Madge Says

[pawsandclaws1]

I think top 8 is going to be a lot harder to achieve than people are saying. We have upgraded our team but so have most other teams and we are relying on our young forwards stepping up. Madge seems quietly confident which is a good thing but I wouldn’t be surprised if we finish ninth or tenth again.

X Factor makes the difference in the finals and the run into it. We failed to recruit genuine pace which was the number 1 priority. If players have to be promoted from within, I hope we promote them from round 1. This provides them with experience and gives us a chance to move some NRL backs to other clubs or ESL.

 

[Fade.To.Black]

Well to be fair we don't have any excuses, Madge has the coaching and training staff he wants, we've recruited well within our limitations and the boys are as fit as they're going to be, minus Liddle and Packer who are in rehab.

The real litmus test will be the arm wrestle games this year and whether we are good enough to close them out, that will be the difference between making and missing the 8 IMO.


Im still giving him 2021 in its entirety.

Another recruitment drive and post benji to see his goods.

Lets remember what he inherited and that I still believe that he's the right kind of coach for our club.

But what is the barest minimum base line acceptance table wise

For me 9th and above ...from where we were 2 weeks ago we were a bottom 4 side

If we finish 10th or worse as much as people like Madge we have to ask questions about where we are at

And we'd really need to look at Brooks as well ....

Why would it all fall back onto Brooks though? We may be heading into the season without a genuine dummy-half so service to our metre eaters may be 2nd rate, we get poor go forward so Brooks is hamstrung through no fault of his own.

 

[Spartan117]

Hmm I think we all should start saying top 4 instead of top 8. Coming 8th isn't going to get us anywhere. Madge brought in last year to train until the grand final to get used to putting in until the end.

Saying top 4 will hopefully make the team more focused to get there and not just make the finals.

TBH. Were a long ways from being a top 4 club.

 

[MtWarrigalTiger]

Hmm I think we all should start saying top 4 instead of top 8. Coming 8th isn't going to get us anywhere. Madge brought in last year to train until the grand final to get used to putting in until the end.

Saying top 4 will hopefully make the team more focused to get there and not just make the finals.

TBH. Were a long ways from being a top 4 club.

I think this season the nrl will be closest in years.Storm Roosters and Raiders won’t be as good as they were last year.Sharks lost a lot of experienced fowards.Souths look good but few injuries in fowards could hurt them.

 

[gallagher]

Hmm I think we all should start saying top 4 instead of top 8. Coming 8th isn't going to get us anywhere. Madge brought in last year to train until the grand final to get used to putting in until the end.

Saying top 4 will hopefully make the team more focused to get there and not just make the finals.

TBH. Were a long ways from being a top 4 club.

I think this season the nrl will be closest in years.Storm Roosters and Raiders won’t be as good as they were last year.Sharks lost a lot of experienced fowards.Souths look good but few injuries in fowards could hurt them.

I agree that this season is up for grabs, even the chooks have lost Cronk and Lattrell and the raiders, who over achieved, have lost BJ, Rapana and SeSerz er.

 

[Fade.To.Black]

Hmm I think we all should start saying top 4 instead of top 8. Coming 8th isn't going to get us anywhere. Madge brought in last year to train until the grand final to get used to putting in until the end.

Saying top 4 will hopefully make the team more focused to get there and not just make the finals.

TBH. Were a long ways from being a top 4 club.

True. But I think we are on par with say Manly and they finished 4th or 5th IIRC? Need a bit of luck and avoid 3 or 4 game losing streaks and we might just surprise. Here's hoping anyway.

 

[BWGleague]

I believe in madge instilling some steel into our squad looking forward to kick-off this season
& canterbury bankstown to be the dark horse

 

[twentyforty]

I believe in madge instilling some steel into our squad looking forward to kick-off this season
& canterbury bankstown to be the dark horse

I can see WT bending the defensive lines of most teams, particularly in 2021. But I think dogs could struggle this year? Not sure they can make the 8 with their best player in rehab.

 

[momo_amp_medo]

Looking at squad strengths ..... I would say that Roosters, Storm, Raiders, Sea Eagles, Eels, Bunnies and Broncos will be hard to beat.
The rest will be scratching for the last spot.

 

[TrueTiger]

I believe in madge instilling some steel into our squad looking forward to kick-off this season
& canterbury bankstown to be the dark horse

I think your exactly right,Madge has to get them to play for 80 mins and not hang their heads when points are scored against them..to often we have seen our blokes fire out of the blocks and then wither halfway up the straight ...Im nearly certain that Madge has invested a lot of time this preseason toward their mental toughness..

 

[Joel Helmes]

No one knows at this point, plenty of respected judges had Panthers and Broncos right up there in 2019.

Injuries and luck play a part too and you just can’t post your top 8 based with any real accuracy on how squads look now.

 

[tiger_one]

No one knows at this point, plenty of respected judges had Panthers and Broncos right up there in 2019.

Injuries and luck play a part too and you just can’t post your top 8 based with any real accuracy on how squads look now.

Wise words.
Except we're better than most media experts suggest!

 

[jrtiger]

I think that on paper this year is probably the most evenly contested comp in years. thankfully our draw is pretty good. I think we're pretty likely to make the 8.

 

[Spartan117]

At least now the Tigers are considered to be coached well.

Results are coming, we just need to hang on a little while yet.

Be strong

 

[bbobb]

I don’t know about anyone else but this year just feels different as a fan. Normally I am expecting a 9-12 finish with a forlorn hope os sneaking into the eight. But just watching Madge, I am kind of thinking the finals drought may be over. Our signings have been really good, the JRey situation looks like it may work itself out and we have a really good balance of youth and experience.

I am thinking 6 - 8 is very achievable

 

[Sco77y]

I'm a fan of Madge but have heard some slightly troubling insights. The perception is that he's tough, but that sounds like understatement of the year. One of my mates knows an ex physio from the Tigers (although he still takes care of some players externally). He recently had some physio done and they got to talking footy, where he revealed a few things I hadn't heard before, but gave clarity to rumours we've probably all heard.

"Toughness" - Apparently detrimentally so. Pressuring players to get back into the team after injury, well before medical staff recommended time frames. Later in the season a younger player had been out with a wrist injury for 2 weeks (6 week recovery time), but Madge had him back in the side for that week. During the warm up he feigned a hamstring injury as he knew his wrist still wasn't right, despite Madge's insistence. He was afraid to bail without an excuse apart from his wrist. Apparently not isolated incidents and this physio for one mentioned he was a bit of a nightmare to work with for the reasons above.

Matterson - Trouble started after a Bulldogs game we lost last year and McGuire addressed the team sternly, asking why they had played so badly (no expletives version obviously). As they were standing there Matterson answered, too much emotion not enough intelligence, pointing right at Madge. Things went downhill between the two from there.

In fairness, apparently there are other coaches like this across the league, Mary for one who he said was as bad as Madge. He also takes care of the Dragons, the team he supports so there doesn't seem to be any bias or reason to have made these things up, especially when they're more detailed than other reports.

Would like to believe these are isolated incidents and not his general practise, but wouldn't have mentioned it unless I thought it was well closer to legit than a rumour. The part about Matterson was interesting too. Doesn't solidify anything though, maybe he really is a jerk regardless. Pretty disrespectful calling out your coach in front of the team like that.

 

[happy_tiger]

No one knows at this point, plenty of respected judges had Panthers and Broncos right up there in 2019.

Injuries and luck play a part too and you just can’t post your top 8 based with any real accuracy on how squads look now.

Now Penrith have a quality hooker they should be a threat ...how they function without Maloney will be the other question though

Brisbane won't make the 8 in my opinion ...really big problems with the mix of their squad

 

[twentyforty]

I'm a fan of Madge but have heard some slightly troubling insights. The perception is that he's tough, but that sounds like understatement of the year. One of my mates knows an ex physio from the Tigers (although he still takes care of some players externally). He recently had some physio done and they got to talking footy, where he revealed a few things I hadn't heard before, but gave clarity to rumours we've probably all heard.

"Toughness" - Apparently detrimentally so. Pressuring players to get back into the team after injury, well before medical staff recommended time frames. Later in the season a younger player had been out with a wrist injury for 2 weeks (6 week recovery time), but Madge had him back in the side for that week. During the warm up he feigned a hamstring injury as he knew his wrist still wasn't right, despite Madge's insistence. He was afraid to bail without an excuse apart from his wrist. Apparently not isolated incidents and this physio for one mentioned he was a bit of a nightmare to work with for the reasons above.

Matterson - Trouble started after a Bulldogs game we lost last year and McGuire addressed the team sternly, asking why they had played so badly (no expletives version obviously). As they were standing there Matterson answered, too much emotion not enough intelligence, pointing right at Madge. Things went downhill between the two from there.

In fairness, apparently there are other coaches like this across the league, Mary for one who he said was as bad as Madge. He also takes care of the Dragons, the team he supports so there doesn't seem to be any bias or reason to have made these things up, especially when they're more detailed than other reports.

Would like to believe these are isolated incidents and not his general practise, but wouldn't have mentioned it unless I thought it was well closer to legit than a rumour. The part about Matterson was interesting too. Doesn't solidify anything though, maybe he really is a j**k regardless. Pretty disrespectful calling out your coach in front of the team like that.

Interesting. Madge obviously has his sights set on winning a gf, you can’t win a gf with cupcakes, best to sort that out from the get go. The preseason training was also designed to get players out of their comfort zone.
I’m liking what I am hearing / seeing with this new look tigers outfit.

 

[JC99]

I'm a fan of Madge but have heard some slightly troubling insights. The perception is that he's tough, but that sounds like understatement of the year. One of my mates knows an ex physio from the Tigers (although he still takes care of some players externally). He recently had some physio done and they got to talking footy, where he revealed a few things I hadn't heard before, but gave clarity to rumours we've probably all heard.

"Toughness" - Apparently detrimentally so. Pressuring players to get back into the team after injury, well before medical staff recommended time frames. Later in the season a younger player had been out with a wrist injury for 2 weeks (6 week recovery time), but Madge had him back in the side for that week. During the warm up he feigned a hamstring injury as he knew his wrist still wasn't right, despite Madge's insistence. He was afraid to bail without an excuse apart from his wrist. Apparently not isolated incidents and this physio for one mentioned he was a bit of a nightmare to work with for the reasons above.

Matterson - Trouble started after a Bulldogs game we lost last year and McGuire addressed the team sternly, asking why they had played so badly (no expletives version obviously). As they were standing there Matterson answered, too much emotion not enough intelligence, pointing right at Madge. Things went downhill between the two from there.

In fairness, apparently there are other coaches like this across the league, Mary for one who he said was as bad as Madge. He also takes care of the Dragons, the team he supports so there doesn't seem to be any bias or reason to have made these things up, especially when they're more detailed than other reports.

Would like to believe these are isolated incidents and not his general practise, but wouldn't have mentioned it unless I thought it was well closer to legit than a rumour. The part about Matterson was interesting too. Doesn't solidify anything though, maybe he really is a j**k regardless. Pretty disrespectful calling out your coach in front of the team like that.

With coaches like Madge there’s always going to be players who don’t like it. He’s a hard ass who expects Nothing less than 110% effort all the time.

Most of our boys really like him and enjoy doing the hard work, the lazy players will always be upset with it, Matto is one of those players.

Madge has been a successful coach a long time and he knows the boys and would know if they’re ready. Reading this stuff doesn’t really alarm me, a tough coach is exactly what we’ve needed for a long while