It's hard to believe...

[hybrid_tiger]

…that after all that has happened this season, we are now one win away from securing a top 4 spot.

We've had to deal with so many injuries, and we had a many poor performances earlier on in the season, never thought we would get here. Everyone at the joint deserves a big wrap.

:sign:

 

[Cultured_Bogan]

Too right HT.

Didn't have much hope for them after we got beat in the second Bulldogs game, I thought we were on the ropes.

And we knocked off a few heavyweights along the way so the boys are showing they're the real deal.

 

[happy_tiger]

Totally agree Hybrid I couldn't see a realistic way out after losing to Parra and making the top 6 Now look at us top 4 bound with a win against the Sharks and probably 2nd favourite for the title
Those words "One week at a time" are so true

 

[Balmain_Bug]

Benji & Robbie are the ones to thank

 

[happy_tiger]

Benji & Robbie are the ones to thank

C'mon Bug Say it And Tim Sheens TOO
Don't be like the Fonz W W W W W WRONG

 

[matty_tiepie]

After the Parra loss i still thought we could make the 8 but to have a great chance to grab 4th spot with a week to go well lets just say i did not give us much chance at all. We have really turned it around with some great performances and solid defence. Once lawrence is back we are at full strength ( except for Dwyer ) and ready to give this comp a real shake.

 

[underdog]

I stated in a thread a couple of months ago that if we win the title, it will be the GREATEST victory by any team in the the NRL that anyone has ever seen, considering the media smear campaign, the inner turmoils, the Benji saga, and all the other adversarial nonsense which has been heaped on us.

Consistently our boys aren't rated - even Cartwright last night came out after seeing his boys get toweled by a team in second gear and said - "Nah, they won't win it"

Hindmarsh, Thurston, Fittler, Gould, Sterling, all so called legends, and experts have written us off at various times during the year. (Rabbits in his wisdom has actually stood by his statements early in the year tipping the Tigers)

Or boys are constantly overlooked for representative games - so much so that other teams vying for contracts for our boys actually TELL THEM that you won't get a blues/qld/kangaroo run playing for the tigers. :imp:

This victory will be even sweeter than 2005, mark my words, and to make it even sweeter, it will be against the "fairytale ending to Lockeyers career" :smiling_imp:

Tigers/Broncos grand final lads.

Tigers by 7 - you hear it here first. :mrgreen:

 

[BeeJay]

Credit where credit is due..
2 years in a row we will all have a team to cheer for come semi final time!

 

[Tigerdave]

spot on HT, it is very hard to believe how well we've done this year, well done to the guys and yes even the coaching staff :slight_smile:

Finals in a row for the first time.

 

[Chris]

Gives what Yossarian said earlier this year after a loss and people on here were throwing in the towel….

"The people on the Poseidon Adventure didn't panic as much as some of you blokes..." - Yossarian

 

[Gary_Bakerloo]

After the Parra loss i still thought we could make the 8 but to have a great chance to grab 4th spot with a week to go well lets just say i did not give us much chance at all. We have really turned it around with some great performances and solid defence. Once lawrence is back we are at full strength ( except for Dwyer ) and ready to give this comp a real shake.

Remember what Farah said immediately after the Parra loss?

"Judge us at the end of the season."

 

[supercoach]

Still yet to put their best side on the field so the signs are promising.I wrote them off weeks ago,although always thought they would scrape into the eight at the bottom and get flogged in week one.

Still far from convinced they will make the big one, but at least they now have a chance and a good win over the Sharks and their chances will even get better. The team,coaching staff and CEO all deserve a rap, but gee their life is made a hell of a lot easier having Marshall and Farah on fire.

Cant remember a player who at NRL level who is so much better than all the other players, of course Iam talking Benji and its not like he playing in a once in a generation team. It will be interesting to see how the top teams contain him or should I say try to contain him

 

[2041]

I stated in a thread a couple of months ago that if we win the title, it will be the GREATEST victory by any team in the the NRL that anyone has ever seen, considering the media smear campaign, the inner turmoils, the Benji saga, and all the other adversarial nonsense which has been heaped on us.

Consistently our boys aren't rated - even Cartwright last night came out after seeing his boys get toweled by a team in second gear and said - "Nah, they won't win it"

Hindmarsh, Thurston, Fittler, Gould, Sterling, all so called legends, and experts have written us off at various times during the year. (Rabbits in his wisdom has actually stood by his statements early in the year tipping the Tigers)

Or boys are constantly overlooked for representative games - so much so that other teams vying for contracts for our boys actually TELL THEM that you won't get a blues/qld/kangaroo run playing for the tigers. :imp:

This victory will be even sweeter than 2005, mark my words, and to make it even sweeter, it will be against the "fairytale ending to Lockeyers career" :smiling_imp:

Tigers/Broncos grand final lads.

Tigers by 7 - you hear it here first. :mrgreen:

I dunno, fans always think their team is uniquely ill-favoured by pundits (and refs!) but I don't think all your points are fair. Gould in particular is hardly short of praise for the Tigers when we're going well - in fact it's often difficult to tell whether he has a bigger man crush on Benji or Galloway. In general any doubts about the Tigers tend to be exactly the same things we all worry about - the tendency to clock off, risky options etc.

On origin, while it does seem odd that we've had an elite-level team for two years yet only had one origin rep I think there are reasons for that. To start with, two of our franchise players (Marshall and Ellis) aren't even eligible - if either had been born in Sydney they'd be among the first names on the blues' team sheet. Then there's the issue that individual and team form has was crap around origin time this year. For instance, there's no way you could put your hand on your heart and claim Farah's form warranted selection this year. Then there was Lawrence's injury - I'm sure he'd have been picked this season had he been fit. Elsewhere I'd say most of our potential rep players are pretty marginal calls. Ayshford and Heighington are probably the closest but it's hard to make a case that either demanded selection.

Cartwright, to be fair, is an arse. And I could not agree more about Lockyer.

 

[Team_Tiger]

Great thread! Couldn't agree more. I love this team - am such a proud Tigers supporter :slight_smile:

 

[underdog]

I stated in a thread a couple of months ago that if we win the title, it will be the GREATEST victory by any team in the the NRL that anyone has ever seen, considering the media smear campaign, the inner turmoils, the Benji saga, and all the other adversarial nonsense which has been heaped on us.

Consistently our boys aren't rated - even Cartwright last night came out after seeing his boys get toweled by a team in second gear and said - "Nah, they won't win it"

Hindmarsh, Thurston, Fittler, Gould, Sterling, all so called legends, and experts have written us off at various times during the year. (Rabbits in his wisdom has actually stood by his statements early in the year tipping the Tigers)

Or boys are constantly overlooked for representative games - so much so that other teams vying for contracts for our boys actually TELL THEM that you won't get a blues/qld/kangaroo run playing for the tigers. :imp:

This victory will be even sweeter than 2005, mark my words, and to make it even sweeter, it will be against the "fairytale ending to Lockeyers career" :smiling_imp:

Tigers/Broncos grand final lads.

Tigers by 7 - you hear it here first. :mrgreen:

I dunno, fans always think their team is uniquely ill-favoured by pundits (and refs!) but I don't think all your points are fair. Gould in particular is hardly short of praise for the Tigers when we're going well - in fact it's often difficult to tell whether he has a bigger man crush on Benji or Galloway. In general any doubts about the Tigers tend to be exactly the same things we all worry about - the tendency to clock off, risky options etc.

On origin, while it does seem odd that we've had an elite-level team for two years yet only had one origin rep I think there are reasons for that. To start with, two of our franchise players (Marshall and Ellis) aren't even eligible - if either had been born in Sydney they'd be among the first names on the blues' team sheet. Then there's the issue that individual and team form has was crap around origin time this year. For instance, there's no way you could put your hand on your heart and claim Farah's form warranted selection this year. Then there was Lawrence's injury - I'm sure he'd have been picked this season had he been fit. Elsewhere I'd say most of our potential rep players are pretty marginal calls. Ayshford and Heighington are probably the closest but it's hard to make a case that either demanded selection.

Cartwright, to be fair, is an arse. And I could not agree more about Lockyer.

Off the cuff, Gould is in love with Galloway and the style of game we play, and the excitement our boys generate. Won't argue there.

However, put him on the sunday footy show, and he'll discount the team as a whole as a team that can't seriously vie for the title. - However to be fair, his reasoning is usually sound regarding inconsistency.

The muppets such as Hindmarsh and Thurston have thinly veiled axes to grind, and I stand by what I said regarding Sterlo and Fittler writing us off.

Admittedly I didn't elaborate in my original post, however rep footy goes back 3-4 years on our players being stiffed. People can counter this with saying that in 2009/2008/2007 our boys were not finals contenders, yet we consistently get several players representing from teams out of finals contention - the sharks, eels, roosters, panthers, sea-eagles and knights (the last two are not quite out of finals contention this year, but the last couple of years they were) who seem to get an unequal sharing of rep players, when their teams have been just as sporadic at making the finals over the last 3-4 years as our guys have.

Having said all this though, the biggest and best thing the team did was believe in themselves. Farahs line after the Parra game was absolutely golden in hindsight. Sheens all year has been beating the same drum "We can do this!"

Heck, I've got staunch Bulldogs supporters and Dragons supporters at my work actually CONCEDING that they think the tigers are a smokey for the title! (The dragons supporter doesn't want to meet our guys in week one - said he'd rather them play the Broncos or Manly!)

The self belief the boys have shown even in the face of the fans bickering, has been the most important part of our run.

 

[whoneedstherapy]

Considering we haven't had our left side attack even close to full strength all year, coupled with all the turmoil with contracts for both coaching staff and players i think we have done very well to be in the hunt. When you also consider the focus on the ruck from the referee's which i felt had an effect on us early on it's ridiculous to think we are being talked about as serious threats by the media and player (eg. cam smith)

I also think having Benji playing the amount of games he has this season and last has helped us immensely too.

We're coming into the finals series with a similar side to the team that experienced it last year and i hope the boys will have grown from it so we can go 2 points better off than last time!

 

[tiger4ever]

Benji & Robbie are the ones to thank

You never stop do you.

So let me get this straight when we win its just benji and robbie which for a start is a insult to gareth ellis bryce gibbs ayshford etc who has been playing the house down.

When we lose its SHEENS or if anything happens at the club its humphreys…..you hate them we all get it.....unbelievable....seriously you need to grow up bug.

 

[Furious1]

…that after all that has happened this season, we are now one win away from securing a top 4 spot.

We've had to deal with so many injuries, and we had a many poor performances earlier on in the season, never thought we would get here. Everyone at the joint deserves a big wrap.

:sign:

EVERYONE is the operative word there, including the coach. But the guys i want to give a wrap to, are the ones that have played their part through a horrific injury toll. Sure they might not have had us win 7 in a row, but they kept us close enough with wins here and there that once we had a team closer to full strength it wasn't beyond them. Well done Wests Tigers now lets go on with the job!!!!

 

[alex]

It's hard to believe we've made the playoffs two years in a row!

 

[Snake]

Having made the playoffs for the second time in as many years is a great achievement, I don't think we are any where near our best whether we can achieve our best remains to be seen but however it all ends it's been a great ride and certainly happy with the efforts of the club.