Well, @jirskyr, I stand corrected. But I still don't get it. Their resolve and tenacity and support of each other is amazing. If that's not based on a Roosters culture and narrative, then how do you explain it? And, why isn't every club like that?
You give me Uncle Nick, hand back Tedesco, sign up some premiership-winning forwards and centres, rep wingers and two wiley old try-scoring machines and I'll give you a Wests Tigers to be reckoned with.
I'd be much much much more impressed if Roosters achieved the resolve and tenacity with half the talent at their disposal.
But of course that's not to say it's just players that do the job - Titans can't manage it with a fairly handsome roster at times. Thing about Titans is there is no "wile", no depth and no real success experience.
@jirskyr I'm always intrigued by your statistical knowledge of the game but even moreso your attention to detail when breaking down Wests Tigers performances.
So given the changes to the game over the last couple of years and the evolution of the WTs, have you ever actually done a multivariate analysis to determine what our different/distinctive playing styles have been? Also what components would ultimately decide this, it can't all be tactical as we've basically plateaued for a decade despite making changes.
Where are we actually going good is what I'd like to know and how can we turn things around or use it to our advantage?
No I have not done a multivariate analysis.
What I think however is the "old" Tigers were always attack-focused and had a once-in-generation crop of juniors that were very attack-minded - Marshall, Farah, Fulton, Lawrence, then signings like Prince, Tuiaki, Ellis. Sheens has always been innovative but never really managed to put steel into the side, and we always struggled against big strong teams.
It makes sense that the new coaches post-Sheens would always make efforts to put more steel / starch into the Tigers, but again our next boom generation were attack focused - Tedesco, Moses, Brooks, Woods, Simona, Nofo. You will recall Moses and Brooks were basically Top 3 for missed tackles for several seasons.
Fast forward to 2021, the current coach will tell you he's been hamstrung by the decisions made during Ivan Cleary's time - loss of key juniors, short-term high-cost signings that have impacted the salary cap. He's also failed to get any kind of consistency out of the roster he has. The new focus on junior talent is barely 12 months old and it will take time for that strategy to pay off.
I personally don't think there's much to it - we score points, arguably enough points (currently 9th in the league, just behind Sharks), but our defence and ability to hold under pressure stinks. I don't think anyone knew the 6-again rules were coming or with such effect as to penalise teams that can't hang tough, and Tigers have never really managed to put together a side that can regularly tough out wins. The solution is line speed and initial contact, and there's nothing magic about it. We usually have enough size now in the forwards, but our line speed sucks and initial contact in the tackle is very average. Net result is we start to loose the ruck, the opposition gets a sniff of dominance, they start chancing their hand more and their ball control improves, Tigers wilt rather quickly. I don't know if I've seen us tough out and over-turn a result all year.