facepalmer
Well-known member
I'll preface this by saying this ended up a lot longer and a lot more preachy than I intended when I started so please be kind...
Back when we were all clamouring for Tim Sheens to leave the Tigers I recall having a fleeting moment of clarity right here on this very forum. I remember saying something to the effect of “if we do let him go, we had better be willing to stick by/pick someone good to be his replacement or we may find ourselves in a coaching merry go-round”. The reason I had that fleeting thought is because I got the impression that Tim Sheens’s madness was very specifically designed to make a team that represented a club devoid of any competitive edge, to be as competitive as it could be, and letting go of that madness might cause a bigger issue than we realised. It was a fleeting thought, as I was swept up in the hysteria of missing the top 8 in 2012 much like the rest and joined the chorus of fans calling for his head.
Fast forward nearly ten years and I believe I was correct. Whether or not Tim Sheens intended for his methods to cover up cracks in the club they had that effect. Maybe he was mad for different reasons, washed-up or eccentric in his ways, but in 2005, 2010 and 2011 at least, his methods, gameplans, roster management and coaching style allowed for a side that was light on comparable talent, facilities and importantly identity, to compete with the better run clubs. Sheens essentially reset at the end of every season and attempted to hack the NRL. Sadly that was not sustainable. He was unable to sustain it year to year himself let alone in a way to created prolonged success. It was always inevitable that the Wests Tigers would need to go through real metamorphosis in order to become consistently competitive. Consistently competitive meaning that we’d make the finals 50% of the time at least. Statistically probable in a 16 team comp with 8 finalists.
Here we are now under Michael Maguire. A hard nosed, premiership winning coach who has worked with some of the all time greats and is rated a good coach by most. He’s a coach with a reputation for being a hard task master, and I think that he’s a good choice. I premise this entire musing by saying that ultimately it is my view that we need to stick with Maguire, granted that I see certain changes in his approach.
Back in 2016, the Wests Tigers had Jason Taylor at the helm of a rebuild. The second coach since we let go of Sheens. Taylor had been given the reigns of a cornucopia of young talent. A group of kids that most experts rated as undeniable. The Wests Tigers would be on the verge of a legacy with this lot. We’re talking Teddy, Moses, Brooks and co. Attack, as was the case back when we had Sheens at the helm, was not the problem. Much like with Potter, Clear and even now Madge, defense was our issue. Defense was also our issue the entire time Sheens was in charge, but Sheens didn’t seem to care. He preferred to just hack the game to get wins. Maybe because defense requires physicality, will and mentality that he knew this club itself just didn’t possess. It is a club that at it’s core has had massive culturally issues not just since it was established in 2000, but prior to that with both the foundation clubs beforehand being the biggest disappointments of the entire nineties.
At the same time another team was planning their own rebuild. The San Francisco 49ers. Not long before being a Superbowl team, had just gone from the penthouse to the outhouse. Off field issues, shock retirements, issues in the front office, white anting in the coaches room. The club was in ruins.
While the Wests Tigers had Jason Taylor as head coach, the 49ers made a decision to bring in a brilliant young coach by the name of Kyle Shanahan. Untested as a head coach, but the son of one of the all-time great coaches and someone that had been touted as a future head coach for his entire adult life. Comparatively, we had Jason Taylor, someone well tested and found wanting already; both as a head coach and as a man manager.
There is a similar thread running through every appointment in Wests Tigers history in fact. We usually take our head coaches off the scrap heap. Sheens himself came off the scrap heap. Cleary and Maguire off the scrap heap. The only one who didn’t was Mick Potter and he was the one given the hardest job, the least assistance and the shortest attempt to do so.
At the 49ers Shanahan was able to rebuild everything from the ground up, and he was given five years to do so. A huge vote of confidence from day 1. He was able to bring in front office guys that were his guys, so he knew that he could trust them. He was able to be in charge of every facet of everything and redefine what the 49ers were from the ground up. The 49ers were not an attractive destination for free agents, so he brought in high character guys that were older, to help show the young guys how to prepare. Success was not required. Effort was required. The 49ers got pummeled from pillar to post in year one, but nobody complained. There was optimism. But there wasn’t rhetoric. The players expressed their pain, but it was always in a positive way and they always spoke of knowing that the process would work. They understood Kyle’s vision for the franchise, and they all bought in.
In year three of the 49ers rebuild through Kyle Shanahan, the 49ers made the Superbowl largely using unheralded or overlooked guys like Raheem Mostert (an undrafted journeyman), Richard Sherman (an old player they signed off an injury), Jimmy Garroppolo (a QB that was untested that came up behind Tom Brady at New England) with a sprinkling of lightning in a bottle talent (George Kittle, a fifth round draft pick) and one or two genuine knockout superstar youngsters (Nick Bosa, Fred Warner, Deforest Buckner). But pound for pound their roster was not meant to make the Superbowl at the start of the year. They were meant to come last in their division. By the end of the season the NFL media considered their roster unfairly strong. I attribute literally all of it to the appointment of Kyle Shanahan. That one guy, and the trust the head office placed in him to see his plan through.
That is how important the head coach appointment is. Or at the very least the person in charge of football management at a club. Kyle Shanahan is more than a head coach. He has the last say on everything. He’s the GM, offensive coordinator, defensive quality control guy and head coach all rolled into one and everyone there are his people.
When I compare Maguire to Kyle, there are a lot of differences and not many similarities, but that might not matter all that much so long as his process proves right for this club.
So what has the Maguire regime done right and what has he done wrong?
Right:
* Recruitment of young players. Our best players this season are all players that have been at the Tigers for 2 years or fewer. Daine Laurie, Luciano Leilua, Adam Douehi, Stefano Utoikamanu. This is very exciting and very good signs that the office has some very good talent identification and is able to sell itself to young stars well.
* Sweeping the old out. Letting Farah and Marshall go was necessary. We need a blank canvas.
Brought in experienced heads to show the youngsters how to perform. I particularly applaud the signing of James Tamou in this regard. And I don’t really care how Tamou performs off the field because his reported salary is lower than Chris McQueen’s was. Tamou is a leader in the locker room, and in a rebuild you need guys like that (we actually need more of them, we didn’t sign enough of them).
* Corporate performance appears to be going well. For now.
Wrong:
* Brought in and/or retained the WRONG experienced heads. In a club that is rebuilding and searching for identity and shaping itself there is no place for BJ Leilua and James Roberts. Leilua and Roberts are not older heads you want younger guys looking towards as role models. It might not be a nice sentiment but it’s glaringly obvious. Leilua has been a problem everywhere he has gone and Roberts has more issues than a box of tissues. Both signings were desperate moves to get results now and bringing them in was a tremendous mistake and worries me deeply about how Maguire really feels about his job security to make such desperate decisions.
* Onfield gameplanning. Our defensive structures are abysmal and our attacking plans archaic. But defense has been a problem at this club for longer than he’s been around, and as much as it seems abstract I believe it could be more of an issue with our cultural identity than necessarily the coach not knowing how to coach defense.
* Re-signing Luke Brooks as our marquee playmaker. The message that re-signing Brooks sent was very negative. Even at the end of 2018, the writing was on the wall that Brooks was not going to take this side to the heights it needed to go. Rewarding him with a giant contract tells everyone that performance is optional at the Wests Tigers and it continues to send that message. In my opinion playmakers that are paid top money have ONE contract to show they can rule the roost or they should be gone. It’s imperative that it be handled this way or the culture collapses in a steaming heap (see Anthony Milford at the Broncos, Shaun Johnson at the New Zealand Warriors etc.)
* Our identity. What is it? Who are our fans supporting? What are our values? Brand is something that nobody in the front office seems to have a clue about and culture is something that they don’t seem to understand either. We are the “Joint Venture” and it's spoken of almost insultingly by people who describe us that way. 21 years on and really we are still Balmain and the Wests Magpies. Whenever something comes up related to the JV the old crap resurfaces. It's ridiculous. Why can’t we be the Unity Club? Why can’t we lean into what we are. Yes we are the JV. We have 200% the history to draw on than any other club. We have twice as many legends of the game in our backstory. We have twice as many ghosts we have to perform for. We are a club where every grade trains together. We have people in our club from all over the world. We take our women’s football seriously. We support our local areas. Take the message all the way. Sell the Wests Tigers this way. Drill it in to the players at every level.
I could go into more detail but I’ve prattled on to the point of essay here. In summary I think what I would like to see from the Wests Tigers most is the following:
* Bunker in. Minimal media from anyone. We’re not listening. We’re going to figure this out on our own. Our players and coaches need to bind and everyone needs to become across the goals set and everyone understand the part they are meant to play
* No more signing yesterday’s heroes (unless they are paid next to nothing and come from strong clubs). If we sign Mitchell Pearce I am going to march on Concord.
* More youth development. I want results KPIs on the General Manager of Football that extends to SG Ball, Jersey Flegg, NSW Cup.
* A rebrand. Logo and all. By next year I want to see a new identity for the Tigers, corporate and football. Figure out who we are and scream it from the rooftops. May I recommend "The Unity Club" and focus on promoting the JV as the positive that it is?
* I want us to sign another 3 or 4 solid vets from other clubs. Under the radar signings. Help turn the culture over. No overpays.
* If we do decide we need a new coach. It needs to be someone untried but well regarded and they need to be given the rule of the roost. Like Shanahan was at the Niners, and like Maguire was at Melbourne. I personally give Madge until the end of next season not to get us to the finals but to make the process visibly different.
We all know by now that we are supporting a broken club in need of complete restoration. Fans and the media demand success now, and it drives us nuts to see year after year no results. But what's worse is when you see things like what happened on Sunday in particular. And for me we will only be able to summon the likes of Tommy, or the spirit of Leichhardt, or whatever ghost of rugby league it needs to, when the club actually embraces it's identity as a positive thing and believes it.
Back when we were all clamouring for Tim Sheens to leave the Tigers I recall having a fleeting moment of clarity right here on this very forum. I remember saying something to the effect of “if we do let him go, we had better be willing to stick by/pick someone good to be his replacement or we may find ourselves in a coaching merry go-round”. The reason I had that fleeting thought is because I got the impression that Tim Sheens’s madness was very specifically designed to make a team that represented a club devoid of any competitive edge, to be as competitive as it could be, and letting go of that madness might cause a bigger issue than we realised. It was a fleeting thought, as I was swept up in the hysteria of missing the top 8 in 2012 much like the rest and joined the chorus of fans calling for his head.
Fast forward nearly ten years and I believe I was correct. Whether or not Tim Sheens intended for his methods to cover up cracks in the club they had that effect. Maybe he was mad for different reasons, washed-up or eccentric in his ways, but in 2005, 2010 and 2011 at least, his methods, gameplans, roster management and coaching style allowed for a side that was light on comparable talent, facilities and importantly identity, to compete with the better run clubs. Sheens essentially reset at the end of every season and attempted to hack the NRL. Sadly that was not sustainable. He was unable to sustain it year to year himself let alone in a way to created prolonged success. It was always inevitable that the Wests Tigers would need to go through real metamorphosis in order to become consistently competitive. Consistently competitive meaning that we’d make the finals 50% of the time at least. Statistically probable in a 16 team comp with 8 finalists.
Here we are now under Michael Maguire. A hard nosed, premiership winning coach who has worked with some of the all time greats and is rated a good coach by most. He’s a coach with a reputation for being a hard task master, and I think that he’s a good choice. I premise this entire musing by saying that ultimately it is my view that we need to stick with Maguire, granted that I see certain changes in his approach.
Back in 2016, the Wests Tigers had Jason Taylor at the helm of a rebuild. The second coach since we let go of Sheens. Taylor had been given the reigns of a cornucopia of young talent. A group of kids that most experts rated as undeniable. The Wests Tigers would be on the verge of a legacy with this lot. We’re talking Teddy, Moses, Brooks and co. Attack, as was the case back when we had Sheens at the helm, was not the problem. Much like with Potter, Clear and even now Madge, defense was our issue. Defense was also our issue the entire time Sheens was in charge, but Sheens didn’t seem to care. He preferred to just hack the game to get wins. Maybe because defense requires physicality, will and mentality that he knew this club itself just didn’t possess. It is a club that at it’s core has had massive culturally issues not just since it was established in 2000, but prior to that with both the foundation clubs beforehand being the biggest disappointments of the entire nineties.
At the same time another team was planning their own rebuild. The San Francisco 49ers. Not long before being a Superbowl team, had just gone from the penthouse to the outhouse. Off field issues, shock retirements, issues in the front office, white anting in the coaches room. The club was in ruins.
While the Wests Tigers had Jason Taylor as head coach, the 49ers made a decision to bring in a brilliant young coach by the name of Kyle Shanahan. Untested as a head coach, but the son of one of the all-time great coaches and someone that had been touted as a future head coach for his entire adult life. Comparatively, we had Jason Taylor, someone well tested and found wanting already; both as a head coach and as a man manager.
There is a similar thread running through every appointment in Wests Tigers history in fact. We usually take our head coaches off the scrap heap. Sheens himself came off the scrap heap. Cleary and Maguire off the scrap heap. The only one who didn’t was Mick Potter and he was the one given the hardest job, the least assistance and the shortest attempt to do so.
At the 49ers Shanahan was able to rebuild everything from the ground up, and he was given five years to do so. A huge vote of confidence from day 1. He was able to bring in front office guys that were his guys, so he knew that he could trust them. He was able to be in charge of every facet of everything and redefine what the 49ers were from the ground up. The 49ers were not an attractive destination for free agents, so he brought in high character guys that were older, to help show the young guys how to prepare. Success was not required. Effort was required. The 49ers got pummeled from pillar to post in year one, but nobody complained. There was optimism. But there wasn’t rhetoric. The players expressed their pain, but it was always in a positive way and they always spoke of knowing that the process would work. They understood Kyle’s vision for the franchise, and they all bought in.
In year three of the 49ers rebuild through Kyle Shanahan, the 49ers made the Superbowl largely using unheralded or overlooked guys like Raheem Mostert (an undrafted journeyman), Richard Sherman (an old player they signed off an injury), Jimmy Garroppolo (a QB that was untested that came up behind Tom Brady at New England) with a sprinkling of lightning in a bottle talent (George Kittle, a fifth round draft pick) and one or two genuine knockout superstar youngsters (Nick Bosa, Fred Warner, Deforest Buckner). But pound for pound their roster was not meant to make the Superbowl at the start of the year. They were meant to come last in their division. By the end of the season the NFL media considered their roster unfairly strong. I attribute literally all of it to the appointment of Kyle Shanahan. That one guy, and the trust the head office placed in him to see his plan through.
That is how important the head coach appointment is. Or at the very least the person in charge of football management at a club. Kyle Shanahan is more than a head coach. He has the last say on everything. He’s the GM, offensive coordinator, defensive quality control guy and head coach all rolled into one and everyone there are his people.
When I compare Maguire to Kyle, there are a lot of differences and not many similarities, but that might not matter all that much so long as his process proves right for this club.
So what has the Maguire regime done right and what has he done wrong?
Right:
* Recruitment of young players. Our best players this season are all players that have been at the Tigers for 2 years or fewer. Daine Laurie, Luciano Leilua, Adam Douehi, Stefano Utoikamanu. This is very exciting and very good signs that the office has some very good talent identification and is able to sell itself to young stars well.
* Sweeping the old out. Letting Farah and Marshall go was necessary. We need a blank canvas.
Brought in experienced heads to show the youngsters how to perform. I particularly applaud the signing of James Tamou in this regard. And I don’t really care how Tamou performs off the field because his reported salary is lower than Chris McQueen’s was. Tamou is a leader in the locker room, and in a rebuild you need guys like that (we actually need more of them, we didn’t sign enough of them).
* Corporate performance appears to be going well. For now.
Wrong:
* Brought in and/or retained the WRONG experienced heads. In a club that is rebuilding and searching for identity and shaping itself there is no place for BJ Leilua and James Roberts. Leilua and Roberts are not older heads you want younger guys looking towards as role models. It might not be a nice sentiment but it’s glaringly obvious. Leilua has been a problem everywhere he has gone and Roberts has more issues than a box of tissues. Both signings were desperate moves to get results now and bringing them in was a tremendous mistake and worries me deeply about how Maguire really feels about his job security to make such desperate decisions.
* Onfield gameplanning. Our defensive structures are abysmal and our attacking plans archaic. But defense has been a problem at this club for longer than he’s been around, and as much as it seems abstract I believe it could be more of an issue with our cultural identity than necessarily the coach not knowing how to coach defense.
* Re-signing Luke Brooks as our marquee playmaker. The message that re-signing Brooks sent was very negative. Even at the end of 2018, the writing was on the wall that Brooks was not going to take this side to the heights it needed to go. Rewarding him with a giant contract tells everyone that performance is optional at the Wests Tigers and it continues to send that message. In my opinion playmakers that are paid top money have ONE contract to show they can rule the roost or they should be gone. It’s imperative that it be handled this way or the culture collapses in a steaming heap (see Anthony Milford at the Broncos, Shaun Johnson at the New Zealand Warriors etc.)
* Our identity. What is it? Who are our fans supporting? What are our values? Brand is something that nobody in the front office seems to have a clue about and culture is something that they don’t seem to understand either. We are the “Joint Venture” and it's spoken of almost insultingly by people who describe us that way. 21 years on and really we are still Balmain and the Wests Magpies. Whenever something comes up related to the JV the old crap resurfaces. It's ridiculous. Why can’t we be the Unity Club? Why can’t we lean into what we are. Yes we are the JV. We have 200% the history to draw on than any other club. We have twice as many legends of the game in our backstory. We have twice as many ghosts we have to perform for. We are a club where every grade trains together. We have people in our club from all over the world. We take our women’s football seriously. We support our local areas. Take the message all the way. Sell the Wests Tigers this way. Drill it in to the players at every level.
I could go into more detail but I’ve prattled on to the point of essay here. In summary I think what I would like to see from the Wests Tigers most is the following:
* Bunker in. Minimal media from anyone. We’re not listening. We’re going to figure this out on our own. Our players and coaches need to bind and everyone needs to become across the goals set and everyone understand the part they are meant to play
* No more signing yesterday’s heroes (unless they are paid next to nothing and come from strong clubs). If we sign Mitchell Pearce I am going to march on Concord.
* More youth development. I want results KPIs on the General Manager of Football that extends to SG Ball, Jersey Flegg, NSW Cup.
* A rebrand. Logo and all. By next year I want to see a new identity for the Tigers, corporate and football. Figure out who we are and scream it from the rooftops. May I recommend "The Unity Club" and focus on promoting the JV as the positive that it is?
* I want us to sign another 3 or 4 solid vets from other clubs. Under the radar signings. Help turn the culture over. No overpays.
* If we do decide we need a new coach. It needs to be someone untried but well regarded and they need to be given the rule of the roost. Like Shanahan was at the Niners, and like Maguire was at Melbourne. I personally give Madge until the end of next season not to get us to the finals but to make the process visibly different.
We all know by now that we are supporting a broken club in need of complete restoration. Fans and the media demand success now, and it drives us nuts to see year after year no results. But what's worse is when you see things like what happened on Sunday in particular. And for me we will only be able to summon the likes of Tommy, or the spirit of Leichhardt, or whatever ghost of rugby league it needs to, when the club actually embraces it's identity as a positive thing and believes it.
