Mediocrity - Accepting It/Not Accepting It

[GNR4LIFE]

I guess you could consider this a rebuttal to Happy’s thread. Firstly, I get the frustration. It sucks supporting a team that has not made the finals in nearly a decade. And the “next year” lemon was squeezed dry long ago. But what can we really do? I read a lot of comments from forumers saying how they don’t accept mediocrity and mocking others that supposedly do. What is not accepting mediocrity exactly? To me, if we are a mediocre club, then every one of us accept it because we still watch every week.The only ones who are truly sincere with that claim are those that have walked away to support one of the more successful clubs. It’s a tough business supporting a struggling club, it’s emotionally draining. But no one claiming they don’t accept it can still be a member of this forum because the reality is you would have have become apathetic by now if you really didn’t. And you would not feel so passionately if you were apathetic. There’s only two options you have. Endure it, and hope one day our luck changes, or walk away. If you walk away, good luck to you. I wouldn’t begrudge anyone walking away because there is only so much a supporter can take, and after a while apathy will come into play and you will mentally check out. If you don’t though, then you are accepting it just like the rest of us, because unfortunately we have very little control over whether or not the club does get its act together. We’re bystanders.

Lastly, I would like to ask what separates a supporter who accepts mediocrity opposed to a supporter that doesn’t? Do those who don’t stamp their feet a little harder? Raise their voice a little louder? If it makes you feel better about yourself, fine. But it’s a self coping mechanism. The truth is you are powerless. The only power you have is whether you choose to hang in there with the rest of us or walk away altogether.

 

[steve-o]

@GNR4LIFE

Quality post GNR. I don’t know what accepting mediocrity is either, though I do think some some posters are too easy on the people running the club. Examples that have irked me over the years:
1. anyone supporting the continual selection of Kyle Lovett. He may have been a good guy and tried hard, but he was a long way out of his depth. No surprise he hasn’t been sighted in the NRL since he left WT
2. the failure to see that Marsters is not an adequate solution as our first choice goal kicker
3. support for the signing of Josh Reynolds on a contract that was way over valued.

 

[Geo]

Maybe it should have went in happy's thread..

 

[NT_Tiger]

GNR I think you have hit the nail on the head as to why neither of my children are involved in or watch NRL. Unfortunately for them, their Dad is a Wests Tigers supporter.
Both started off watching games with me and my son once travelled with me from the NT to Townsville to watch a live game. That interest gradually waned to my son coming in occasionally to check progress while my daughter and I watched a game. Then my son stopped showing any interest at all and my daughter would come in to check progress. She still comes in now and then but usually just asks who's winning when I come out for a break at 1/2 time.
For me, it isn't hard to see how a team and the NRL in general can slide into oblivion with its fan base over time. I've had a weekly demonstration. To my kids, I probably have a big L on my forehead everytime I watch a game.
To me the NRL current management has a lot to answer for with what I believe to be misguided direction.
Maybe what we need to admit is not so much that we accept mediocrity, but we're just dinosaurs in denial.
Go Wests Tigers!

 

[2005magic]

I will always support WT and any player that dons the guernsey.

Mediocrity though is an interesting point where it gets mixed with loyalty to club and / player. Certainly past administration and CEOs of the club have been lax and inept in some instances. The coaching merry go round has to stop. Sheens was there from 03 to 12 and that enabled him to get the roster he wanted. What he did with them unfortunately became stale in the last couple of years of his tenure. Since then we have had successive short term coaches the only result being almost every year successive rosters of players where the coach doesn't want half the players on the books and hamstrung in recruiting players they want by almost no cap space, this being taken up by unwanted contracted players.

We turned the corner into a fresh, start with Go, Pascoe administering the club, supporting Cleary in wherever he saw WT fitting in to his vision. Unfortunately, Cleary did the dirty on WT and WT did the dirty on Go, and Pascoe got caught out doing something I still don't understand fully understand the seriousness of.
So WT have been set back a bit but the fundamentals are sound unlike previous times. If we can somehow clear the silly long term, high value contracts Cleary entered into with ageing players sooner rather than later, we have the prospect of being reasonably competitive on the player market provided we are strategic and sensible - and I think Maguire is the coach that can do it.

I know we have been searching for a saviour for some time but I reckon Maguire can do it. I would be prepared to offer him an extension now for a further 2 years on top of existing one to 2021 to give coaching stability and a chance to get a settled roster with stable recruitment and retention being planned rather than swapping roster every 2 years with a new coach wanting different things.

As to the club, I think Pascoe is doing ok and Will have to accept WT paying some freight to offload unwanted players and free up some space to make plays for identified players from other libs stuck behind better rosters. Go's loss is terrible but I hope O'Farrell can perform as well.

As a club we have to sort out a homeground, how it's done I don't know, but if we are WT supporters we will eventually settle down and accept wherever decision is made. With no guidance and policy from NRL HQ on homegrounds or sharing them, I'd say stuff them, they can stick WSS too and once Homebush finished within a year of the new stadium there make decision based on poll of members and a separate poll of supporters where WT foreground should be. Use that to make decisions on in addition to any commerc incentives grounds may provide to play there.

I do get annoyed when supporters here and elsewhere carry on about x and y players and at times ignore either stats, performance or potential- either too long or too short. I'm also that sometimes but we do eventually, usually, mostly come around to a consensus.

 

[The_Patriot]

I could make an argument in relation to us being simply bystanders. Things only change if change is asked for. Overall though its a good post GnR.

2019 looks another disappointing one for the Wests Tigers.

How do i cope. Well the countdown is on to the NFL.

6 Weeks away now. I cant wait!

 

[mike]

I could make an argument in relation to us being simply bystanders. Things only change if change is asked for. Overall though its a good post GnR.

2019 looks another disappointing one for the Wests Tigers.

How do i cope. Well the countdown is on to the NFL.

6 Weeks away now. I cant wait!

We are bystanders as far as governance of the club goes. If you are a member it is a fan membership only and you have no say in how the club is run. Fan memberships have very little influence on the front office. Corporate supporters and TV rights, aka money, have far greater influence in the direction the club takes.

 

[cktiger]

You already answered your own question.
Most don't accept mediocrity but because of our passion we endure it.
We aren't a mediocre club ... we've just had to endure a lot of mediocrity, from the top down, for a bloody long time.

 

[hobbo1]

Maybe it should have went in happy's thread..

Today is the day I walk the green mile .
It’s been one hell of a ride ....
(Mainly flat tyres)
But enough is enough.

 

[StarswithStripes]

@GNR4LIFE my hypothesis is that everyone on this forum is a rusted on Tigers supporter whether you came from the West’s or the Balmain side of the fence. Year on year we hope for the best from our team but we don’t have a history of success and we are annually frustrated and disappointed. Personally I don’t accept mediocrity but despite trying in the last years of the Magpies, I don’t seem to be able to support any other team. We all process the idea of mediocrity differently hence the diversity of views. The thing we have in common is that we have invested in supporting this team for so long, and we want to see them play well and have success. We take it personally when the team performs poorly and head office make poor decisions. We have to defend our team when we reveal we are Tigers supporters and sometimes that hurts. I can’t accept mediocrity but somehow I can’t walk away from the team. I would have to walk away from the game but I love the game so I hang in there. I live in hope that one day we get it together.

 

[Tiger_Steve]

I’m interested to see if the tone of all the posts remains the same if we win today. At the moment it’s all ‘another season lost’ ‘ why do I bother’. If we win it’ll be ‘where do we get our finals package from?’
I’m not being critical- I’m the same. We are a fickle bunch. Cmon Tigers, give us something special to talk about this week!!

 

[TheDaBoss]

I’m interested to see if the tone of all the posts remains the same if we win today. At the moment it’s all ‘another season lost’ ‘ why do I bother’. If we win it’ll be ‘where do we get our finals package from?’
I’m not being critical- I’m the same. We are a fickle bunch. Cmon Tigers, give us something special to talk about this week!!

TMM to join tigers....more info in 48 hours

 

[Tiger_Bond]

As one of the great minds in recent history stated:

"Great spirits have always encountered opposition from mediocre minds. The mediocre mind is incapable of understanding the man who refuses to bow blindly to conventional prejudices and chooses instead to express his opinions courageously and honestly."

Albert Einstein

 

[Snake]

@Tiger_Bond I did not know I had so much in common with Mr Einstein ..go figure.

 

[Tiger_Bond]

@Tiger_Bond I did not know I had so much in common with Mr Einstein ..go figure.

We are a few 🙂

 

[Masterton]

I think most of us can recognise mediocrity when we see it. I haven't torn up my membership or burnt any effigies at Concord, so I guess I'm accepting it.

And as much as mediocrity dismays me, I see very little alternatives for the team right now. There are no players knocking the door down, and very little salary cap wiggle room for next year. The only things the club has control over is dropping players when there is a better alternative (ie, Jennings and Packer) and hoping to offload some deadwood, which we're trying to do.

It seems to me most people who keep bringing up mediocrity can't even get support for their ideas online. (Reynolds over Benji, Liddle to play 80, shop Brooks around, Mbye to hooker or 5/8). When things are unclear, one person's mediocrity is another's best option.

 

[Tiger_Bond]

What most here fail to understand is that what frustrates me the most is not that we can't do anything right now. It's that we as a club have been put in the same position again and that it is "Ground Hog Day"

 

[Tiger_Bond]

"Fool me once shame on you but fool me twice is shame on me"

 

[Masterton]

What most here fail to understand is that what frustrates me the most is not that we can't do anything right now. It's that we as a club have been put in the same position again and that it is "Ground Hog Day"

And unlike times when we had a Jason Taylor or Fat Benji or Sheens picking a winger on the bench, the main culprit is long gone.

 

[gallagher]

Describing the potential signing of Tim Mannah as smart or shrewd and saying missing the 8, AGAIN, is acceptable does my head in.

Maybe remaining a supporter means you're accepting mediocrity, but some fans seem to celebrate mediocrity.

Fans WILL walk away and the club will die if things don't improve. Most of us have seen it already happen to our club.