LIVE GAME Round 10 v Storm

[Needaname]

Not hard to understand why we lost Blore and Utoikamanu. Fish, got to wonder how Tigers players react to the sight of a professional outfit preparing to donkey lick them? lol. after Benji has been talking up Storm all week.

Benji was talking up the storm all week?
I admit I only heard the presser post the Dragons game but it appeared as though he gave them no respect leading up to this match.

 

[crazycat]

Not going to pile on with the misery too much.

This has been coming, to a degree. Lucky to get a result against St George. Benji even remarked about standards after that win.

Terrell May struggled last week & more again today. He's probably feeling tired, as the 3 games in 13 days after last week will take it's toll. But also, running directly at him, starting to see he isn't a dominating tackler in the first place.

The 2 byes in the next 6 weeks helps. Team is showing fatigue.

But more than that- we are stretched too thin for depth. Staines is a barely satisfactory 1st grade player, asked to play out of position, between Turuva & Galvin. No surprise that the Storm ripped that side of defence to pieces.

If ever there was a week to NOT drop Bird, it was this one. Bird should have played in Staines' spot.

Pole out injured isn't going to help. Who starts now? Tempted to suggest bringing Kit into the squad. Sukkar looked good to me, despite some people really hating on him. His defence appears to hold up better than some of his team mates.

If there is any player that could play closer to 80 minutes in the squad- it's Alex Twal. We miss his defence when he comes off.

That said, we look physically weak against the Storm. Royce Hunt has had zero impact for a few weeks now. I know Sione Fainu looks promising & we want more minutes out of him, but Hunt is a highly paid 20 minute part-time contributor.

With Pole out, I think Hunt MUST start & you run him to zero in the first stint (you might get 25 minutes out of him) & look to bring him back out for 10 minutes in the 2nd half. This is where Kit might be able to come on if he can play like he did in the pre-season.

Toa & Skelton are missed. Skelton in particular took so much heat off our forwards. Naden does not offer the metres on the wing. We need that metre churning from the wings, or our forwards are outmatched.

Bad week to play the Storm after they come off a loss in a game they should have won. Not an excuse- but it's not the first time I've seen them be that clinical either.

If I ever have to watch Staines be the lead tackler with support from Da Silva & Galvin again, I might cry. Particularly when they are trying to stop NAS.

What is it, do I see a different team. "we are stretched too thin for depth.".
Agreed. But really only in the forwards.

In the backs, we either need to Punt or build up. I don't think the storm game is a good judge here, but out of Staines/Naden/Mason and the junior Kit, etc coming through... we have a stack of DEPTH!
We lack Talent.

The more depth we get, the less talent we get. We would much rather have a conner watson and a minimum contract player then Staines/Naden as our reserve. Instead we get Depth and a hefty depth at that.

Flip it with the forwards. There is a physical exertion there. We were really REALLY bare bones in the front with May taking the spot of Paps, Stef, Batey and Klemmer. We loose Pole and Boom, the storm run us over. ... We need depth in the front row, and really we have none at all.

 

[The Chad]

What is it, do I see a different team. "we are stretched too thin for depth.".
Agreed. But really only in the forwards.

In the backs, we either need to Punt or build up. I don't think the storm game is a good judge here, but out of Staines/Naden/Mason and the junior Kit, etc coming through... we have a stack of DEPTH!
We lack Talent.

The more depth we get, the less talent we get. We would much rather have a conner watson and a minimum contract player then Staines/Naden as our reserve. Instead we get Depth and a hefty depth at that.

Flip it with the forwards. There is a physical exertion there. We were really REALLY bare bones in the front with May taking the spot of Paps, Stef, Batey and Klemmer. We loose Pole and Boom, the storm run us over. ... We need depth in the front row, and really we have none at all.

Fair enough.

Our starting 3/4's at the start of the season were Turuva, To'a, Doueihi & Skelton.

On the weekend we were down to Turuva, Staines, Doueihi & Nadem.

Skelton, Toa, Luke Lualili'i all out has left us at a makeshift backline, let's say. Individually, they are ok stepping in. But when a bunch of them are in at the same time?

You're right though- our forwards are short on depth. If May goes down we are in serious trouble. We rely far too heavily on kids & nobodies in the KOE. Desperately need guys like Kit & Jaxson Rahme to become viable options.

 

[jirskyr]

I didn't think we'd get the W today but I didn't see that result coming.

Bit hard to fathom. The main thing Tigers improved in 2025 is grit and a willingness to stay in a match, despite the overall clunkiness of the new approach.

What was the 5th-best defence in the league just gave up the worst result so far i 2025 and Wests' equal-3rd worst result in history.

 

[twentyforty]

Benji was talking up the storm all week?
I admit I only heard the presser post the Dragons game but it appeared as though he gave them no respect leading up to this match.

Absolute garbage

 

[hank37w]

Jolls,I like your input to the forum....
I have been peeved off really badly with yesterday's performance,I work in a prominent hotel in the Southern Highlands and copped plenty from the patrons who know I'm a dyed in the wool Tigers supporter and member..to top it off it was mothers day and I couldn't voice my opinion openly without swearing,the dears would have been disgusted at the expletives I wanted to unleash..
I only want to say 2 things that I want to get off my chest..
1..Our squad is 25 percent NRL standard and 75 percent fringe first graders or worse..most other clubs seem to have at least 50 percent NRL standard squads..this is being rectified apparently by Richo,the sooner the better..
2..Benji is a rookie coach as far as I'm concerned and I have given him the benefit of the doubt until seasons end..In my opinion he really needs to get rid of the boys club assistants and get professional help from people with heaps of coaching knowledge to help him ..this is NRL not bush footy..
Sorry about the rant but I needed to cool off and have a vent...cheers guys..

Rant very understandable, I think we all need to cool off. 👍

 

[Needaname]

Absolute garbage

great conversation.

 

[twentyforty]

great conversation.

Apologies mate, I didn’t mean to sound so obtuse.
Benji started talking up Storm in the post game review after the win over Dragons and several more times during the week. You’re suggesting that because you didn’t see it then it didn’t happen.
Imo he was giving them far too much respect at the expense of his own team, which culminated in expectations being met.
I can’t help but wonder what the outcome would have been if we had lost the Dragons game? Certainly the Dragon's fans believe they should have won.

 

[Needaname]

Apologies mate, I didn’t mean to sound so obtuse.
Benji started talking up Storm in the post game review after the win over Dragons and several more times during the week. You’re suggesting that because you didn’t see it then it didn’t happen.
Imo he was giving them far too much respect at the expense of his own team, which culminated in expectations being met.
I can’t help but wonder what the outcome would have been if we had lost the Dragons game? Certainly the Dragon's fans believe they should have won.

Cheers.
I only heard the post game review so I was curious what he said later in the week. Though my take from the post game review was that he spoke about the challenge vs Storm in Melbourne being no different to any other game. But I’ll listen again I may of heard differently.
Though it does seem though from a preparation perspective they didn’t put much emphasis on how much of a challenge it would be.

 

[upthetigers]

A long story about attitude

I recall being an older Captain Coach of a team of apprentices playing in the finals of a Country Competition. We had beaten the team we played in the GF pretty conviningly twice before facing them in the finals. We won the minor premiership and despite me trying to focus the team on the here and now we went into the semi final expecting to win and have a smooth run through to the GF.

We lost the major semi by a decent margin in a spiteful game. We were dominated all over the park. Our team was primarily young apprentices with a mix of old head instructors (and by old I also mean no longer really A grade standard). We were put off our game by a combination of biff and hardened park footy players in their peak.

The opposition knew how to play finals footy and went straight into the GF. We fought our way through the finals and were preparing to play them in the GF. As we were an Army team playing in a civi comp the boss gave the apprentices a "week off" their trade schools to prepare.

What happened during that week was amazing. We started the week with an in depth discussion of how we were beaten in the semi. It was an honest session where players admitted that they were baited and somewhat overawed by the biff and hard edge of the opposition. The collecive decision was that to win the GF we had to focus on the end goal and ignore the biff unless someone was being belted - in this case it was to be one in all in.

Post that session there was a drive in the team that I had not seen before; they were focussed, still joking around, but really focussed on the drills when we executed them. I remember being hit hard during the training drills instead of the 75/80% we usually trained at so as not to cause injuries. The focus was on running and tackling harder than the opposition, on clean execution and intent to make every play count. No new drills or special GF plays, it was all between the ears stuff.

We won the toss and chose to kick off so we could send a message. We hit them in defence with everything we had and they were shocked by the start. With ball in hand our side was committed and execution was crisp. The opposition were still hitting hard and were playing dirty but the biff really didn't eventuate as our side were focussed on the win. We went on to win the GF 66-0; not from a skill or fitness advantage, simply a change in the focus of the players. They were focussed on the end goal; not small battles with individuals.

Thank you for the wisdom I always enjoy reading your posts

 

[crazycat]

I am starting to think were making too much of this...

Our forward pack is SUPER LIGHT. We swapped 4 Front rowers, first grade front rowers* for an outstanding T May and Hunt... Hunt is a great impact player, but not much else. May cannot carry our team.

Which is kind of the compermise plan. Benji decided to get rid of half our pack and we lost the other half. Were doing better without them... Till someone like Pole gets injured.

Look the result sucks against the Storm. We got done, but it's kinda impressive that as a club we lost so many forwards and are still coming where we are. Yes we have to fix this hole in our front row, but it's an identifiable problem... that is good.

*ok YMMV, but Paps is rated by some. Stefano was picked up by the storm and while Klemmer is a slow plodder, he makes his tackles.

 

[Bk210]

Honestly, I kind of saw this performance coming, especially after how the Dragons ran riot against us on the 2nd half. We shouldn't have won that game. This isn't the first time we've gotten demolished by the storm either. They put 66 on us in 2021 :/

 

[AmericanHistoryX]

Honestly, I kind of saw this performance coming, especially after how the Dragons ran riot against us on the 2nd half. We shouldn't have won that game. This isn't the first time we've gotten demolished by the storm either. They put 66 on us in 2021 :/

God bless. You. But I think we did it to ourselves. As if it was that easy.

 

[crazycat]

God bless. You. But I think we did it to ourselves. As if it was that easy.

We made mistakes, sure.
But notice where the storm tries came from... Fullback x3, hooker and props...

The Storm made a plan to run through us and with the pack they have, they can do it.

Craig Bellamy found our weakness, Pole goes down injured and Storm go right up the middle.

 

[426Tlgerland]

Evan after the massive belting we got against the storm , I don’t feel we are in the headlines as much as we have been in the past 6 weeks or so , is it because we are 5/5 or is it other teams just stuffed up as bad with solid leads only to loose their games , a nice gritty win on the weekend will keep the lid on the shat for a while longer .

 

[Tucker]

I am starting to think were making too much of this...

Our forward pack is SUPER LIGHT. We swapped 4 Front rowers, first grade front rowers* for an outstanding T May and Hunt... Hunt is a great impact player, but not much else. May cannot carry our team.

Which is kind of the compermise plan. Benji decided to get rid of half our pack and we lost the other half. Were doing better without them... Till someone like Pole gets injured.

Look the result sucks against the Storm. We got done, but it's kinda impressive that as a club we lost so many forwards and are still coming where we are. Yes we have to fix this hole in our front row, but it's an identifiable problem... that is good.

*ok YMMV, but Paps is rated by some. Stefano was picked up by the storm and while Klemmer is a slow plodder, he makes his tackles.

Losing all those forwards and not adequately replacing them is bad roster management. Yes it hasn’t affected us too much this year until last weekend, however…it was always going to catch-up with us. Expect a few more decent scores against us as the season ramps up.

 

[Rock Hopper Steve]

Losing all those forwards and not adequately replacing them is bad roster management. Yes it hasn’t affected us too much this year until last weekend, however…it was always going to catch-up with us. Expect a few more decent scores against us as the season ramps up.

Sadly a few of your posts lately Tuck is deflating reading but the truth hurts our forward pack needs significant upgrade.
All of these so-called exciting signings after the Taylan possibility need to be all good-sized forwards or this club hasn't learnt anything.

If one of the signings is AJ the person responsible should be locked in the vacant barber shop and the doorway bricked over lol.

 

[SwervinMervin]

Teams always lose the week after playing the Tigers. Melbourne are just the latest casualty. It’s all the running metres from the week prior that catches up with them…

 

[hank37w]

Sadly a few of your posts lately Tuck is deflating reading but the truth hurts our forward pack needs significant upgrade.
All of these so-called exciting signings after the Taylan possibility need to be all good-sized forwards or this club hasn't learnt anything.

If one of the signings is AJ the person responsible should be locked in the vacant barber shop and the doorway bricked over lol.

Don't forget the iron mask.