Reflecting on the 2025 NRL Season

My reflections on this year are that although it was an improvement and there are some positives to take, it could and should of been much more.

Lots of questions to be answered regarding attacking structures and cohesiveness in the spine, make-up of the forward pack and the habit of fading out of games for 15-20 minutes at a time. As many have pointed out, Benji needs to sort out what he wants to do with Api and Terrell because he has burnt them out.

What was looking like a 6-7/10 season for me about a month ago is now more like a 4-5/10. Those losses to the Cows and Titans really irritated me.
 
Our current roster with the inclusion of our signings to date will be lucky to finish any higher next year and certainly is Buckley’s of making the eight. We need a minimum of two top 13 quality players to fall out of the tree if we are going to get anywhere near the eight.
Also Benji has to have a long hard look at how he uses his bench and the make up of the bench.
 
Key to next year, spend all offseason working on a style that can beat the opposition instead of scrapping to win games. This is important.
I don’t care if we start 3-5 in the first 8 rounds.
It’s the middle rounds that make all the difference.
 
Our backline looks ok next year. Bula, Turuva, Toa, Skelton, May. With Makasini, Doueihi and Luke L to sub in for injuries. We upgrade Toa with Maka when he's ready.

The challenge to me is the middles. Only Twally, May, and Fainu (as bench 2RF/FRF) have earned their spots. Pole dropped off in the 2nd half of the year with numerous blunders. Even if you include him, there is just no depth there. Royce and Seyfarth just aren't reliable and won't get us to finals.

That's where I'd be throwing our money — a quality 13 (Doueihi to 14) and a quality FRF.
 
mtd#2 said:
There is a flicker of light burning somewhere deep within my soul telling me things look better for next year, but I refuse to listen to it, not with performances like that 40 mins vs Titans... I won't do it to myself 🤣
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My mind mirrors your thoughts mate I feel relieved that we passed the spoon onto the Knights which was well deserved by the way they were rubbish against the eels didn't show up at all.

But there's a feeling of dread left over from losing against the Cowboys and Titans both with good leads that we should have gone on with it, only for the defense to go belly up, so deflating.

Leaves me feeling in limbo for next season unless Richo can lift my spirits with some quality signings.
 
Tom Shines said:
Let hope for the best then …

Going from 9 to 12/13 wins in a year will be a tougher task than going from 6 to 9….
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We should know better than anyone how hard it is to break into the top 8. Those last 3/4 wins doesn't sound like a lot (especially since we had so many close games this year), but it's a massive gulf.
 
A
The Chad said:
I'm notoriously a half-full guy, so this will no doubt get a few rolling eyes.

2025 was an improvement. I would argue at times significant. We really had 3 games where there was a significant score difference, which blew the F&A for us- R5 Broncos 46 Tigers 24, R10 Storm 64 Tigers 0, R21 Panthers 36 Tigers 2- and a couple of near 20 point losses to Parra & Manly.

5 games in 24 that we were out of the contest is a massive upgrade from the last 3 years.

On the downside, we lost to Parra, Titans, Souths & the Cowboys twice. This is VERY typical of the Tigers. It's also why we missed the finals- not winning games that should be won. This is what needs to change next season- the number of 'should wins' needs to be converted better.

Not much recruitment left to be done unless players get moved on. Some of the new recruits add depth we lacked at times this season. Our major signing spree happened last season. From here it's fine tuning & progression of younger players to elevate the squad.

The development of players like Latu, Sam & Sione Fainu, Pole, Taylan May, Makasini & Bula will be big parts of any success. We hopefully see some further development (but have less impact on our results) from Sukkar, Mason, Saukuru, Kit & Luke Lualili'i. Ideally they will have little impact on the squad & have minimal exposure to 1st grade unless earned.

KPP, Geyer & Roberts additions should mean more limited time for guys like Charlie Murray & Sukkar. Depth is important because when stretched, we didn't have the quality to bring in that was 1st grade ready.

We win 2/3rds of those winnable games & reduce the blowout scores by even 1, the Tigers should be in the running for finals next season.

Consistency in defensive structures (particularly through the middle) would be my priority on field improvement. After that it is obviously development of attacking running schemes & tactical kicking.
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Need to include the Wahs game to your blow outs.
20points diff and 30+ scoreline
 
What a Season. Typical Wests Tigers.

Quite an achievement to improve while alongside all that internal drama with Galvin and Moses acting the way they did.

Benji gets a pass mark. The tyres really need to grip the road from the get go next year there is no more conjecture over 'he needs more time'. Also as the Coach he needs to figure out how to snap the team out of these insane losing streaks we go on. Take that out and we are up and running in 2026. We were also very lucky to have Richo during the Galvin drama.

Also I felt like this forum was a much more fun place than It's been for a while. Thanks to all the mods and all the legends on here,
 
The Chad said:
I'm notoriously a half-full guy, so this will no doubt get a few rolling eyes.

2025 was an improvement. I would argue at times significant. We really had 3 games where there was a significant score difference, which blew the F&A for us- R5 Broncos 46 Tigers 24, R10 Storm 64 Tigers 0, R21 Panthers 36 Tigers 2- and a couple of near 20 point losses to Parra & Manly.

5 games in 24 that we were out of the contest is a massive upgrade from the last 3 years.

On the downside, we lost to Parra, Titans, Souths & the Cowboys twice. This is VERY typical of the Tigers. It's also why we missed the finals- not winning games that should be won. This is what needs to change next season- the number of 'should wins' needs to be converted better.

Not much recruitment left to be done unless players get moved on. Some of the new recruits add depth we lacked at times this season. Our major signing spree happened last season. From here it's fine tuning & progression of younger players to elevate the squad.

The development of players like Latu, Sam & Sione Fainu, Pole, Taylan May, Makasini & Bula will be big parts of any success. We hopefully see some further development (but have less impact on our results) from Sukkar, Mason, Saukuru, Kit & Luke Lualili'i. Ideally they will have little impact on the squad & have minimal exposure to 1st grade unless earned.

KPP, Geyer & Roberts additions should mean more limited time for guys like Charlie Murray & Sukkar. Depth is important because when stretched, we didn't have the quality to bring in that was 1st grade ready.

We win 2/3rds of those winnable games & reduce the blowout scores by even 1, the Tigers should be in the running for finals next season.

Consistency in defensive structures (particularly through the middle) would be my priority on field improvement. After that it is obviously development of attacking running schemes & tactical kicking.
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We need props. The only decent one we have is May and we drove him into the ground to the point he became toothless like the rest.
Richo can shove all these backrowers up his blurter. We don’t need them.
We need FRONT ROW FORWARDS!!!!
 
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