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Tigers back ruing season that slipped away
Greg Prichard | November 10, 2009
THE frustrating thing Wests Tigers have had to come to terms with during their end-of-season break was that the Parramatta team which ripped through the finals series and almost pulled off a historic premiership might so easily have been them.
Instead, the Tigers narrowly missed out on qualifying for the big end-of-season games, while the Eels, who played a similar style of football, snuck into the finals in eighth place and made it all the way to the grand final before losing 23-16 to Melbourne.
Parramatta's narrow victory over the Tigers in the third-last round had an enormous influence on the Eels making the finals and the Tigers missing out. Yesterday, when they began training for next season, Tigers players admitted they watched the finals with a ''what-if'' attitude as the Eels kept winning.
Winger Beau Ryan's recollection was indicative of the feeling, when he said: ''Every time they took the field, I thought, 'That could have been us'. Looking back, we had our opportunity to beat them. We had a few unlucky injuries and things like that, but the chance was there.
''But we've got to concentrate on next season now. We can't look back and think about what could have happened, we've got to work on what we can control when it comes to next year.''
Ryan said Parramatta's achievement in becoming the first eighth-placed team to make the grand final - a season after the Warriors had become the first eighth-placed team to win a finals game - had made it clear that, now, any team that made the top eight could win the title.
''That's the thing,'' Ryan said. ''It doesn't matter where you come, as soon as you get in there, you're a chance. The brand of football that we play, it doesn't matter if we come first or eighth, we're gonna shake the system. So we've just got to work on making the top eight and go from there.
''We came up with too little, too late this year. The close games that got away from us - we lost five or six by one or two points - came back to get us, but we can't use that as an excuse every year. Our roster for next season is much better. We've got no excuses for 2010.''
Among the new players at the Tigers is former Parramatta and Sydney Roosters prop Jason Cayless, who has returned from England and a stint in Super League. Cayless has been hampered by injuries in the past couple of years, but said yesterday he was getting over his most recent setback.
''I had a shoulder problem last season,'' he said. ''I've got to see the doctor on Wednesday to see if I'm fine to do contact. At the moment the strength's coming back and I'm pretty close, but I've just got to get the final OK.
''I think I'll be fine. I'm only 29, so I think I've still got a few years left in the game. It was a case of bad luck, I think. I still know I can play the game at this level.''
Former Bulldogs coach Steve Folkes, who is now the high-performance manager at the Tigers, put the players through a gym session yesterday morning and a field session in the afternoon. Folkes said he hoped the fitness disciplines he planned to introduce would help make the team harder to beat.
''Parramatta had a great run and played some football that was fairly adventurous, and certainly the Tigers are capable of that,'' Folkes said. ''That's not the problem. I think what Tim [Sheens, the Tigers' coach] has spoken about is the need to be more consistent in those games where you can't play the adventurous football, and grind out a few wins. They would have made the eight had they won one of those close games they lost.
''Consistency on the training paddock leads to consistency on the field, so that's what we're aiming at.''
Greg Prichard | November 10, 2009
THE frustrating thing Wests Tigers have had to come to terms with during their end-of-season break was that the Parramatta team which ripped through the finals series and almost pulled off a historic premiership might so easily have been them.
Instead, the Tigers narrowly missed out on qualifying for the big end-of-season games, while the Eels, who played a similar style of football, snuck into the finals in eighth place and made it all the way to the grand final before losing 23-16 to Melbourne.
Parramatta's narrow victory over the Tigers in the third-last round had an enormous influence on the Eels making the finals and the Tigers missing out. Yesterday, when they began training for next season, Tigers players admitted they watched the finals with a ''what-if'' attitude as the Eels kept winning.
Winger Beau Ryan's recollection was indicative of the feeling, when he said: ''Every time they took the field, I thought, 'That could have been us'. Looking back, we had our opportunity to beat them. We had a few unlucky injuries and things like that, but the chance was there.
''But we've got to concentrate on next season now. We can't look back and think about what could have happened, we've got to work on what we can control when it comes to next year.''
Ryan said Parramatta's achievement in becoming the first eighth-placed team to make the grand final - a season after the Warriors had become the first eighth-placed team to win a finals game - had made it clear that, now, any team that made the top eight could win the title.
''That's the thing,'' Ryan said. ''It doesn't matter where you come, as soon as you get in there, you're a chance. The brand of football that we play, it doesn't matter if we come first or eighth, we're gonna shake the system. So we've just got to work on making the top eight and go from there.
''We came up with too little, too late this year. The close games that got away from us - we lost five or six by one or two points - came back to get us, but we can't use that as an excuse every year. Our roster for next season is much better. We've got no excuses for 2010.''
Among the new players at the Tigers is former Parramatta and Sydney Roosters prop Jason Cayless, who has returned from England and a stint in Super League. Cayless has been hampered by injuries in the past couple of years, but said yesterday he was getting over his most recent setback.
''I had a shoulder problem last season,'' he said. ''I've got to see the doctor on Wednesday to see if I'm fine to do contact. At the moment the strength's coming back and I'm pretty close, but I've just got to get the final OK.
''I think I'll be fine. I'm only 29, so I think I've still got a few years left in the game. It was a case of bad luck, I think. I still know I can play the game at this level.''
Former Bulldogs coach Steve Folkes, who is now the high-performance manager at the Tigers, put the players through a gym session yesterday morning and a field session in the afternoon. Folkes said he hoped the fitness disciplines he planned to introduce would help make the team harder to beat.
''Parramatta had a great run and played some football that was fairly adventurous, and certainly the Tigers are capable of that,'' Folkes said. ''That's not the problem. I think what Tim [Sheens, the Tigers' coach] has spoken about is the need to be more consistent in those games where you can't play the adventurous football, and grind out a few wins. They would have made the eight had they won one of those close games they lost.
''Consistency on the training paddock leads to consistency on the field, so that's what we're aiming at.''
