Tigers v Sharks - a perspective

[Vicious]

I don't get this idea. So your saying our "best 17" is not that good.... Ok Agreed.
Then "we can't afford any depth".
Lets stop there. If our "best 17" needs work, why not fix it?

Why worry about "depth"? Seriously. Particularly if our 1-13 isn't that good, and I think were a lot better in 2025 then other years. But if we have problems with 1-13 can we stop talking DEPTH!

Because every time we talk depth we end up getting some Fringe grader on 300-400k. When we do this, we can't compete with the Chooks/Manly/whoever to get the gun players and a good 1-13!

When we bring 'top-shelf" talent in, like Api K... Players learn.
Luai too has imparted an attitude and improved the culture....

Good coaches can improve your "tradesman" type players. It's easier to get average to play a little better then to get that Elite level (i.e. JAC/Latrell/GI) to go Super elite...
Plus a lot more "tradesman" out there then GI's, Farnworths and Latrell's.

Great post, your comments advising -
“Good coaches can improve your "tradesman" type players. It's easier to get average to play a little better then to get that Elite level (i.e. JAC/Latrell/GI) to go Super elite...
Plus a lot more "tradesman" out there then GI's, Farnworths and Latrell's”
Is exactly the point I have been trying to make, but have not able to explain it as well as you have.

 

[Vicious]

I'm not saying we need to worry about depth or we should sign depth. I was giving my assessment of our entire roster and the state it is in.

I know you agree with this thought process, as I’ve said before you are a very astute analyst.
I think most of us other than a few extreme optimists are of the opinion we are currently still lacking the star quality required to be a genuine top 8 team.
Let’s hope the extreme optimists are right and the rest of us are wrong, if that’s the case we will all be happy.

 

[Bus 2 Terrigal]

Sure - if winning a premiership is the yardstick, that's fine. Overall, though, they just seem to have done things a little better than us ;-)

True. But at least our mob haven’t put us through any semi final heartache during recent (and not so recent) times. By September, when the Sharks supporters are routinely devastated by yet another fruitful campaign coming to an abrupt conclusion (Friday night Sharkies - here it comes again) - our fan base has well and truly made other plans. We’re kicking back and enjoying some glorious Spring sunshine. Watching the finals without a care in the world 👍

ie There are the Premiers - and there is the rest.
Apart from 2005 & 2016 - Wests and Cronulla both fall into the latter category

 

[supercoach]

Sharks are good because there is very little difference between their good days and bad days. They turn up nearly every week and compete and even on the odd off day they still compete and very seldom roll over.

This year we made some big steps forward but still we struggle to keep in the grind in matches and our momentum goes out the window at the drop of a hat. Sadly things take time and smart recruitment so I think 2026 will be much the same as this year

 

[crazycat]

Charlie Murray didn’t cause us to miss the top 8 ?
We love to sugarcoat it, but our highest paid players aside from Terrell May and now Taylan May are well below the standard of their equivalents at other NRL clubs.
Whether or not these players can step up and change that in 2026 remains to be seen, but I highly doubt it.

Well, lets not sugarcoat it...

Were: Josh Reynolds, Russell Packer, Matalino, Mbye, Turuva, Api Koroisau, BJ Leulia, Jim "the jet" Roberts and Luai all bad players?

OR

Other then Terrell May (leaving his brother for a moment) I have not seen a top player improve when coming here.

The Wests Tigers need to as an organisation focus on training, sport development and getting this part of the business right. Instead it's "which stadium will we play next"/whatever current drama.

Honestly though, I think we are making some changes to get there. Yes we are loosing people in the coaching ranks and people some here love. But we need a change and we need different ideas coming through. We are WAY TO INBRED, with Pat Richards/John Skandalis joining the coaching ranks recently, it creates a bad vacuum.

The wests tigers haven't seriously taken a hard look at ourselves.

 

[gregjm87]

Yes I understand we were virtually forced to sign Jerome Luai on a bigger contract than his ability warranted due to us desperately needing a high profile player who would drive standards and attract other players.
So there is no doubt signing him has served a purpose, BUT his contract value does cause us a salary cap dilemma as he is a high effort, high energy support act type of player, not someone who can control a game or win a game with his individual brilliance.
This is not a problem if we can have either Adam Doueihi or Latu Fainu as our dominant game controller, but we still need one or two players who can virtually win us games single handedly with their individual brilliance,
Taylan May will hopefully continue to rise and be one of these players and based on contract values Jahream Bula needs to be the other one.
Many on this forum believe I unfairly criticise Jahream, but as I constantly say, there is no argument he is a very good player with plenty of elite qualities such as his speed, but plenty of others agree with me in saying the jury is still well and truly out on whether or not he has the complete package to become a genuine elite player who is regularly the difference maker on whether we win or lose games.
2026 is the year for him to prove it, but we are in a tricky situation with his contract as I’m sure he will be looking to extend on a big money, long term deal ASAP.
That is great in theory, but not so great if we give him a big money, long term deal and he does not prove to be a genuine elite player.
Even his biggest supporters must admit he has not yet proven to be a genuine elite 1 million dollar plus per season player, so if we agree to pay that money before the 2026 season we would be taking a risk, paying him a long term elite contract value on potential.

I actually think you are looking to much at our top end and not enough at other cap waste. What were we paying Sullivan to play against us? How much was Staines and Naden on, could we not have got a min wager to do much the same as one or both of them? Rumours of Hunt and Seyfarth being at 600k each?
Yes, our top end are overpaid, but arguably needed to be. There is just as much fat to trim across the rest of the squad as well where we can get better deals or better players.
Arguably Luai has done his job in fixing the culture. Let's see if we can fix the next step to stop bleeding cap to bad contracts across the whole squad and give him a team to work with now.