This would have to be one of the most honest and insightful reads by anyone in the NRL media regarding the WestsTigers...Thank you and hats off to you Paul Gallen👏👏👏
**EXCLUSIVE: Paul Gallen calls for Wests Tigers to toughen up and stick with coach**
I don't know what the answer is for Wests Tigers - but I don't think it's sacking their coach, Michael Maguire.
Instead, I reckon they need to stick with 'Madge' and let him see through the job that he was hired for: toughening up the club and building a winning culture after so many disappointing seasons.
The Tigers never really recovered from that premiership and that was 16 years ago. They've had two finals appearances since and the last was a decade ago.
They don't have a culture of success. And my personal opinion is that currently, they just don't have the playing roster to do anything.
I had hopes for them at the start of the season, particularly with the speed in their outside backs. I never thought that they'd make the eight but I thought they could be competitive.
They just haven't played well. There's been times where they've competed but they were pretty ordinary on the weekend; hammered by a Manly side that's found it feet and has Tom Trbojevic back.
Even if they had Wayne Bennett or Craig Bellamy coaching that Wests Tigers roster, I don't know that they'd be going too much better.
The only reason you'd replace Michael Maguire is if you thought you'd attract big-name players with a different coach. But then again, that may be the club's fault as a whole rather than the coach.
I don't see that Wests Tigers have got any one player there that other guys would want to go and play with. That's a big part of their recruitment issue.
They haven't got any gun player, an Origin or Test star, who can attract another good player. Once you attract one, you get three, five, and all of a sudden you've got a strong roster; but that's not happening at the Tigers.
Maguire went to that club with a hard-nosed reputation but from what I've heard, he's totally changed. Once his normal approach didn't work, he was willing to adapt.
At South Sydney, he had a really tough, gritty team. The word was that the amount of wrestling and contact training they did was through the roof, and it reflected on the field. They dominated teams, competed year-in, year-out won a premiership.
What he has at the Tigers is a totally different roster. Despite his tough reputation, he's been adaptable and tried to work with the players he has. He started out as the Michael Maguire that we all know but changed to fit with his team.
Unfortunately for him, whatever's going on there at the moment isn't working. Even having adapted, the results just aren't there.
While I bring their problems back to the standard of the roster, it's always easier to sack one bloke than 17. It's always simpler to axe the coach than clear out the roster.
But if Wests Tigers get rid of Maguire, I reckon the next coach is on a hiding to nothing. Especially if he's a young coach. Maguire would be the fifth coach the Tigers have sacked in nine years.
Wests Tigers coach Michael Maguire speaks to club officials during a training session. (Getty)
The fact that Madge tried to come in and introduce a harder edge to that club and it just hasn't worked so far ... that's the culture of Wests Tigers.
Even when they won the premiership, they were happy to win games 32-30. That's been their attitude for the last 16 years. That's what Wests Tigers are known for; scoring points and that's it.
You just don't see them in the grind too often, winning games with under 20 points. They win or lose by a lot, or win in high-scoring shootouts. That's been the culture of the entire club.
I think that bringing Michael Maguire in, with the reputation that he had, showed a willingness and a desire to change. That's a positive but so far it hasn't worked.
I think they just need to keep sticking it out with him. They only extended his contract last December, through to 2023.
I personally think that they should give him more of a chance to try to change the culture of that place. If you just sack him, nothing changes; the next bloke comes in and the cycle repeats.
They need to tell the players to toughen up. This is the way you need to play footy, you can't win 32-30 anymore, that's not the right attitude to have.
You've got to grind out the game and it's really evident that the Tigers can't do it.
Instead of adapting, perhaps Maguire should actually be sticking with his hardline stance. That's what they hired him for in the first place: to change the culture and bring a winning attitude. To introduce some grit to their club.
Every decent team has one thing in common: they back their defence. They're tough and resilient without the ball.
The Sharks team we won the comp with in 2016 didn't have a super-high completion rate but we always backed ourselves to defend our line if we made a mistake. That was our attitude.
An 85-90 per cent completion rate was ideal but we were willing to play footy and account for any mistakes with our defence. Wests Tigers seem to want to play footy without the defensive accountability.
The Storm, Roosters and Panthers, teams that are consistently at the top of the ladder, aren't sticking it under their arm for five tackles and putting a bomb up. They're willing to play footy and looking to score points from anywhere on the park, and they back their defence if it doesn't come off.
For a good side, a mistake in attack shouldn't mean a try up the other end. But that's what seems to happen too often with Wests Tigers. They want to play footy but an error then means the other team scores.
You can't win with that attitude. You've got to have confidence in your ability on both sides of the ball.
People have pointed to the Tigers releasing Benji Marshall as another reason for criticism. To be honest, I've got no problem with that.
Benji did leave the club for money early on, on top of a bust-up with their then-coach Mick Potter, so I don't think Wests Tigers really owed him anything. And Benji always had that Tigers attitude, where you scored points and defence wasn't a high priority.
He moved to a highly successful club and team, where he's playing really well. It was a good move for him; when you're in a strong team, you've only got to worry about doing your job and things happen for you.
Particularly on the weekend, Benji shone in that Rabbitohs team; but they're one of the NRL's strongest sides, as opposed to Wests Tigers.
