Never been so proud to be a tiger after a loss.

[stryker]

Barring the heroics of the 05 side in the finals I have never been so proud to be a Wests tigers fan as I am tonight.

They played a very good football side tonight and stuck it right up em.

Ellis was ferocious, Lui, Ayshford, Dwyer and Farah were on fire. Galloway carted it strong, Payten, Gibbs and Fulton tackled themselves silly, Marshall was dangerous.

I was just as gutted as anyone after the loss and my friends and I walked out of the stadium with our heads down but it wasnt long before we were reliving some of the extraordinary things that happened during the game.

The way Ellis played,
Lui's cover tackle over the sideline,
Ayshfords remarkable try,
Dwyers massive hit,
Benji landing a few on that showpony Pearce,
Gibbsy and Paytens chargedowns and cover defense.

I have been reasonably critical of the side this year but the way the boys kept desperately trying to win with Marshall, Ellis, Galloway and Fifita on the bench at the same time was awe-inspiring.

They showed me the mettle I always suspected they had. I'll be at the Raiders game next week rain hail or shine.

They have just gauranteed two more memberships out of me for next year.

 

[redemption]

great to read mate!

you gave most a wrap - but what about Heighno & Brown?

their only forwards to give us some real trouble were Myles & Kennedy! and we're soft????

and some say Galloway will never play Origin?????

 

[Geo]

I could not agree more…...excellent post Stryker.....Just sat through the replay....100 minutes of pure entertainment...

Gutted with the result but NEVER been more proud to be a Wests Tigers supporter...

 

[hadds75]

Only thing I wont agree on is calling Marshalls shot on Pearce good.

 

[stryker]

Only thing I wont agree on is calling Marshalls shot on Pearce good.

He got one good one on him.

 

[redemption]

Pearce was the aggressor and got what he deserved (i.e. one on the chin). It had no impact on the play and the try should have been awarded in lieu of a penalty to us!

I must say I have been Very proud of the boys all year (except after the Souths game) - especially after what we have done (and continue to do) for young Lleyton Giles and family!

 

[benjibrotown]

When Benji went off and they kicked the 1 pointer I never really thought that we were going to win the match, but our boys hung in there and hung in their for so long. The indivdual performances from some of our players tonight were outstanding. In particular Rob Lui and Blake Ayshford who really stood up tonight, as well as the forwards who were amazing. Great to see Benji lay one of Pearce's chin as well. GO THE TIGERS!

 

[Snake]

Well I,m one very sad vegimite this morning but am so proud of my team that stood up and delivered an outstanding performance hold your heads high …...sport is sport these things happen onwards to next week Canberra in Canberra who cares it's never over till the fat lady sings..what ground will we be attending for the Major final :sign:

 

[tiger05]

They really player well and although I am gutted it was good to see.

As for jnr jnr I can't stand him but Benji shouldn't have thrown anything then.

 

[softlaw]

good post

 

[fulleightyminutes]

Great post. Proud too. Though now I know what it feels like to lose a final…and it aint nice. Hopefully we'll be back at it next week.

 

[Cultured_Bogan]

They played themselves into the ground. They defended exceptionally and had plenty of opportunities in attack. I couldn't have asked for anything more.

Nothing gave me greater satisfaction than watching Dwyer rattle that blockhead grub Warea-Hargreaves. Just shame Rhino didn't get to the ball.

 

[Illek]

I'm not sure if i can agree with you. Yes they played well for majority of the match, but the manner in which they lost was typical tigers through stupid errors. I've watched magpies and tigers teams who had no skill and gave it absolutely everything but just never had the quality to match it with the opposition. Some of these guys did their all to win us the match, but that scrum debacle just crushed me and was embarrassing.

Ill still be cheering them on next week though and hoping for a repeat of 95% of that performance.

 

[westTAHger]

the team played the guts out.
gave it their all, though the scoreline was not what we hoped for, was a great game to watch.
both teams scored a try off an interecept, kicked a field goal.
belted the life out of each other.
hopefully wests-tigers can re-group and have a better result against the raiders.

 

[innsaneink]

Only thing I wont agree on is calling Marshalls shot on Pearce good.

He got one good one on him.

Big deal…its footy, not fighting, cost us 4 possibly 6 points and contibuted in a big big way to the loss.
No way is it a highlite or whatever you wanna call it....conceding a penalty when in possesion is dumb, when scoring a try is dumb x 40

 

[ccwilliams]

yes I'm proud of the team too, great effort!

 

[hybrid_tiger]

Yep, dump, stupid play by Benji, which probably went a long way to costing us the match.

 

[Fraze23]

Only thing I wont agree on is calling Marshalls shot on Pearce good.

He got one good one on him.

Pearce deserved to be belted. I hate him now, absolutely cant stand him. I dont think it should have prevented the try

 

[MGB]

I agree with this thread wholeheartedly. That was a temendous dig last night, we played ourselves to a standstill and after they levelled had no right to still be in the game near the end. The chargedowns, the desperation in defence when the Roosters were coming home the stronger, the bounce of the ball, the poor decision to disallow Ellis' try after Benji hit Pearce back? no excuses just an honest account. 99 times out of a hundred we would have won that game.

We let ourselves down last night between the ears with a couple of silly mistakes, but you cannot question the ticker the boys showed.

 

[hadds75]

The punch by Marshall was not a highlight. Its somthing that never should be done when you are in possession with the ball. When you are defending its a tactic to niggle like that and Pearce did it and good on him, cause im sure hed take a punch to the face to stop a try. Its a tactic by the defenders to be niggly and hope the guy in possession throws a punch or does somthing stupid (I.E - Tuquiri last week pushing the marker). Two games in a row weve done somthing stupid like that which all be it harsh, has hurt us and our chances of winning.

The effort was there, the execution, like so many times in the past was not. When we got to GP we looked lost (obviously we were tired). But we had good genuine chances, particularly after Perret handed it to us. But instead of going 3 forward to the posts and going the FG, Lui proceeded to spin it wide and that was yet another "if only".

At the end as well, without Ellis/Fafita on the field, we had our best two metre eaters off and that hurt. Without Benji and Daniella as well they just had too much pace for us and there little men were killing us.