So I’ve been reading here for years. Kudos on the general quality of the forum. This is something I’ve been musing This is my first post and kind of pointless and don’t waste your time on my musings.
Me
I’ve been a supporter since I was born, even though I grew up in another city my father was an avid Balmain supporter and that moved onto me. While I got dragged to games in black and gold all my friends supported a different team.
I completely lost interest when the super league happened and then the merger. The only time I talked Tigers was with my father. Then 2005 happened and I was sucked back in.
I watched my father scream at Warren Ryan for losing the 89 grand final because he benches Sirronen and he would have tackled Ferguson. He blamed the coach which at the time I thought was harsh.
Alan Jones, Wayne Pearce, Terry Lamb (the irony of the guy coaching us who cost us a GF coaching should not be lost on anyone) probably not worth a mention.
Here are my actual musings.
Sheen’s
I can’t believe we punted Sheens when we did not make the finals, we had a lot of injuries. If Tim Moltzen had left his hand on a tackled player we would have made the 2011 GF. Not to mention a big reason he was punted was Benji white anting a man he once considered his father.
Under Potter I watched us get thumped and the first time I watched a game we were scoreless. We had some peaks under Potter but nothing too special.
Taylor, I pin point how bad Taylor was when we were playing Auckland and winning, a centre was injured, he had Lawrence on the bench. Instead of playing an ex Australian centre, he played a 2nd row (Kyle Lovett from memory) who had never played centre before. He leaked try’s like BJ did at the weekend and his confidence was shot after that.
To Taylors defence, the killing we got from BJ at Leichhardt would not have happened if Ryan James had not broken Tedescos jaw a few games previously? (watching Ryan James score against us in round 1 hurt). I actually pin point that dog act as when everything unravelled for us and we lost Teddy and co.
Cleary, love him hate him. But in 2018 we had the best half back in the comp, I watched Luke Brooks outplay Cronk not once but twice in a year. When there was talk of Nathan coming to Tiger land I thought why? We have the better halfback. Then Cleary fell off the bus and that media speculation derailed our season.
2019 we missed out on the finals by a single game (almost identical to 2016), we were short our two first choice full backs and did not have a proper hooker either. We were never going to win without someone like Thompson cleaning up at the back.
Last year something happened, we were hot and we were cold. But I walked away from the Parramatta game with no Benji and watching Brooks and AD play well in the halves thinking, 2021 we might be it. I still think our spine changes just killed us in 2020. Brooks is trying too hard and over thinking it, sack his sports psychologist and get another one.
I think in West Tigers history Madge is probably our 3rd best coach. Through the last 15 odd years, we have been bloody unlucky when you look at how a couple of seasons unfolded.
But
Currently we don’t have the right players or coach, look at the loyalty that Bennet gets, I thought Madge might be like that but its obviously not the case. Building any sort of team you need trust and I don’t think he and the players have that. I don’t think we have had that since Sheens left. If he gets it back then he is amazing.
We have started this year so badly, under Taylor I think we started 2017 destroying two top 8 teams and then we got destroyed and Taylor was punted. This year already feels worse.
How long has it been since we lost a first game? 8 years I think, I can’t remember us starting a season this badly before. I see it like this, we come good. It turns out a betting scandal is going on and Tim Simona is actually pulling strings. A new coach comes in and we bite many a bullet and re-start again which normally means 2022 is our year to come 9th with a 14 this year.
Me
I’ve been a supporter since I was born, even though I grew up in another city my father was an avid Balmain supporter and that moved onto me. While I got dragged to games in black and gold all my friends supported a different team.
I completely lost interest when the super league happened and then the merger. The only time I talked Tigers was with my father. Then 2005 happened and I was sucked back in.
I watched my father scream at Warren Ryan for losing the 89 grand final because he benches Sirronen and he would have tackled Ferguson. He blamed the coach which at the time I thought was harsh.
Alan Jones, Wayne Pearce, Terry Lamb (the irony of the guy coaching us who cost us a GF coaching should not be lost on anyone) probably not worth a mention.
Here are my actual musings.
Sheen’s
I can’t believe we punted Sheens when we did not make the finals, we had a lot of injuries. If Tim Moltzen had left his hand on a tackled player we would have made the 2011 GF. Not to mention a big reason he was punted was Benji white anting a man he once considered his father.
Under Potter I watched us get thumped and the first time I watched a game we were scoreless. We had some peaks under Potter but nothing too special.
Taylor, I pin point how bad Taylor was when we were playing Auckland and winning, a centre was injured, he had Lawrence on the bench. Instead of playing an ex Australian centre, he played a 2nd row (Kyle Lovett from memory) who had never played centre before. He leaked try’s like BJ did at the weekend and his confidence was shot after that.
To Taylors defence, the killing we got from BJ at Leichhardt would not have happened if Ryan James had not broken Tedescos jaw a few games previously? (watching Ryan James score against us in round 1 hurt). I actually pin point that dog act as when everything unravelled for us and we lost Teddy and co.
Cleary, love him hate him. But in 2018 we had the best half back in the comp, I watched Luke Brooks outplay Cronk not once but twice in a year. When there was talk of Nathan coming to Tiger land I thought why? We have the better halfback. Then Cleary fell off the bus and that media speculation derailed our season.
2019 we missed out on the finals by a single game (almost identical to 2016), we were short our two first choice full backs and did not have a proper hooker either. We were never going to win without someone like Thompson cleaning up at the back.
Last year something happened, we were hot and we were cold. But I walked away from the Parramatta game with no Benji and watching Brooks and AD play well in the halves thinking, 2021 we might be it. I still think our spine changes just killed us in 2020. Brooks is trying too hard and over thinking it, sack his sports psychologist and get another one.
I think in West Tigers history Madge is probably our 3rd best coach. Through the last 15 odd years, we have been bloody unlucky when you look at how a couple of seasons unfolded.
But
Currently we don’t have the right players or coach, look at the loyalty that Bennet gets, I thought Madge might be like that but its obviously not the case. Building any sort of team you need trust and I don’t think he and the players have that. I don’t think we have had that since Sheens left. If he gets it back then he is amazing.
We have started this year so badly, under Taylor I think we started 2017 destroying two top 8 teams and then we got destroyed and Taylor was punted. This year already feels worse.
How long has it been since we lost a first game? 8 years I think, I can’t remember us starting a season this badly before. I see it like this, we come good. It turns out a betting scandal is going on and Tim Simona is actually pulling strings. A new coach comes in and we bite many a bullet and re-start again which normally means 2022 is our year to come 9th with a 14 this year.
