Maguire implores side to change

[Russell]

Fire up you sad sacks! So your footy team doesn't win enough and you have had enough?

I'm not going to tell you to "get perspective" or "look at the real world issues" because I love my footy and I take it seriously. I won't patronise people.

But what I will say is I don't know why people have these high expectations of the club after 20 years. In other words, why are you sad or dejected now, why have you given up now? Why have you had enough only after 20 years of consistent failure?

If consistent winning was your hope, you really should have checked out of Wests Tigers around 2004, 2009 or ~2014. You've had several lean years there and ample reason to take up fishing or bridge.

My mentality - Tigers suck. Savour every win but don't start the year expecting finals footy. But that doesn't mean don't be optimistic - hope for the best but don't be surprised or upset if we don't play finals, because that's normal for us. Don't worry about other supporters, they are all knobs anyway and they all have their turn at sucking as well.

Be pissed off but don't let it linger - force yourself to get over it in a day or two. Put it behind you and look forward to next week; guaranteed the next win will still be sweet.

Be proud that you keep turning up to support a team that doesn't win. That's why I'm not impressed with Melbourne supporters - what do they know about losing? Their crowds are average despite all the wins, how would they fare with a lean decade or so?

Try and emulate those British fans who follow teams that never win everything, maybe never even play top-flight footy, but they still love and support their club. Those British fans who turn up in the freezing rain to some local ground to watch their team get belted by cashed-up mega-clubs owned by American and Russian and Qatari oligarchs.

Tigers are the West Ham or Newcastle United of the NRL - always participating but never real contenders, with bare cupboards back at the club, except for some raft of trophies won in glory years between the wars or some unique run in the 60s.

Never a truer word has been spoken.

I've got a double Whamy - I support Newcastle United as well).

 

[JC99]

He's right. This is what this club has been. 20 years of the same crap. As sure as the sun comes up you can bank on our footy team to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory or get beat by a side that everybody thinks should get the spoon. It can't be the coach, we've been through too many of them. Hopefully the young guys that have been recruited are "winners".

Saints got lapped by the winless dogs today, saints have only won 2 games in their last 16, both against the side that beat us last night, Pay made a host of changes, so did Holbrook, and look what happened, meanwhile over at the tigers, nothing changes

Madge has been showing a lot of complacency with his weekly team selections. Maybe he should get out of that complacency.

How do you change a winning team? Honestly how can you be upset about a team selection when they won last week and overcame adversity to do so. It’s easy to look back in hindsight and say this player should’ve played and whatnot. Good coaches don’t continually swap the team around for no reason and he’s big on building combinations. I would expect a few minor changes for this week but nothing massive.

 

[tiger05premier]

Is Madge starting to wish he never took this job?

Instead of us sacking the coach as per standard we might have one that we want to keep walk out on us

Maybe instead of sacking coaches over the years we should've let go players that never delivered rather than double there contracts in dollars and years

Anyway let's hope Madge not only sees but survives to see the light at the end of the tunnel and turns this club into a power house with the young player's he is bringing into the club ASAP

I don’t see him walking out, he’s clearly investing towards the future of the club and he’s passionate about us succeeding, that’s why he gets so upset about performances like last weeks.

I honestly believe he will hang around too

You just never know though

Hope the young kids he has been buying really deliver for him

He deserves success with the effort he puts in

 

[jirskyr]

Maybe what this club needs is fans that display the same culture that the team does IE indifference. Do not keep turning up to watch a team that doesn’t win. Make the players, coach and board understand that we all have better things to do with our time than watch a rabble run around for 80 minutes, then smile and socialise with their buddies on the opposing team and then go home and collect their pay.

Honestly that's not what I saw. I saw a team trying really hard all match, but letting themselves down at times with small parts of execution. They weren't anything like rabble, they were only off on some execution efforts, but unfortunately those ended up being very costly.

If that kickoff bounced back rather than forwards we would not be having this conversation.

I want to draw parallels against our opponents, also Doggies and Dragons.

Titans have an ordinary side but they played pretty hard on the weekend. Brimson is out for season and Arrow is leaving and I don't believe they have much in the way of new signings coming along - that young guy from Melbourne and maybe Corey Thompson. Their coach is an NRL novice. But they played hard and stuck with Tigers for 80 mins. They will almost certainly not feature in the finals.

Bulldogs also play hard, they just absolutely lack in talent or creativity. You can't just coach creativity. But at least Bulldogs give it a red hot go most weeks, even though they are an ordinary side and will be lucky to get anywhere near finals football.

Dragons on the other hand - they are rabble. 5 forwards over 100 matches experience and 6 of the team with Origin or International experience. A bloke collection $1M per year but in the bottom 5 halves in the comp. That's true rabble and a true club crisis, because the calibre of players is therere, they just aren't putting in.

Tigers on the other hand, our starting pack on Sunday has a total 236 matches experience and nobody over 76 matches (Aloiai has the most). We might sit here thinking Titans are an ordinary team, but I don't think any non-Tigers fans rate our roster either. We have to be somewhat realistic about the calibre of player we have and where they are up to in their development. We have to be aware of the money wasted by prior coaches on players that are sitting in reserves.

I don't see a lack of effort overall, I see a lack of match-winning footballers to consistently get those close games across the line. Hard to come by such footballers.

 

[trentrunciman]

Just depressing...even when its close or goes to golden point YOU KNOW literally every tigers fan is thinking "watch how we gonna screw this up". After all its the tigers and we've become conditioned to this...so sad

 

[NT_Tiger]

Maybe what this club needs is fans that display the same culture that the team does IE indifference. Do not keep turning up to watch a team that doesn’t win. Make the players, coach and board understand that we all have better things to do with our time than watch a rabble run around for 80 minutes, then smile and socialise with their buddies on the opposing team and then go home and collect their pay.

Honestly that's not what I saw. I saw a team trying really hard all match, but letting themselves down at times with small parts of execution. They weren't anything like rabble, they were only off on some execution efforts, but unfortunately those ended up being very costly.

If that kickoff bounced back rather than forwards we would not be having this conversation.

I want to draw parallels against our opponents, also Doggies and Dragons.

Titans have an ordinary side but they played pretty hard on the weekend. Brimson is out for season and Arrow is leaving and I don't believe they have much in the way of new signings coming along - that young guy from Melbourne and maybe Corey Thompson. Their coach is an NRL novice. But they played hard and stuck with Tigers for 80 mins. They will almost certainly not feature in the finals.

Bulldogs also play hard, they just absolutely lack in talent or creativity. You can't just coach creativity. But at least Bulldogs give it a red hot go most weeks, even though they are an ordinary side and will be lucky to get anywhere near finals football.

Dragons on the other hand - they are rabble. 5 forwards over 100 matches experience and 6 of the team with Origin or International experience. A bloke collection $1M per year but in the bottom 5 halves in the comp. That's true rabble and a true club crisis, because the calibre of players is therere, they just aren't putting in.

Tigers on the other hand, our starting pack on Sunday has a total 236 matches experience and nobody over 76 matches (Aloiai has the most). We might sit here thinking Titans are an ordinary team, but I don't think any non-Tigers fans rate our roster either. We have to be somewhat realistic about the calibre of player we have and where they are up to in their development. We have to be aware of the money wasted by prior coaches on players that are sitting in reserves.

I don't see a lack of effort overall, I see a lack of match-winning footballers to consistently get those close games across the line. Hard to come by such footballers.

I suppose what I meant by rabble was apparently leaderless and inconsistent. They may have been trying very hard but lack the professionalism to get the job done.
In my view, as I have said previously, the game was lost at 1/2 time after we gave away yet another lead. The bounce of the ball in the final kickoff should have been completely irrelevant because we should have put the game beyond doubt before then. We should not be reliant on luck, but making our own luck.
When my kids, when they were younger, came 8th or something in a school sports event, they got yellow ribbons that said 'Competitor' or 'Participant'. My son, the older and more competitive of the two, saw straight through it. He knew it meant 'also ran'. My daughter thought it was great to get a ribbon just for showing up.
I regard 9th position on the table as a yellow ribbon.
I bet Maguire handed out some very well deserved yellow ribbons in the dressing room after Sundays game.

 

[Snake]

Is Madge starting to wish he never took this job?

Instead of us sacking the coach as per standard we might have one that we want to keep walk out on us

Maybe instead of sacking coaches over the years we should've let go players that never delivered rather than double there contracts in dollars and years

Anyway let's hope Madge not only sees but survives to see the light at the end of the tunnel and turns this club into a power house with the young player's he is bringing into the club ASAP

I don’t see him walking out, he’s clearly investing towards the future of the club and he’s passionate about us succeeding, that’s why he gets so upset about performances like last weeks.

He can not be to upset he keeps selecting the same dopes every week or is it the club really is devoid of talent to replace the dopes!

 

[hugh1954]

I think its the Wests side of the club bringing in all this loser mentality the Balmain Tigers were always a hard , fighting winning club in my prime time (lol)

 

[Geo]

Oh dear...

sits back...popcorn at the ready ... Red cordial poured..

 

[TheDaBoss]

Oh dear…

with or without ICE

 

[851]

I think its the Wests side of the club bringing in all this loser mentality the Balmain Tigers were always a hard , fighting winning club in my prime time (lol)

You mean the club who could have kicked Balmain to the curb because they were bankrupt, but didn't, and then payed off their debt to the NRL, without Wests, Balmain would have died forever 18 months ago

 

[barra]

My only take away is that Josh Aloia is now the player I had hoped he would be.

Congrats Josh.

Real footballer at last.

Really happy with his progress too. But thought he was a tad slow on sliding to close the gap when Titans scored under the posts.

 

[bigsiro]

@jirskyr
Totally agree. We are conditioned to losing and it feels like an eternal reality we have to live with.

But that’s also defeatist. It also says that we are comfortable with being crap and won’t try everything to turn it around.

Surely with a cultural change and a few more strike players we could be a top 8 team. We are so close anyway!

I’m not asking for the title just yet, but to finish top half of ladder a couple of times a decade should be a reasonable expectation.
Being underdogs is one thing, but just accepting that your team will never have any glory and will suck forever is not something this fan is comfortable with.
This loser mentality is what’s wrong with the club. Clearly it has dripped down to the fans. That’s sad!
As long as WE have zero expectations we will always be satisfied with crap results. The club will never feel pressure to perform, the players will always be forgiven for sucking. Time to change that. Time to change our own expectations as fans.

 

[Hangonaminute]

Imo this weekend shows us if we're the real deal or not.

Raiders are coming off a disappointing loss and so are we, if we can't get motivated to get stuck in for 80mins we can forget it.

 

[jirskyr]

inconsistent.

Problem really is that Tigers are very consistent, when it comes to performance over a year. We very consistently win 50% - 1 match every year and finish 9th, to the point where it's become a code-wide joke. Consistently good is the issue.

 

[Tiger_Steve]

Just depressing...even when its close or goes to golden point YOU KNOW literally every tigers fan is thinking "watch how we gonna screw this up". After all its the tigers and we've become conditioned to this...so sad

When we kicked ahead with the field goal I turned to my mate and said, “we will lose this game.”

 

[ElleryHanley]

Imo this weekend shows us if we're the real deal or not.

Raiders are coming off a disappointing loss and so are we, if we can't get motivated to get stuck in for 80mins we can forget it.

Definitely a real test...

First four rounds:
Dragons: very narrow win..Frizel bombed the game for them. Every other team has smashed them. Poor formline.
Knights: Smashed us
Sharks: Solid win. Form looks better after they beat Cows. Sharks likely a 10-14 type team by season's end though.
Titans: Half a QLD state cup team with zero game time...they ran us down twice.

Form line looks poor to weak to be honest. Raiders a genuine group one horse.

They will be ready also, coming off a loss.

A real test..will show where we are.

 

[Tiger_Steve]

Imo this weekend shows us if we're the real deal or not.

Raiders are coming off a disappointing loss and so are we, if we can't get motivated to get stuck in for 80mins we can forget it.

Definitely a real test...

First four rounds:
Dragons: very narrow win..Frizel bombed the game for them. Every other team has smashed them. Poor formline.
Knights: Smashed us
Sharks: Solid win. Form looks better after they beat Cows. Sharks likely a 10-14 type team by season's end though.
Titans: Half a QLD state cup team with zero game time...they ran us down twice.

Form line looks poor to weak to be honest. Raiders a genuine group one horse.

They will be ready also, coming off a loss.

A real test..will show where we are.

I think we know where we are...

 

[tigerbalm]

Oh dear...

sits back...popcorn at the ready ... Red cordial poured..

So instead of deleting his braindead, shit stirring comment you make a joke?

Cool.

 

[jirskyr]

Totally agree. We are conditioned to losing and it feels like an eternal reality we have to live with.
But that’s also defeatist. It also says that we are comfortable with being crap and won’t try everything to turn it around.

That's not really what it means to me.

The first part is a distinction between myself as a fan and the club as a professional organisation. I don't think any club thinks its fans are ok with losing and I don't think any club fails to try and do its best to be successful. But at the same time, my personal mental state or hopes are irrelevant - the club will still try to achieve success regardless of what I think. And some folks might think boycotting the club (i.e. cancel memberships or stop watching them) is a way to make yourself heard, but personally I find that pointless, because the club doesn't need fan feedback to know winning is preferable. If you withdraw money from the club, by all means that's your right, just don't expect them to get better with less money.

Second, is being realistic about what you have. Tigers in 2019 had an average roster, not surprised we came 9th. I wish we did better and it hurts that we did not. But this is not comparable to 2010 or 2011 where we had premiership-capable sides and fell near the end. Those years hurt very much, not quite as much as 1989 but close. I'd say 2010 is more painful than 1988 for myself.

Third then is realising what sport is and it's purpose - entertainment you can invest in. I get very upset and very happy depending on the football, but I force myself to calm down and switch off within 1-2 days. I ultimately enjoy football regardless of whether or not Tigers win every year, so I always come back. It's a good product. I won't ever give up unless the game goes to hell.

Now that's different to some people - some people already think the game went to hell, some have already given up. But Tigers 2020 are a better side than Balmain or Wests have typically been in my entire life, so I'm not so unhappy about it all. I just have to think back to 1994 to think about how bad a team can really be and how low your expectations can fall.