle up to 9th again, by signing the same pedigree of player that you now see at the Dragons and Manly. For me that would have been a bigger disaster than those 3 wooden spoons. That's my point/theory. We'll always see differently on that topic but thats fine! (Because we would have ended up finishing last at some point eventually anyway).

And hey, it could still go bad this season we've all been made fools of before.