Does anyone think next years side will be better than this years?

@stevetiger said:
I said in another thread we need some players to really kick on. I think Brooks & Moses need to turn into guns and probably Sirro as well. Its a big ask.

Yeah I agree. Brooks & Moses are going to be third year players and this is really when they should start to shine. If they are let off the leash in attack I think we have real potential, otherwise we are probably in bigger trouble than last year….

I am not sure how much better they can defend so I hope they employ some of the Sheens philosophy re focusing on outscoring opponents (this was at least entertaining and at the same time definitely bore some juicy fruit.)
 
@Goose said:
@Cultured Bogan said:
Santi is gone, isn't he?

In that case he is unlikely to do that for us at all :slight_smile:

I must have missed that one

There was one player that was listed as going, and then re-signed a week later it was Buchanan though I think?
 
We're definitely a better side in 2016\. Much better depth and quality.

Galloway is a loss. Richards was pedestrian for the 2nd half of the season. Another winger would have scored 20+. We'll miss those 10 mins were Taupau tried, but then we'll have McConacchie who can do the same for much longer.

Brooks and Moses the best young halves combo in the comp. Both had solid seasons - brooks in the first half, moses the second. Brooks was 5th in the comp for try assists after his supposed 'poor' year afterall. If he has a good year he could be level with Thurston for try assists this season.

Lawrence will bulk up now he's permanently in the back row and i think our back row stocks look really good. The best for many years. Lawrence, Edwards, Sirro,Sue, Chee Kam and McConnachie+Griffin could all provide a combination of power, workrate and impact. Throw in some of our other young forwards who could get a shot too.

We're light on experience in the front row and depth if injuries hit could be our weakness. But Woods, Sue, Ava are 3 very good props, capable of decent minutes. Throw in the likes of McConnachie, Graham, Griffin and there's some rotation there. Albeit unproven.

For those who don't realise - **Billy McConnachie in the QLD Cup grand final played 67 mins, for 30 hitups, 270m, and 40 tackles in a powerhouse display which got him man of the match**. How many players at any level have we ever had who could produce those sorts of numbers? Woods occasionally. Otherwise no-one. Our nsw cup forwards (lower level than qld cup) rarely got up to even half of those stats.

Training fulltime in a professional environment could see him improve his speed and strength and perform at even higher levels.
 
@Balmain Boy said:
We're definitely a better side in 2016\. Much better depth and quality.

Galloway is a loss. Richards was pedestrian for the 2nd half of the season. Another winger would have scored 20+. We'll miss those 10 mins were Taupau tried, but then we'll have McConacchie who can do the same for much longer.

Brooks and Moses the best young halves combo in the comp. Both had solid seasons - brooks in the first half, moses the second. Brooks was 5th in the comp for try assists after his supposed 'poor' year afterall. If he has a good year he could be level with Thurston for try assists this season.

Lawrence will bulk up now he's permanently in the back row and i think our back row stocks look really good. The best for many years. Lawrence, Edwards, Sirro,Sue, Chee Kam and McConnachie+Griffin could all provide a combination of power, workrate and impact. Throw in some of our other young forwards who could get a shot too.

We're light on experience in the front row and depth if injuries hit could be our weakness. But Woods, Sue, Ava are 3 very good props, capable of decent minutes. Throw in the likes of McConnachie, Graham, Griffin and there's some rotation there. Albeit unproven.

For those who don't realise - **Billy McConnachie in the QLD Cup grand final played 67 mins, for 30 hitups, 270m, and 40 tackles in a powerhouse display which got him man of the match**. How many players at any level have we ever had who could produce those sorts of numbers? Woods occasionally. Otherwise no-one. Our nsw cup forwards (lower level than qld cup) rarely got up to even half of those stats.

Training fulltime in a professional environment could see him improve his speed and strength and perform at even higher levels.

I like your optimism!

I think its a more balanced side, with potentially less class overall. But for Tigers, the issue has never really been class, it has been consistency.

I'm all for giving guys like Edwards and Ballin and Hunt a run, if they can put in solid performances week to week. My heroes will be the guys who perform at 90% of ability every week.

Personally I've become tired of seeing the see-sawing awesome-crap performances of the last few seasons, crushing Top 4 sides and then being out-muscled by wooden spooners. We won 4/12 against both the Top and Bottom 8 in 2015.

Looking back, my favourite players have always been the ones who produce consistently good performances. Thinking about guys like Ellis and early-form Lawrence, you just knew that you'd get a good game out of them every time.

Last few years… even blokes like Farah, you never were quite sure what kind of day they'd have. Maybe only Tedesco and Woods can escape that criticism over 2014-2015.

Most of the guys we've lost, they were targets of heavy fan criticism anyway.
 
I have heard it said of tradesmen, once they have turned 50 they are past their best years and just hanging around for the money . Their hourly rate will often go down as well. They have all the experience but their bodies are worn out.
 
We can put points on, there is no issue there. The only problem is our defense, particularly Brooks and Moses. If they can improve there (and we would all expect them to improve) and Lawrence/Siro/Simona/Kevie improve in covering them, I can't see any reason why we wouldn't be gunning for a top 8 spot.

There's certainly no lack of heart from both of them. No doubt they'll be doing their best.
 
Realistically probably not, but there is hope.

There's no more excuses for guys like Brooks, Moses, Sironen, Cherrington, Rankin, Lovett, Nofoaluma, Chee Kam, Simona, Sue (the last 2 probably ahead of the others). They cant rely on potential anymore. 2016 needs to be their year of becoming good first graders. If not next year i cant see them ever making it.

The QLD Cup guys could surprise. Griffin and McConnachie are rated as two of the best forwards in the Comp for a couple of years now. Jake Granville was stuck in QRL for a few years, look at his first full time year in NRL.

I doubt we''re in with a shot of making the 8\. But if every player improves on last year I'd like to think we wont be anchored to the bottom of the table all year.

One thing to remember is that we can match the best sides when we're on. We beat 4 top 8 teams last year, these wins were of an average of 22 points.

If our core players (spine/woods/simona/sue) stay fit I'm hoping for a season with lots of postivies, then hopefully some good purchases and 2017 being the year we enter the 8 again.
 
I'm thinking the messages being made from the Office are clear… We must improve or be gone. But its very hard to determine what effect the new rules will have, not just on us, but other teams also.

Outside of Aaron Woods & James Tedesco, every position must be up for grabs in 2016, but we must also settle on a defensive combinations early and stick to them as much as possible. This switching defenders left and right week to week and even sometimes in games is simply not achievable within NRL Football.

I'm keen for change as many of our squad shouldn't be guaranteed a walk-up start based on previous years efforts & results!
 
It's a real chance if we are lucky with injuries. Moses improved plenty from the start to end of last year and I would expect Cherrington to do the same. Keeping Dave & Tim fit will be a big difference. Lawrence will be fully prepared for back row. I'm pretty hopeful Edwards will produce (really liked him at Newcs). And, we will have better coverage for Origin (as long they don't pick Teddy). All good signs.

On the other hand, Taylor/Farah could blow up in our face like the end of 2014.
 
A lot of fresh faces all competing for spots in the top team can only be healthy amongst the playing group. Nearly half the team are on one year contracts, so one would think they'll be out to secure their future with extended deals.

Really looking forward to Josh Adocar in the 9s i think he'll kill it!!!
 
@foreveratiger said:
@Cultured Bogan said:
If the team puts in 100% and we're beaten by better teams I cannot ask for more.

That is pretty much what I'm after, a desire to compete and for 80 minutes a week give it your all.

That's all they have to do. They have struggled with inconsistency for years. One of the posts said even 90% consistency would be good but 100% is what we should all expect. :righton:
Most of the young guys seem pretty keen, Kevin, Teddy, Moses, Sue are all enthusiastic, and seem to put in that 100% we want every game - I'm sure now that we have more depth a lot of the others will pull their socks up :bulb:
 
I am very optimistic about next season not just on the paddock but off as well , as Watto has stated the message is there from the top perform or perish .The Talent is not huge but they are there abouts. There is one piece of the puzzle or possibly 2 to be sorted out next season ,once Farah moves on and the pressure is fully on the coach then things are going to happen for the the Tigers ..if the coach fails there are at least 2 highly credentialed coaches waiting for a job.
It will not be long before the coach is found out one way or the other ,2016 is the start of the upward move for the Weststigers as a club I see nothing but a positive future ,the necessary steps have been made and put in place .Have purchased our memberships and are ready to RUMBLE !
 
@bigsiro said:
@stevetiger said:
I said in another thread we need some players to really kick on. I think Brooks & Moses need to turn into guns and probably Sirro as well. Its a big ask.

Yeah I agree. Brooks & Moses are going to be third year players and this is really when they should start to shine. If they are let off the leash in attack I think we have real potential, otherwise we are probably in bigger trouble than last year….

I am not sure how much better they can defend so I hope they employ some of the Sheens philosophy re focusing on outscoring opponents (this was at least entertaining and at the same time definitely bore some juicy fruit.)

The other problem that we have is the coach. He needs to come up with game plans that give us a chance. I reckon JT's tactics cost us a couple of game last season. That can't continue.
 
@Balmain Boy said:
We're definitely a better side in 2016\. Much better depth and quality.

Galloway is a loss. Richards was pedestrian for the 2nd half of the season. Another winger would have scored 20+. We'll miss those 10 mins were Taupau tried, but then we'll have McConacchie who can do the same for much longer.

Brooks and Moses the best young halves combo in the comp. Both had solid seasons - brooks in the first half, moses the second. Brooks was 5th in the comp for try assists after his supposed 'poor' year afterall. If he has a good year he could be level with Thurston for try assists this season.

Lawrence will bulk up now he's permanently in the back row and i think our back row stocks look really good. The best for many years. Lawrence, Edwards, Sirro,Sue, Chee Kam and McConnachie+Griffin could all provide a combination of power, workrate and impact. Throw in some of our other young forwards who could get a shot too.

We're light on experience in the front row and depth if injuries hit could be our weakness. But Woods, Sue, Ava are 3 very good props, capable of decent minutes. Throw in the likes of McConnachie, Graham, Griffin and there's some rotation there. Albeit unproven.

For those who don't realise - **Billy McConnachie in the QLD Cup grand final played 67 mins, for 30 hitups, 270m, and 40 tackles in a powerhouse display which got him man of the match**. How many players at any level have we ever had who could produce those sorts of numbers? Woods occasionally. Otherwise no-one. Our nsw cup forwards (lower level than qld cup) rarely got up to even half of those stats.

Training fulltime in a professional environment could see him improve his speed and strength and perform at even higher levels.

I really like your optimism. I think you also have some good points but Moses and Brooks may be a great set of young halves however they haven't proven themselves as consistent NRL performers yet. Our backrow may perform but there are a tonne of unknowns or massive improvement required.

Still - I think losing Richards for instance is a huge positive for us and Taupau to me was great but as you state he didn't provide consistent quality performances.
 
@Cultured Bogan said:
If the team puts in 100% and we're beaten by better teams I cannot ask for more.

I agree but its not that simple. I'm worried about the game plans JT dishes up. He appeared to have learned from his early season Taylor ball approach but if that happens again he deserves to get sacked immediately.
 
No doubt we have a better team in 2016 compared to 2015.

The key to our results improving in 2016 is:
The side not imploding over the Farah situation.
Working as a team
No H1 2015 Taylor ball in 2016
Our Defence continuing to improve
no major injuries to our key players
 

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