Take the Black and gold glasses off

[anderson_silva]

and answer this honestly, Are we the best team that didnt make the finals the last 3 years?

and in some ways i think we were better then some teams in the 8 in 06 and 07, but we always just failed to win the key games.

I know this is a token thread but it was something i was thinking about yesterday and i have no doubt in my mind that if we miss out again this year it will most likely be the same feeling, was just wondering if anyone agreed

 

[hadds75]

Any team with Farah and Marshall that cant perform has problems.

In 06 we were definetly the best team to miss out on the finals, we didnt have any luck and just missed the finals due to a horrid injury run.

Dunno about 07 or 08\. This year I dont think so, Brisbane will miss out and can at least blame injuries.

I guess the one thing we can say is we havent been beaten by 20+ which means weve always remained competitive. Will depend on the last 6 weeks i guess.

 

[izotope]

i definitely feel we are a bottom 8 team at the moment, with the ability to be a top 4 team except missing consistency, and structure.

If things start to go wrong it seems to be goodbye to the game.

Obvious in previous years was all about attack, however this year i feel the defense has improved quite alot and has the makings of a top side in some years to come

 

[Jazza]

In 06 we had a horror injury run, so bad at 1 stage we had Elford at 5/8 :laughing:, so I can cop that.

07, we didnt replace Prince like we shouldve, we didnt even really replace Skando or Laffranchi either, add to that the horror year that Hodgo had with injuries (His cheekbone then his knee) and Benji also having some time off. It just made us a 1 man team with Robbie.

08, we shouldve made it, Robbie, Benji, and Hodgo had close to a full season, but lack of depth in the forwards through poor recruitment, some passengers in the side (ie Teo, Halatau) resulting in a poor attitude, and Morris still at 5/8 resulted in another fade out.

09, we had a better attitude, a better run with injuries although Galloway and Lawrence's loss has been costly, we've handled Heighno's loss ok, and some young guys coming through with reasonable form from Benji and great form from Farah. Sadly those tight losses have gone against us, if we had beaten the Dogs, Rabbitohs, Broncos and the Storm, i worked out we would be in the top 4\. :frowning:

 

[RatedRKO]

We have had a terrible run of injuries this year.

Im pretty sure we had 7 out at one point.

Players injured this year:
Moltzen
Collis
Lawrence
Marshall
Gibbs
Farah
Galloway
Heino
Galea
Tagive
Halatau

And that's only off the top of my head.

 

[Peaches]

Can't comment on past years due to poor memory. This year we are a top-8 side who have lost the close ones too many times.

 

[weststigers]

We have had a terrible run of injuries this year.

Im pretty sure we had 7 out at one point.

Players injured this year:
Moltzen
Collis
Lawrence
Marshall
Gibbs
Farah
Galloway
Heino
Galea
Tagive
Halatau

And that's only off the top of my head.

Lazarus

 

[Golden]

we were crap in 06
07 however that team should have made the top 4 we smashed the cowgirls by 50 then just choked the rest of the year off.. instead the cowgirls got their way into it by fluking wins we choked it 07 was going to be a dream run,

 

[Guest]

I think if the Tigers do miss the 8, then they could well be the best team to miss out, depending on whether the Broncos make it or not. The side has been more consistent in its performances this year and apart from a couple of shockers early in the season where the Tigers could not hold the ball - namely Penrith at Penrith and Manly at Brookvale, the Tigers have had chances to win pretty much every game they have played, including against the Dragons where poor handling cost the team in the first half.

Several key players have had decent stints on the sidelines due to injury as well which hasn't helped, particularly when I think how useful players like Lawrence, Galloway and Heighington would have been in the close losses suffered. The teamhas looked far more settled and composed since Moltzen moved to halfback 3 weeks ago. The direction of the team has improved and Benji looks less flustered and has reigned in the big plays he has been guilty of this year.

Manly will be a litmus test IMO. A win will see the Tigers make the 8 IMO. A loss, even if it's narrow, I still think we can make the 8 as the team will know they can stick with the top teams in the comp. If we are flogged, not so sure, that could really hurt the team's self belief but I think we are better prepared to take them next Monday than we were at Brookvale where we simply did not complete our sets and Brett Stewart essentially proved the difference.

Time will tell though.

 

[galahs]

Shouldn't the title to this thread read…

"Take the Black, Orange and White glasses off"

lol :mrgreen:
\
\
I don't think we have had the consistency to say we 'should' have been in the finals the last few years.

Yes, we were good enough in patches, and could beat any team if our mind was set on it, but that wasn't the case.

 

[Golden]

Shouldn't the title to this thread read…

"Take the Black, Orange and White glasses off"

lol :mrgreen:
\
\
I don't think we have had the consistency to say we 'should' have been in the finals the last few years.

Yes, we were good enough in patches, and could beat any team if our mind was set on it, but that wasn't the case.

but that would require 3 eyes :stuck_out_tongue:

 

[tigh]

rah. Sadly those tight losses have gone against us, if we had beaten the Dogs, Rabbitohs, Broncos and the Storm, i worked out we would be in the top 4\. :frowning:

This Jazza, is they key. 4 tight losses takes a team from top 4 - to outside the 8\. But that's the story of our life. We need to win these close ones if we want to be a factor come September.

 

[Jazza]

rah. Sadly those tight losses have gone against us, if we had beaten the Dogs, Rabbitohs, Broncos and the Storm, i worked out we would be in the top 4\. :frowning:

This Jazza, is they key. 4 tight losses takes a team from top 4 - to outside the 8\. But that's the story of our life. We need to win these close ones if we want to be a factor come September.

I guess we cant expect to win every single tight game but even winning half of those games would put us around 6th maybe, and they're all teams that are around or just above us well, meaning they were effectively 4 point games.

I was thinking today, we're being talked up as a possible chance of finals, if we'd won those tight games, our current run would see us being talked up as possible premiership contenders. It really is that simple and that frustrating.

I mean if Laurie held onto that ball against Melbourne, I reckon we wouldve won because Melbourne were playing ordinary, if we'd battled for even just 5-10 more minutes vs Souths, we wouldve hung on. If Maxwell didnt rort us, then we couldve beaten Brisbane, if Hanbury gave Gallant (I think) that offload right at the end vs the Dogs, or if Benji wasnt injured, he wouldve converted at least the earlier kick that Gallant missed and we wouldve went to Golden point or even won.

A lot of if's there but just shows what a difference these little things make.

 

[galahs]

Shouldn't the title to this thread read…

"Take the Black, Orange and White glasses off"

lol :mrgreen:
\
\
I don't think we have had the consistency to say we 'should' have been in the finals the last few years.

Yes, we were good enough in patches, and could beat any team if our mind was set on it, but that wasn't the case.

but that would require 3 eyes :stuck_out_tongue:

Tigers have 2 eyes
and they say "the one eyed magpie"

so that = 3 eyes :laughing:

 

[tiger3]

07 could have / should have easily been another Premiership year :frowning:

 

[Gobbs]

07 could have / should have easily been another Premiership year :frowning:

Any season after '05 should have been another Premiership year, but unlike other clubs, Wests went backwards. The Tigers were never going to compete and threaten with John Morris in the halves. And that proved to be the case along with idiotic, neville signings that did not contribute to strengthening the squad.

 

[system]

I blame the overs that were paid to premiership winners in part as well.

Waiting for those players to develop on inflated salaries cost us as well as the things that have been mentioned already

 

[supercoach]

Good teams make their own luck and in doing so they win 75% of the games that go down to the wire. The way I rate a team is the success rate they have against the better sides and since 2006 we have very little in the way of wins against the so called good teams.

Things are certainly looking better for 2010 and beyond but I learn t long ago dont expect form to carry over from one year to the next and every year is a new one. Really for past four years we are in the same boat as lots of teams,potentially a top eight team that failed to deliver with a bag full "IF ONLY'S"

 

[Juro]

Like others have said, we were brilliant on our day in each year, but those days didn't come often enough.

The stat I look at is our for-and-against at the end of each year. 2005 is the only year we have completed so far with a positive for-and-against. In all other years we couldn't do this. That just shows to me we didn't play well enough. Of course, in 2009 we currently have our noses in front in that regard. If we end the season in the black and outside the 8, I'll consider us unlucky. Those 3 games losing by 2, 1 and 2 will have killed us.

Sure, we had injuries but virtually every team, every year, has to deal with injuries to key players.

 

[senexx]

Every year, I expect us to win 50% of our matches. If we don't, that year is a failure. A mere 50% is usually enough to get into the 8