Positives Cmon we have many still

[TYGA]

We will be better later in the year with a new squad and a large injury toll. No blow out losses and a very tough draw + moving two home games away to NZ and Tamworth.

In addition we have 3 roster spots and 1m+ In cap room. When fit we will win games with a forward pack of Packer, Mats, Twal, ET, Lawrence, Aloai, Eiso. Brooks has come good and Liddle should be great for us second half of the year when he gets his confidence back defensively.

My worry is the injuries and certain players Goodinet, Rochow being in the starting side.

 

[maxxy86]

I love this thread. The game was high quality so much better than many games on the weekend. They never throw in the towel. And are way ahead of quite a few teams un the comp. Plus we still have a few players to come back.

Sorry to be negative in a positive thread, but I disagree.
I wouldnt call it high quality, lots of errors…lots or penalties, it was a bludger of a game imo

And all thos banging on about 3x2 point losses, yes- while its better than 20 point losses...these are the losses that cost teams semis spots - are we the new canberra raiders?

Or dare I say the new dragons…..I can't comment on the game as yet but was watching at work yesterday in patches. What was glaring was our poor right side defence.
We are missing Packer lots and the sooner he's back the better.

 

[Demps]

Here is a positive for ya…

Tony Williams only performs well against the tigers.
Chances are he will never play another game against the tigers again.

 

[Telltails]

I love this thread. The game was high quality so much better than many games on the weekend. They never throw in the towel. And are way ahead of quite a few teams un the comp. Plus we still have a few players to come back.

Sorry to be negative in a positive thread, but I disagree.
I wouldnt call it high quality, lots of errors…lots or penalties, it was a bludger of a game imo

And all thos banging on about 3x2 point losses, yes- while its better than 20 point losses...these are the losses that cost teams semis spots - are we the new canberra raiders?

Or dare I say the new dragons…..I can't comment on the game as yet but was watching at work yesterday in patches. What was glaring was our poor right side defence.
We are missing Packer lots and the sooner he's back the better.

I have likened us a bit to the Dragons of last year too. There is always opportunity to win games early in the comp before we see who the real contenders are. We have done exceptionally well in that regard.
But like the Dragons last year, I think we are short of a few players to keep that momemtum going.
Damn shame those close games didnt fall our way because at some point a team is going to give us a touch up and then the real test will be how we recover from it.
Our squad has exceeded my expectations so far, however we should be careful about basing our expectation for our season on early form because it is not always the best indicator.

 

[weststigers]

Last week was less frustrating than this week even though we lost in the last minute on a hail mary play. The Knights were the better side all game.

We should have won this week, but we didn't hold onto the ball and gave away dumb penalties. Granted, a few were 50/50, but the tries we let in weren't well worked tries. At least 2 were from soft defence on the line.

Cleary summed it up when he said we never allowed ourselves to get any momentum. It just killed anything we were throwing at them.

 

[innsaneink]

Last week was less frustrating than this week even though we lost in the last minute on a hail mary play. The Knights were the better side all game.

We should have won this week, but we didn't hold onto the ball and gave away dumb penalties. Granted, a few were 50/50, but the tries we let in weren't well worked tries. At least 2 were from soft defence on the line.

Cleary summed it up when he said we never allowed ourselves to get any momentum. It just killed anything we were throwing at them.

…. And that tells me we aren't quite the real deal yet

 

[hammertime]

Positive is that we have

- Packer
- ET
- Reynolds
- McQueen &
- $1 mil in cap money

all to add into the side.

 

[Sco77y]

I love this thread. The game was high quality so much better than many games on the weekend. They never throw in the towel. And are way ahead of quite a few teams un the comp. Plus we still have a few players to come back.

Sorry to be negative in a positive thread, but I disagree.
I wouldnt call it high quality, lots of errors…lots or penalties, it was a bludger of a game imo

And all thos banging on about 3x2 point losses, yes- while its better than 20 point losses...these are the losses that cost teams semis spots - are we the new canberra raiders?

No, the Raiders had/have a habit of being run down after big leads - something we also used to do that was incredibly frustrating. Thankfully I don't think we're that bad. Most of the time we're staying with every team, grinding it out - except for the first Parra game and our game against Manly where we were quite dominant. They just need to find a little extra in those tight ones to pull ahead like we all know they can.

 

[hugh1954]

Losing games by 2 points whilst leading on the scoreboard late into the game shows that we do not have the leadership, management or organisation in this scenario, Benji showed it at the end of the rorters game but since then "we have nothing". Even (bite my tongue) moses showed some leadership.

 

[Russell]

We’re competing, but changes need to be made. Time to see if Cleary has what it takes.

That's not a positive GNR.

The changes will take care of themselves as we get 5 regulars back.
Having Packer, Taylor, Reynolds, Twal and MWZ out has stretched the reserves a bit but the replacements have done their best and that is all you can ask. The team will be better once Liddle overcomes his injury and can play 30 minutes in each half before he ups that to the whole game.

Referees are not doing us any favors and we are not doing ourselves any favors - we need to be super disciplined to keep the penalties they can give against us down to a minimum. Completions can be improved but that will get better when these players come back and our forwards dominate again to give Brooks, Benji and eventually Reynolds time to put the icing on the cake at the end of the sets..

There were some nice touches yesterday in the game - like the "Huth" try, some of Rowdy's hits (one especially on that little mongrel) were really good positives.

We can beat the warriors, especially if SJ plays - so up and at em' Tigers!!

 

[Russell]

I love this thread. The game was high quality so much better than many games on the weekend. They never throw in the towel. And are way ahead of quite a few teams un the comp. Plus we still have a few players to come back.

Sorry to be negative in a positive thread, but I disagree.
I wouldnt call it high quality, lots of errors…lots or penalties, it was a bludger of a game imo

And all thos banging on about 3x2 point losses, yes- while its better than 20 point losses...these are the losses that cost teams semis spots - are we the new canberra raiders?

And the positive is…......what?
That you were not more negative.

 

[jirskyr]

I love this thread. The game was high quality so much better than many games on the weekend. They never throw in the towel. And are way ahead of quite a few teams un the comp. Plus we still have a few players to come back.

Sorry to be negative in a positive thread, but I disagree.
I wouldnt call it high quality, lots of errors…lots or penalties, it was a bludger of a game imo

And all thos banging on about 3x2 point losses, yes- while its better than 20 point losses...these are the losses that cost teams semis spots - are we the new canberra raiders?

Well ink that's a bit of data selection bias going on there.

Close losses and big losses both cost teams semi finals spots. Total losses is what is important, regardless if a significant # of those are close losses. In fact I'd argue even a run of close losses are manageable, because it at least means you are closer to winning than a run of heavy losses.

I haven't crunched all the numbers but I would expect that teams who only lose by small margins typically end up winning enough of those games to make the Top 8\. Teams that miss the finals would normally have a liberal number of big losses under their belts as well.

Take Saints 2017 for example. They won 12/24, won 5/10 games decided by 6 points or less, but everyone thinks about that last-round loss to Bulldogs where a maligned Lichaa barges over from DH. Sure it hurt, Tigers fans know the feeling, but it ignores the 10 other losses they incurred in the previous 17 rounds. Any one of those losses, any of a handful of bad decisions or missed tackles could have had a different outcome.

To be a successful year in 2018, all Tigers have to do this year is make the finals - that's huge progress for us. We will probably make the finals by winning 50% plus one games, i.e. 13 wins. That means 8 more wins in the next 16 rounds. If you can't do that, well honestly you don't really deserve to be in the Top 8, even if we lose another 9 games by 2 points or 9 games by 22 points.

 

[Magpie_Magic]

As above poster says truth is as i thought this year was always going to be a close competition. Truth is in that scenario refs decisions do matter and the best a side can do is compete every week which is a real positive. If you look at it we have won half of our close games so we are on par so this way if there are no blowout we win half of these plus games we win easily we are top 4 or 6.
Also as summertime says we have key players to return and cap space.
Feel the Armidale game spoiled our run. If your gonna play a match lime that at least play someone like the Cowboys there and make them travel. If that game was in Sydney Lawrence probably plays and we probably win.

 

[colmcd]

I had us bottom to mid 8, not top 4.

Our form is OUT OF SIGHT! For a team that lost so many big names.

We do still have issues and issues of our team Gelling. I think that they are clearer now. Reynolds can come back into 5/8, Marshall moves to bench where his less of a defensive liability. If Reynolds defends on that Nofo wing where were weak it we should get this problem sorted.

Start of the season if I heard parra beat us 24-22 I would have thought good effort. After us beating Melbourne twice and many top clubs were only a little surprised.

 

[TIGER]

Biggest positive for me is we've been in every game up to our eyeballs.
Compared to other sides we've had very few injuries. Hope that doesn't turn into a negative later in the season.

 

[Tiger_Steve]

Marsters- the making of a champion.

Great thread Happy!

 

[Tigerdave]

Well, we were pretty much written off before a ball was even kicked this year, so it's a positive that the team hasn't paid attention to the nay sayers and manage to exceed all expectations.

The last 2 weeks have been disappointing, but based on past recent performances, we probably would have been lucky to get 2 wins and we'd certainly be well into the negatives on for and against. Hard to be angry given the improvement in so short a time.

 

[stevied]

Good thread because it is so easy to for fans to get frustrated with a loss and start looking for ways to vent spleen. The reality is that we have a fairly limited squad and that many people, including us, have been been pleasantly surprised by the Tigers' performances despite that. You could actually suggest that we have overachieved so far. It's a long season, only a third of the way through, and most teams will have ups and downs. Ivan has infused a fantastic fighting spirit in the club and this will ensure that we continue to be competitive in all games and provide opportunities for us to win our share. Other posters have mentioned the myriad of positives to come out of the season so far and we should be very happy with the Tigers.

 

[larrycorowa]

Also, with limited disruptions through origin period this is when we should be able to consolidate our position. No need to panic, a few things to work on but no glaring weakenesses and great attitude. To be up to our neck in every game this year is a mammoth accomplishment and the club should be congratulated and supported.

 

[TrueTiger]

This year has plenty of positives for the team and club…..

Stability within the whole organisation....
A very good culture developing around the team and club....
Very good depth this year to help when injuries hit....
This squad has shown a much tougher mentality than many previous seasons....
The team plays for the full 80 mins and shows great "intestinal fortitude" a never give up attitude,excellent to see from a fan and members view...
Although many people criticise some of our depth players such as Pita Godinet,he is still part of the squad and does his best to his ability,as do many others,they should be thanked not knocked because even if they aren't great NRL standard players,they give their best and have helped the team win games even when they show lower standard play than their much maligned teammates ....
We have a coach who many people applaud for his skills with coaching players and his family values,he is a great human being whom many people like and has turned this club around from being a basket case to a very competitive professional team...

just my opinion of things this year....what a great season so far.....