‘Masterstroke’ that has Tigers ‘100 per cent’ back on track after years of ‘bitter disappointment’
Darcie McDonald from Fox Sports
December 9th, 2022
The Wests Tigers’ last two seasons have been nothing short of awful — but could the embattled club finally be heading in the right direction?
Balmain legend Steve ‘Blocker’ Roach believes “100 per cent” they are thanks to a “masterstroke” that has the club making more moves than it has in years.
A 13th place finish in 2021 sparked an internal reviewb that was meant to put a stop to the mediocre results before it was too late.
But eight months later Michael Maguire was sacked as head coach and the Tigers went on to claim their first wooden spoon — and extend the NRL’s longest finals drought.
Their pursuit of up-and-coming coach Cameron Ciraldo fell flat, star recruit Isaiah Papali’i had second thoughts about honouring his deal and Api Koroisau publicly bagged the club.
It’s been a rough year — no doubt about it. In fact Roach, who played 185 games for the Balmain Tigers, summed up the season to
foxsports.com.au as “bitterly disappointing.”
But he believes it took hitting the lowest of lows to spark action at a club that’s been coasting along for way too long, declaring: “The best thing for us now is that the only way is up.”
ROCK BOTTOM
When asked if he’d call 2022 rock bottom for the Tigers, Roach said: “Yeah I would.”
Besides some up-and-coming players getting an opportunity in first grade and the development of a shiny new Centre of Excellence, there wasn’t much to like about the year.
The Tigers started the season with five straight losses and lost 12 of their final 13 games to finish it.
The results were too much for even the most rusted on fan to endure.
“All I want to do every week is when they come off the field say ‘we were beaten by a better team but we tried hard’,” Roach said.
“I found myself turning the game off at times, I’d watch the first 20 minutes and then turn it off.”
He’s not alone either. In the final game of the season, Tigers fans left Leichhardt Oval early when the Raiders shot out to a 42-nil lead at half time. And those that stayed booed the players off as they headed to the sheds.
The sad part is though, that may have not even been the darkest moment of the season.
Two weeks earlier the Tigers suffered their biggest loss in history — and the 72-6 scoreline saw things turn ugly on the other side of the fence too with
a fan abusing Adam Doueihi.
That same game, captain James Tamou was sent off for calling referee Ben Cummins
“f***ing incompetent.”
It was a baptism of fire for Brett Kimmorley, who stepped in after Maguire was axed so quickly it’s hard to fathom how long he actually lasted on the chopping block.
MADGE’S FALL
No coach has had to endure more external pressure than Maguire.
His last 18 months at the helm were particularly tough with a new report emerging every week claiming he was set to be sacked.
The heat was really turned up when the Tigers finished 2021 on the most sour note possible — a 38-nil loss to wooden spooners, the Bulldogs.
It sparked an internal review of the football department over the off-season in which Maguire’s future would be discussed.
It was assumed that he had coached his last game for the Tigers, but to the surprise of many, he was spared the axe.
However his support stuff weren’t so lucky with assistant coaches Wayne Collins and Shane Millard replaced by Nathan Cayless and Ben Gardiner, while football manager Adam Hartigan was also shown the door.
The club did not make their findings public but
The Sydney Morning Herald reported the six key things to come out of it were: confusion around the defensive structure; an inconsistent attacking structure and too many team changes; Maguire shouldering too much of the coaching load; the club’s struggle to attract star recruits and the need for a much stronger culture.
Landing Koroisau’s signature in the off-season and a solid effort against the Storm in Round 1, 2022 had fans thinking maybe the review was just what the doctor ordered.
But reality set back in and by Round 5 the Tigers were sitting at the bottom of the ladder as the only team yet to win a game.
The pressure was mounting once again and so Maguire was forced to take action. He did something that the review deemed a big no-no — make team changes.
Struggling playmaker Luke Brooks was shifted to five-eighth to allow Jackson Hastings to run the ship in the No.7 jersey and it worked a treat as the Tigers secured back-to-back wins over the Eels and Rabbitohs.
It seemed to be a masterstroke — until the Tigers slipped back into bad habits.
They won just one of their next five games and suffered a second-half capitulation against the Rabbitohs in Round 12, letting the opposition run in six tries in the final 40 minutes to win 44-18.
Maguire, as he always did, remained positive in the post-game press conference, saying there were some “really good patches” from his team.
He was asked about heading into the bye with nine losses and three wins, to which he said: “We’ll turn things around.”
But the Tigers didn’t turn things around and there was no more ‘we’ because that was Maguire’s last game as head coach.
Head of football Sheens conducted a mid-season review — and the comments from Tigers chair Lee Hagipantelis in an interview with SEN was an eerie indication of what was to come.
“As of today May 31, 2022, Michael Maguire is the contracted head coach for the Wests Tigers and there is nothing before me to indicate that is going to change,” he said.
“But will I guarantee anyone’s employment whether it be the head coach or the head of commercial or the CEO’s role? No I will not give that guarantee and I’ve said that before because the issuing of guarantees has certain legal ramifications.”
Maguire was sacked seven days later.
BACK TO THE FUTURE
Cameron Ciraldo was the Tigers’ first choice replacement but after missing out on him, the club had to turn to Plan B.
Sheens will coach in seasons 2023 and 2024 with club legends Benji Marshall and Robbie Farah as assistants. He will then hand the reins over to Marshall full time for 2025 and beyond.
Sheens — who took the club to its maiden premiership in 2005 — rejoined the Tigers last year as head of football.
He’s had his fingerprints over everything since then and is the reason why the club is beginning to see light at the end of the tunnel, according to Roach.
“I think it was a masterstroke bringing Tim Sheens back because we’ve seen some movement,” he said.
“Finally as a fan I’m starting to see movement that I haven’t seen for near on a decade. In Tim we trust because he’s finally getting some things moving there.”
Besides turning around on-field results, Sheens will also need to prepare Marshall for the toughest gig in rugby league.
The Tigers are taking a huge gamble on Marshall given Ciraldo and Craig Fitzgibbon’s apprenticeships were close to 10 years, but Roach believes it’ll be worth it — especially when it comes to recruitment.
“I think Benji will most certainly attract players,” he said.
“Benji’s got that x-factor about him, he’s got that appeal and he had that as a player. I think he’s got that aura about him where people believe.”
“I think Benji will get the best out of ‘Brooksy’ too,” Roach added.
“A lot of people have tried to make Brooksy the overall organiser of the team where he’s not that type of player — they’ve got it wrong when they use him like that.
“He just needs to run the ball and do what he’s good at — he’s a good player.”
