hank37w
Well-known member
Toughest preseason ever. 🤣
Claws Out Podcast
- Thread starter cochise
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Yeh interesting, would be good to get more detail on what changes they're making if any
diedpretty
Well-known member
Lol - i'll give it a break - its become too easy to get you going.
You are 💯 correct.
What I will say is we seem to be slowly starting to keep most of the better quality South-West and Southern Highlands based locals playing for our Harold Matthews and SG Ball teams where it wasn’t so long ago that nearly all the best players were heading elsewhere even for the junior reps.
So I think we are making progress, but it still needs to be a big area of focus and a lot of improvement is required from the Wests Tigers side of things.
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Trash? I hate him as much as the next tigers fan, but that is a one-eyed take.
426Tlgerland
Well-known member
Galvin will be a solid first grade player
TDS , not sure , but I feel fringe first grader
Macca , untested yet but I feel this kid could be better than both the above , I would def look to keep him long term and away from union for as long as possible as he may decide to have a crack if he goes well in the nrl
TDS , not sure , but I feel fringe first grader
Macca , untested yet but I feel this kid could be better than both the above , I would def look to keep him long term and away from union for as long as possible as he may decide to have a crack if he goes well in the nrl
It looks like we have had 15 teams competing across the flegg, ball and matts the season and have only made the finals 2 times.. so 2 from 15 teams playing finals. The numbers make it hard to buy what you are selling.
2025
HM - Wests 11th. Tigers 16th
SG ball - Tigers 9th. Wests 11th
Jersey flegg - 7th
2024
HM - Wests 2nd. Tigers 17th
SG ball - Tigers 16th. Wests 8th
Jersey flegg - 7th
2023
HM - Wests 9th. Tigers 8th
SG ball - Tigers 12th. Wests 5th
Jersey flegg - 12th
I’m not just looking at results? I am mainly focusing on the quality of players within our ranks and how many of them are genuine NRL prospects.
Sure it would be nice to have more success along the way.
Take the current Wests Magpies SG Ball team as an example.
It looks like Wests Tigers development players in Phoenix Godinet and Christian Taupau-Moors will play in round 1 against a very strong looking Eels team to try and help the team get off to a good start, but these 2 are highly rated and will no doubt be part of our NRL trials meaning they probably won’t play much more part in the SG Ball season after round 1.
This should be an example of how the club is trying to focus on player development over results.
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All 3 of those years are tainted because we blooded a bunch of kids and promoted them through the grades because our cap was a mess , and we had dedicated big money and top 30 positions to unproven talent .
So if your best 17/18 year olds are playing cup and 1st grade , then obviously the SG ball and Harold Matt’s teams are affected.
This will be the 1st year in a while where we won’t be debuting some gun 18 year olds round one , who should be dominating flegg and SG ball.
And obviously that has a flow on affect down the line.
The other issue was the lack of depth we could get in the cup team , due to the cap , so we had a bunch of flegg players move up too soon .
It’s why the 1st grade cap is so important , because really we had to tank the lower grades for 2-3 years to fill out the nrl too 30 .
I think some of those results are awesome considering how depleted those junior teams were .
The flegg team from last year , was probably the 2nd best in the comp the 2nd half of the season . Once they changed coaches and the ball kids moved up .
In 24 and 23 a lot of those bal kids would have gone straight to the nrl squad/ cup , due to necessity as much as development . Now a lot of them will be wearing another jersey come 26. In fact pretty much all those kids from that generation .
wstigers11
Well-known member
Comes back to the lack of funding. Can’t have the “best pathway in the world” running on crumbs
Go_You_Good_Things
Well-known member
Agree 100% mate. Funnily, the bolded part . . . while nobody might be denying it, there's only been 2 people that have said it. Me, and now you. Convenient, and hypocritical.
It just made me sick reading how every friggin thing wrong with this joint is HBG's fault. Recruitment, money, team performance, etc, etc, etc.
Fact is, it could/should have been a whole lot better with 2 boards and 2 mindsets to navigate the way forward.
If all those crucifying HBG at every turn were to remember there's a good reason we are at their mercy, it would make for a lot less hypocritical reading.
And as for those who say I'm just an old Magpies fan ( which I was ), and there's no place for hanging onto old club ties . . . . please take a read at the one eyed, one sided, narrow minded, selective memory viewpoints from many of the posters in this topic. But you have to use 2 eyes to read them.
And your italicised part . . . Amen brother !!! Can't wait for the season to start.
Jolls
Well-known member
While what you state about Balmain is correct, it is also history that doesn't have a bearing on what is happening now. HBG own the club, and as owners they get to have a say. The problem has been, I won't say is because the new board may be OK, that they don't plan well, and they jump from one crisis to another; be it the inability to follow through on a strategic plan, or the rotating door of board members. The recent turmoil that is affecting Wests Tigers is the issue, not the historic reasons that we got here.
Apart from a few that are rusted on and want the foundation clubs back int he NRL, this isn't a Magpies/Balmain issue. It is poor governance from a duly elected board. The debenture issue is a sideshow to it all - as that minority hold the real power. Putting that aside, if HBG were to let a balanced Wests Tigers Board, that has the skills required to perform, then there is no issue. However, up until the recently deposed independent board it has been jobs for the boys and girls wearing blazers, as opposed to a team selected on the skill set required to deliver an a top club in the NRL.
While there have been some narrow minded, selective memeory viewpoints aired, the majority are only concerned about the ability of HBG to deliver. The only historic part of relevance to the discussion is the performance of HBG as owners. They have simply underperformed and the criticism is rightly deserved.
IF the infighting can be overcome and HBG allows a Wests Tigers Board, with the requisite skill set, to operate and makes the big governance decision based on the recommendations of the Wests Tigers Board and their own due dilligence, as opposed to historic allegiances to whatever foundation club they come from, then all is good.
Was it the right choice by the WT Board, from a marketing perspective, to have a primarily orange and primarlily white jumper for 26? The sales results say yes. Was the ability of WT to operate independently within the HBG guidelines a success? Yes and no - Yes in the delivery of improved results and the financial stakes - no if you choose to believe that they made decsions outside of their remit. That point is debatable and no one really knows the facts and we probably never will as there will be a bunch of NDA's attached to payouts.
If this can be replicated with the new boards, with the indepent board showing the way, then HBG ownership is not an issue - despite the old boys/girls club influence. If they can't operate like adults then they need to go - as simple as that!
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