Benji 2025 and Beyond

weststigerman said:
If Payten becomes available, that’s who we should target to replace Benji.

Cowboys are going ordinary but he had them consistently playing finals and turned the Warriors around before that.

I guarantee you our attack won’t be the pass the parcel style we currently use.
Click to expand...
I wouldn’t say no to the big hombre. It’s all about timing though. If Richo is stubborn and insists on Benji seeing it through to 27, Payten might have another gig by then. Assuming he’s sacked in the first place.
 
weststigerman said:
If Payten becomes available, that’s who we should target to replace Benji.

Cowboys are going ordinary but he had them consistently playing finals and turned the Warriors around before that.

I guarantee you our attack won’t be the pass the parcel style we currently use.
Click to expand...
Payten is managed by Isaac Moses, not happening.
 
Simple thing is we don’t have the cattle!
Two massive pullouts, possibly the worst two players we could lose and supporters lose their minds when we lose a game like that. Plus the typical media posts feeding the Tigers mediocrity train and we all call for the coaches head.
My honest opinion is Benji should have more help in coaching and I’ve thought that all along. Most people love Benji and hope he succeeds but it’s a massive job to get right even with a good roster.
But I cannot wait to the day where we have a full roster and the coaches can actually put into place their ideas and structures and build an actual team. If Benji then doesn’t perform then that’s on him.
We are a long way from a good roster and we can’t afford to have even one injury to our best players. Last night case in point.
 
boonboon said:
At this stage given I don't know what the roster will look like - I think a pass mark for 2026 us 50% win rate

When I compare 2025 so far with 2024

In 2024
Win/Loss = 6/24 (25%)
Points for - 19.29
Points Against - 31.25
Games Conceeding 40+ = 8 (33%)
Games Scoring 20+ = 8 (33%)
Losses by 6 or less = 1 from 18

In 2025 so far
Win/Loss = 5 from 15 (33%)
Points for = 19.33
Points Against = 24.93
Games conceeding 40+ = 2 (13%)
Games scoring 20+ = 9 (60%)
Losses by 6 or less = 5 from 10 (and that doesent include the bunnies game where Galvin dropped the ball over the line with 2 mins to go)

If I compare the 2 seasons so far in 2025 vs the whole of 2024 then this season has seen a significant uplift. Our attack is more consistent, our defence is better, we are winning more games and we have been right in games for 80 minutes which we wernt last year at all.

To me that says we so far have made big strides this year and i think people forget just how bad we were last year.

So if we can win 3 more this year and maintain that competitiveness in most games then it's enough to continue onto next year where I would expect to go to around 11-13 games and be on edge of the 8.

Now the big thing for all sides is keeping your spine on the field and having better depth across the other positions. Last night we did not have any of our first choice spine from the pre-season on the field in their normal position - only Api out of position, if that happens you lose - that Manly only got 28 and not 40-60 was a big positive last night.

I think our depth has improved this yr v last yr and will get better as we sign a couple more.

So yeah I would keep Benji because we have seen progress and the advantage of him being still new to coaching is his improvement curve is steeper then an experienced coach who are what they will be (see Madge).
Click to expand...

Should consider the players available compared to last year. Is there something like 2-2.5m worth of better player playing this year.
 
Tom Shines said:
However, if we are being honest, He seems to struggle with game planning, selections and in game decisions particularly around the bench … unfortunately he has been running the joint a couple of years now and the improvements in this part of the job don’t seem to be coming as quickly as I would like …. If this part of the job doesn’t improve then eventually he is on borrowed time regardless of those other qualities you mention
Click to expand...

Can't he hire good help with this sort of stuff? I think his 'team' might not be up to it.
 
innsaneink said:
Stapleton said no.

It was an idea floated by buzz apparently

Gadget sheenius and pascoe listening to that lush... no wonder we are where we are
Click to expand...

Ok… I can’t say I’m all that familiar with exactly how the Flanagan thing went down … he is a mirror image of Benji’s strength and weaknesses …good xs and os but not much good on the man management and struggles to get players to sign with him … so we probably wouldn’t be any better off with him to be honest ..

It’s funny in one way about Buzz… he suggested the Sheenius hand over to Benji thing on a long lunch one day, and then roasted them for doing it a year later when it turned into a shambles…. Haha
 
He is not a good coach, its as simple as that. I don't get how his fans ignore this.

There are countless tales of teams (of any sport) who "dont have the cattle", who are underdogs (like us), who dont have big superstars, that play through their skin week in week out and win, and have a team culture, who play with heart and who get better and improve.

I will never buy that excuse of "we aren't good enough what do you expect its not his (Benji's) fault". Its BS.

We have a squad which is arguably our best in the last 5 years, and yet we STILL are playing absolute rubbish football. It's not the players, Its how the team is set up, its how the team is coached. We all see it week in. FFS we are still a bottom tier club whether you see the minor improvements or not.

There is no doubt in my mind if we had Bellamy, or Bennet, or Ciraldo this current squad would be playing far better football.

Sorry for the rant lol. I just can't wait until we get rid of Benji, this has been an a failed experiment, lets just admit it and move on.
 
Tom Shines said:
Ok… I can’t say I’m all that familiar with exactly how the Flanagan thing went down … he is a mirror image of Benji’s strength and weaknesses …good xs and os but not much good on the man management and struggles to get players to sign with him … so we probably wouldn’t be any better off with him to be honest ..

It’s funny in one way about Buzz… he suggested the Sheenius hand over to Benji thing on a long lunch one day, and then roasted them for doing it a year later when it turned into a shambles…. Haha
Click to expand...
Probably started as a joke and then buzz realizes they thought he was serious
 
tonza said:
I hope that's all. Don't be surprised if it is a whole lot more after last night's effort. They played like uncoached A graders for the first 45minutes. I don't know after that, because I just could not stomach to watch any more.
Click to expand...
The NRL is not a place to throw together a young patchwork spine at the last minute. That’s what you get. Latu still looks a bit of a project to me.
 
tig_prmz said:
Other than Ciraldo, people were interested.

Flanno was available, maybe Hasler too.

Otherwise, there could have been other assistant coaches we could have taken a swing at.
Click to expand...
If we were going to take a punt on a rookie coach Ben Gardiner was at the club and going good in reserve grade, he took the 1st grade team once to the cowboy's game where we were robbed by Kleine but the players responded to him as they did in reserves.

But no when Sheens took over he was moved on in favour of his old boys inclusion.

Also Payten had reserves going great when he was here and his name was thrown around at the time when the club was looking for another coach but he wasn't given a shot and he left because yes guys Jason Taylor landed the job.

Makes you wonder what the fate of 3 of the big 4 would have been if Toddy was given a shot.
 
Love all the mentions about if it was Bennett or Bellamy we would be top 4

A) Bennet has South's is 16th - 2 positions worse then us
B) Bellamy, Bennett would not come here so saying what they would do for us is pointless
C) We have improved this year and Benji has improved this year but we were coming off 3 wooden spoons with a roster still being re-shaped by CEO and coach.
 
Rock Hopper Steve said:
If we were going to take a punt on a rookie coach Ben Gardiner was at the club and going good in reserve grade, he took the 1st grade team once to the cowboy's game where we were robbed by Kleine but the players responded to him as they did in reserves.

But no when Sheens took over he was moved on in favour of his old boys inclusion.

Also Payten had reserves going great when he was here and his name was thrown around at the time when the club was looking for another coach but he wasn't given a shot and he left because yes guys Jason Taylor landed the job.

Makes you wonder what the fate of 3 of the big 4 would have been if Toddy was given a shot.
Click to expand...
Payten coached here?
My memory's not good
 
innsaneink said:
Payten coached here?
My memory's not good
Click to expand...


"Shortly after his retirement in 2011, Payten was announced as the head coach of the Wests Tigers NYC team for 2012.
In his first season as coach, the Tigers finished 4th in the regular season. They went on to win all their post-season games, including beating pre-game favourite Canberra Raiders 46–6 in the grand final.
He coached the side again 2013, before moving into an assistant coaches role with the Tigers' NRL side in 2014."
 
BAGNF05 said:
The NRL is not a place to throw together a young patchwork spine at the last minute. That’s what you get. Latu still looks a bit of a project to me.
Click to expand...

So you want to get Sexton here instead?

If that’s Plan A then the ceiling is very low for this team …

If it’s Plan B in case Latu isn’t cutting it, then I would be surprised if he agrees to come here …

Maybe their entire focus now is low ceiling though to get them to mid table ,..so I don’t doubt it’s probably being considered…
 
weststigerman said:
If Payten becomes available, that’s who we should target to replace Benji.

Cowboys are going ordinary but he had them consistently playing finals and turned the Warriors around before that.

I guarantee you our attack won’t be the pass the parcel style we currently use.
Click to expand...
The attack was poor this week ..

And last week the moment Latu came into the halves it all changed .

Maybe we should wait till our new spine gets a run together before making such rash decisions
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Members online

Total: 655 (members: 4, guests: 651)
Back
Top