A crucial period for Madge...

[Cultured_Bogan]

One observation from last night - They looked really tired. Almost like they played an hour before and had to back up. I wonder how effective Madge is at the light and shade or whether he is just full throttle with training all week every week.

Maybe they got the stick for last weeks efforts.

Might seem counter intuitive but I'm for it. I feel like for years the players have been allowed to coast on through without repercussions. We've not made the finals for 8, soon to be 9, seasons. The players know they will walk on in next week to play and collect, so I'm not against the caning they might cop in training and the weekly droppings. They can enjoy their large contracts now, but it's going to hurt them when they come up for renewal and a team that hasn't made the finals in 9 years is dropping them.

I had a sobering thought when I was watching the pregame the other night and they were talking about Chris Lawrence and Benji Marshall, he (Lawrence,) has played 15 seasons and only seen two finals campaigns. 250 games, and only 5 of those were finals games. It's a shame a player of his calibre was wasted. Same as Farah, 277 matches for Wests and only played 9 finals games, 4 of which were 2005 (obviously.) **As much as I hate the three, I'm starting to see why guys like Woods, Tedesco and Moses wanted out. I don't like the way they all did it, but they probably didn't want to be the next Rowdy.**

Understand exactly what you are saying, but those guys were getting paid the money to take us there and couldn't deliver. Had that core group of players stuck solid we could have been a long way ahead now and possibly been a regular finals contender. When they did what they did, they basically tore the footings out from under the house and all the bricks came tumbling down.

The treatment of a club legend and captain in Farah played a huge part in that make no mistake, if you are a young player and see a club legend treated like that, you would think that could be me one day, I will take the money on offer elsewhere.

I will agree it played some part, but i think the overwhelming cause had more to do with a certain player manager and his now former friend not being offered a full time role with the club. Quite understandably the coach was becoming paranoid when the "guru" was starting to interfere with his messages to the playing group.

And then said manager and guru have a falling out, and now the former's credentials are going to be torn up.

Beautiful isn’t it.

Glorious.

 

[Geo]

I wonder how much of the Madge drill sergeant thing is just a trope now that lazy journalists fall back on when something looks like a duck.

Tigers Fans : Madge has us fitter than ever

Also Tigers FAns : Madge is pushing them too hard

It is. We’ve been losing games we should’ve won for years with or without Madge

Yeah.... you think that would want to change

As long as we win games we should've lost for years as well

 

[JC99]

I wonder how much of the Madge drill sergeant thing is just a trope now that lazy journalists fall back on when something looks like a duck.

Tigers Fans : Madge has us fitter than ever

Also Tigers FAns : Madge is pushing them too hard

It is. We’ve been losing games we should’ve won for years with or without Madge

Yeah.... you think that would want to change

As long as we win games we should've lost for years as well

Everyone wants that to change... the big question is how? Just as it looks like we’re going okay it starts happening again.

 

[rozelle_rudy]

Madge for better or worse. Even if we finish 13th this year - more than possible - even if we're not much better next year, there's no point in the club moving Madge on early. There's no one better likely to replace him.

 

[Tigerbuck63]

Just watched the presser...disappointing to be honest. "We need to learn how to control momentum...do all the little things...completions...etc".

Reality is we have beaten no one above us. Reality is Newcastle are a 7th / 8th place type team and they have beaten us 40 + TWICE.

We need to realise where we really are.

He’s not wrong though. Errors and a lack of game management killed us. Did we force a drop out all game? Lots of laziness in defenders that was not there a few weeks ago.

Our halves are bog average, watching games over the weekend makes you realise how far off our 2 halves are, and we have no one else to blame but ourselves.
Madge extended Brooks and gave Benji another contract for this year, both decisions were clearly wrong, it is one bad decision after another for us, it is diabolical, we don't even have a goal kicker after 4 years of missing simple conversions.

If Madge didn’t extend brooks what year would’ve been Brooks’s last ?

2019.
https://www.sportingnews.com/au/league/news/luke-brooks-re-signs-with-wests-tigers/1jivw4d2ox39w1o1672uju3gcp

https://www.foxsports.com.au/nrl/nrl-premiership/teams/tigers/madge-convinces-brooks-to-ink-longterm-wests-deal-with-simple-promise/news-story/c0c2aa2053e5267a9e203c86cebf8309

Maguire said the Tigers would be Brooks’ team, and a big part of his sell was the success he’s had working with halves.

“Luke is a well experienced half now and at the prime of being able to take all of the learnings to this point to a whole new level,” Maguire told the Wests Tigers website.

“Sitting down and talking to him about his game he’s hungry to learn and hungry to improve on where he’s at. He prides himself on his defence and obviously he’s very keen to learn the different styles of play that I’ve had experience with working with a number of halfbacks over a number of years.”

So in closing with that summary you have to question any improvement from Brooks and the coaches assertion to the next level. Seems these words have come back to bite Madge now.

 

[earl]

So in closing with that summary you have to question any improvement from Brooks and the coaches assertion to the next level. Seems these words have come back to bite Madge now.

Why ? He talked Brooks up and has backed him but since he hasn't been performing he was dropped. I bet Maguire wishes Brooks was performing but he isn't. It's not coaching or the other players or anything else holding Brooks back. Brooks is the no 1 contributor to his performances.

On the topic of a complete rebuild. I don't think that is possible. I think all any coach can do is look to improve the roster each year.

 

[iofthetigers]

Madge for better or worse. Even if we finish 13th this year - more than possible - even if we're not much better next year, there's no point in the club moving Madge on early. There's no one better likely to replace him.

I think Madge will be here for the long haul, I don't think there has been a team that has been hit as hard as the Tigers have been during Covid, when you take into account our recruitment & how much we have invested in youth. The irony in this is that is probably been the best it has been since Peter Gentle was here & now he gets his first crack as a head coach this weekend.

 

[tiger_one]

Reading between the lines, I think that the WT board are happy with the coach and Madge will be with us for the long haul.
He already is dealing with the salary cap mess and the player roster; time is the key.

 

[GNR4LIFE]

Things could be worse for him. He could be Seibold. Some really ugly stuff going around about that dude atm. Not a popular guy at all.

 

[rozelle_rudy]

@rozelle_rudy said in [A crucial period for Madge\.\.\.](/post/120r likely to replace him.

I think Madge will be here for the long haul, I don't think there has been a team that has been hit as hard as the Tigers have been during Covid, when you take into account our recruitment & how much we have invested in youth.

I don't get your comment about Covid hitting Tigers hardest because we've invested in youth. Why? Because they can't go out socially and court trouble?

 

[jadtiger]

Things could be worse for him. He could be Seibold. Some really ugly stuff going around about that dude atm. Not a popular guy at all.

If you compare the quality and the position of the clubs it is not suprising Seibold is a dead man walking.My mother could have coached the donkeys to where they are and she has been dead for almost 10 years

 

[Tcat]

Things could be worse for him. He could be Seibold. Some really ugly stuff going around about that dude atm. Not a popular guy at all.

Yeah, I just read a text that's been going around about seibold. Seems outrageous, but you never know. If true, expect some big news up at the Broncs soon.

 

[Lauren]

Madge is faced with the same conundrum as our other coaches, but you can clearly see him attempting to eradicate these key issues - particularly with the play makers - in trying to help the players build on mental fortitude.
None of our teams over the recent years were premiership contenders, realistically the last were in 2010-11. We've always been stacked with potential superstars but the lack of on-field leadership, including in the forwards, could never really equip them with the confidence to take their games to the next level.

My take on it is that we have an issue with attracting the talent required to take this team to the next level and Madge is trying to instil what those x factor players have, and that is mental edge. He's had them playing to their strengths all year and we've come to a standstill due the players own inability to persist with it.
Like some have suggested he's simply weeding the team out.

 

[Furious1]

@rozelle_rudy said in [A crucial period for Madge\.\.\.](/post/120r likely to replace him.

I think Madge will be here for the long haul, I don't think there has been a team that has been hit as hard as the Tigers have been during Covid, when you take into account our recruitment & how much we have invested in youth.

I don't get your comment about Covid hitting Tigers hardest because we've invested in youth. Why? Because they can't go out socially and court trouble?

Basically all our plans have been put behind 12 months as the youth are not able to play and therefore develop. It affects all clubs, but Madge is trying to build from within with a heavy reliance on young players developing.

 

[coivtny]

@rozelle_rudy said in [A crucial period for Madge\.\.\.](/post/120r likely to replace him.

I think Madge will be here for the long haul, I don't think there has been a team that has been hit as hard as the Tigers have been during Covid, when you take into account our recruitment & how much we have invested in youth.

I don't get your comment about Covid hitting Tigers hardest because we've invested in youth. Why? Because they can't go out socially and court trouble?

Basically all our plans have been put behind 12 months as the youth are not able to play and therefore develop. It affects all clubs, but Madge is trying to build from within with a heavy reliance on young players developing.

I agree. Without any play in C Cup, Flegg, Ball or Matthews the young fellows we've brought in have basically missed out on a year's development. They'll be year older in 2021 but won't have that extra year of experience. Time will tell how big the impact will be.

 

[JC99]

Eiso, Luciano, Packer and Aloiai interviews are on the WT website

Reporters asked all of them the same things - is training too hard? Is constantly changing the team making things harder? They all said the same thing, no.

Credit to them, they all took accountability (clearly something Madge is pushing very hard) and said every team chops and changes, every team works hard and that’s not the reason they kept dropping the footy against Newcastle which cost us the game.

At least their attitude off the field seems right. Now it’s up to them to bring it into the field every week, Luciano was asked how to do that and he had no clue, same as the rest of us 😂

 

[izotope]

I wonder how much of the Madge drill sergeant thing is just a trope now that lazy journalists fall back on when something looks like a duck.

Tigers Fans : Madge has us fitter than ever

Also Tigers FAns : Madge is pushing them too hard

Thinking the excact same thing watching hoops go on about it last night, how does he know or anyone else know what its like at training or how Madge approaches it.

I distinctly remember Madge on Matty Johns show last year talking about how he learnt from his time at souths and how he would do things differently.

He didn't go hell for leather in the knights game either which would of been more cause for a blow up.

 

[iofthetigers]

Because they are not getting game time anywhere

 

[TYGA]

This playing roster won’t take us where we want to go but Madge can. It’s a simple equation back the coach and clean the joint out. If he burns players it is unfortunate but it has to happen. How many coaches are going to go without the entire organisation changing its ways.

We have some very good young players in this team and I see a bright future but our senior players are taking up too much of the cap and simply can’t deliver. It’s not a matter of effort we over paid on a lot of contracts whilst others are still here due to loyalty.

 

[Russell]

I think the observant supporter knows our squad is ordinary. I also agree that there is a culture of failure. During that time as fans, we have asked for a few things that i can recall
Guts - now whether people see it or not I have seen a team that has absolutely guts out performances in games that would have been embarrassing in the past. Have we done that every week, no with this week as an example, but you can see some steel especially defensively that has not existed in the past. And that is with honestly a low tier squad
Accountability- I distinctly remember the vast majority of this forum demanding players be dropped and held accountable for their play. MAdge is doing that. I saw a relevant post above that said how do players get back in and its spot on. Unfortunately, the only judgment can be made at training due the current situation.
Depth and youth- we have regularly had a poor lower grade set up with all our energy going to our top grade. Finally, we are ridding our selves of average journeymen and investing in youth. Yes its the long game but if we get a couple of gun backs and forwards over the next few years its a master stroke.

I see madge doing what he can to turn around the club. He probably needs to go through all the auxiliary staff as well. Just by what the people on the forum observe and talk about we can see its a monster task.
The simple truth is we actually need to all-in on madge IMO. Another coaching change could signal our death knell. And even if he isnt your first choice who is there that is actually better honestly. Your not getting a Bellamy, a Robinson.

Well Hodgo you have nailed it - agree totally with all you have said.

Trouble is all the impatient people went away and suddenly became positive
when we went well with a few games. Same old story, go bad and they are all
back wanting everybody's head, no light at the end of the tunnel, they are all
plodders, 9th again, why do we always accept mediocrity etc. etc. .......

Anyone with any brains knows this will take time - time to offload the money
spongers, time for the young blokes to come on (even longer as we don't have
the A1 players to show them the way), or time for the money to become
available to buy the A1 players to come to our club.

Madge is not a miracle worker, he is doing the best he can under extremely
difficult circumstances, especially with the virus restrictions. Not sure what
everyone expects him to do. Maybe those that are impatient and just want to
whinge all the time - should go and watch the tennis, Super League etc. and
the Mods can let you know when we are cooking again - that'll save you from
slashing your wrists.

It will take time, as sure as the sun will rise tomorrow, we have to put up with
it, if we want a better and competitive football team.

(Please don't take offence at the above, all the negativity is very draining, has
got the better of me at the moment).