@willow said in [Signing Suggestions & Rumours](/post/1434196) said:
The superstar that the ‘battle-scarred’ Wests Tigers need to ‘throw the kitchen sink at’
Darcie McDonald from Fox Sports
@darciemcdonald
August 2nd, 2021 9:29 am
The Wests Tigers slumped to their fifth loss in six weeks with a performance that had many declaring the club had officially hit rock bottom.
With their season on the line, the Tigers failed to aim up against a seriously depleted Warriors side.
Michael Ennis put the blowtorch on the club’s powerbrokers, suggesting they are the people who should be made accountable for the team going backwards.
But league legend James Graham might have a solution to get the Tigers back on track — and it’s to do with their recruitment drive.
The Tigers have struggled to build a champion roster. Coach Michael Maguire inherited poor salary cap decisions when he took over the reigns in 2018.
The likes of big earners Russell Packer and Moses Mbye haven’t lived up to expectations, while Joey Leilua has spent more time in reserve grade than NRL this season. Luke Brooks has managed to hold onto his No.7 jersey but not a week goes by that questions aren’t raised about his spot in the team.
When it comes to building his ideal roster, Maguire has tried — but failed. Michael Ennis believes that is concerning for the club considering the last-placed Bulldogs and lowly Broncos are still managing to lure star signings.
“For Michael Maguire, the roster that he has at the moment, the Bulldogs have attracted Matt Burton, Josh Addo-Carr, Luke Thompson has come there when times were tough, the list goes on there,” Ennis told Big League Wrap.
“The Broncos, in a poor time in their club’s history, are still attracting blokes like Adam Reynolds, they’ve re-signed Kotoni Staggs and Kurt Capewell — an Origin player — is going there.
“The Wests Tigers have missed Latrell Mitchell, they’ve missed Dale Finucane, they’ve missed out on Tevita Pangai.”
Graham believes the Tigers are still reeling from blowing their budget on players that couldn’t deliver — but says it’s time to “move on from that” by going after one of the hottest names in the game.
“I think they’ve been burned in the fact that they spent overs on people like (Moses) Mbye, (Josh) Reynolds, (Russell) Packer and (Ben) Matulino and they’re almost fearful of that now. They need to move on from that,” he told Big League Wrap.
“When Maguire was a top coach he had top players doing all those little things for him where he doesn’t seem to have that (at the Tigers).
“Why don’t they throw the kitchen sink at a Joseph Manu? Pay way overs for him — and not one of these plays around the $800,000 mark — I’m talking about some serious money.
“A lot of player agents out there were anticipating an expansion team coming in and freeing up a lot of player movement. They’ve got to go out and they’ve got to cast that net, and those guys that were potentially going to an expansion team, get some of them on board.”
However, Fox League’s James Hooper says it’s unlikely the Tigers will splash a lot of cash on one player again.
“The reason why they won’t do it is because they’re battle-scarred from having missed out on so many key signatures,” he said.
And while big calls on the roster are needed, there’s an overarching decision that probably needs to be made first — that’s on the future of Maguire.
According to multiple reports, Maguire has these final weeks of the season to save his job.
Fox League’s Lara Pitt put the decision in Ennis’ hands for a moment, asking him if Maguire has done enough to get another season at the helm.
“I’m not sure, I’m really not,” Ennis responded.
“You look at his results since he’s come to the club. He was going to rebuild the Wests Tigers, we knew that he was all about hard work and all about defence. He spoke honestly and publicly about that.
“Since he’s been at the Wests Tigers they’ve deteriorated. He had a 45 per cent win record the first year he was there, I think it went to 35 per cent last year and this year it’s languishing at less, I think it’s down to the low 30s.
“This (Warriors clash) was a game they had to win. The Warriors, with all due respect, could hardly field a side. Leading 10-nil, four points outside of the top right, it’s the same conversation every year.
“When do the powers that be become accountable at the Wests Tigers that have made these decisions?
“Yes, Michael Maguire should be under pressure. He’s saying that his side is growing — I’ve seen no growth. He might argue that, but I haven’t seen a lot of growth in the Wests Tigers since he’s been there.
“But the same people are sitting in the same positions at the club making the same decisions and nothing is changing at the Wests Tigers.”
Graham put the onus on the players and singled out one moment in Friday’s game when the Warriors scored one of the easiest tries we’ll ever see.
“The short dropout is a play you’ve got to know. It’s a training ground drill and the players are looking at each other and just let Euan Aitken pick the ball up and are looking around as if to say ‘what happened?’” he said.
“The idea of the play isn’t bad, but the execution of it is really poor.
“I feel so sorry for Michael Maguire, I really do because he seems like a coach that tries his heart out, he puts so much effort and energy (into coaching).”
Ennis agreed that Maguire’s effort is second to none — but suggested that perhaps that’s not enough. However, he’d like to see some action at the very top first.
“Anyone that knows ‘Madge’ knows what a great bloke he is, and he works tirelessly. Everyone in the game that knows Madge, knows that he’s got a great work ethic — and that’s what he can instil in a side,” Ennis said.
“But in terms of the technicality of the way the side plays, I’ve heard that there say technically he’s a great motivator but that’s not where they need to be.
“The bottom line is that at the end of the day, the Wests Tigers don’t know who they are and it starts at the top. Until they’re willing to make some serious decisions, nothing is going to change.
“With the roster they’ve got at the moment, obviously with what’s going on off-field in terms of leadership, if nothing changes, they’ll get the same results and we’ll be having the same conversations next year.”
