'These failures' aren't indicative of anything.
Hold your fire until the season is well underway and the squads are settled.
There is a myriad of factors around who we can field and why, especially during 1st grade trial periods, with squad members all over the shop.
Additionally, the NSW Cup and First Grade setup look good thus far, of which a generous make up is kids still Flegg and below eligible, which is promising in and of itself. We are a very young club, mainly due to having years of underperforming mature-aged players, meaning, that our best and brightest prospects have had to, out of necessity in some ways, play up. We are still seeing that play out; it takes years to unwind.
Even a terrible season is not indicative of systemic failures, just as a successful season is not always indicative of systemic successes.
The bottom line is this - the club is spending increasingly more on pathways year on year after a renewed focus on this part of the club after a decade-plus of neglecting it.
And throwing the toys out of the cot because the results aren't there during the first few weeks of the year, is laughable.
It's not that serious... relax.
Who says we're spending more money on pathways? I've heard we've been screaming out for funds, well below every other club in the comps.
Every club has the same issues, promoting youngsters for trials, some players getting pinched by other clubs, injuries etc. Some things you can't control, others you can.
The culture at Wests absolutely stinks. But just this year, but over the past decade the teams have under performed, not played as a team, just been a bunch of individuals - aside from a couple of highly talented squads.
More recently recruitment and retention has been poor. Yes the matts team from a few years ago had success, but the players we hoped would kick on, haven't. The one that did, left.
We've lost some handy players in recent years, and not replaced then at all. How many external recruits do Wests have? Maybe 1-2 per squad. If the locals are good enough, sure of course load up on local kids. If that year is a bit weaker then target strong juniors from other clubs. This we don't do.
None of our sides have the finals last year, none will this year. Over the past decade both Balmain and Wests would be bottom 4 in an accumulated ladder.
Wests should be top 5 every year. They're not. Why not.
Wins and losses don't ultimately determine success, but it plays a large part. Create a winning atmosphere and players will want to stay. They can't wait to leave as the south west is not a desirable location, and Wests Tigers have not been a professionally run club, ever. And our Juniors have largely struggled as a result. At present this rests largely on HBG. If stay have asked for funding and been rejected, then that's on HBG for bit supporting our pathways, other than doing the bare minimum.
We are bare minimum complacency football club. That should be our name.
At least someone will win this weekend. While Wests have the stronger roster, especially after finally cutting their very poor outside backs and finally bringing up Lanyon, I still reckon Balmain will win, through effort plays and heart. If Wests click in SG Ball they could win by 40,I have my doubts that they will.
