Tigers will need more in tank

[Guest]

Tigers will need more in tank

Dean Ritchie From: The Daily Telegraph March 18, 2010 12:00AM

STICK your hand up if you love watching Wests Tigers play rugby league. Keep it up if they're your second favourite side.

And who would rather watch one-half of a Wests Tigers game than the full 80 minutes of some other teams? At least the Tigers raise your heart rate above 100 beats per minute.

There they were on Monday night, down 20-4 in the 60th minute against a ruthless Manly side. Then suddenly, wham bam - four tries in 16 minutes to leave Manly stunned.

The Tigers, put simply, are fun. But having said that, I can't help but wonder if we will be watching them play in September.

Rugby league in 2010 is about the grind. Teams that haul themselves out of trouble with six hit-ups and good kick and chase. No mistakes, no risks, no passing under pressure.

Wests Tigers don't adhere to that theory and that could lead to their demise once again.

The game often does not reward entertaining teams.

The sides that play controlled, clinical and structured footy win those big finals games. Not teams like the Tigers. And that's unfortunate for the fans.

It seems Wests Tigers continue to chase that elusive balance of brilliance and grind.

Sure, the Tigers won in 2005 when they came from the clouds.

But since then, the joint-venture club has slipped out of the elite bracket. Each year they have promised to return to finals footy - and each year they have fallen away late in the season.

In September you need to roll the sleeves up and play tough.

I'm not suggesting the Tigers aren't tough, but I question whether they can grind out the big-match wins over teams like the Storm, Bulldogs and Broncos.

Wests Tigers scored 103 tries last year - equal first - yet still missed the finals.

I'd love to see Wests Tigers win the Telstra Premiership. But until they get that semi-final substance, I have doubts they will be around this coming September.

 

[alex]

What a goose. Did Ritchie even watch the game against Manly?

We don't have a good kick chase? Pretty sure the first kick we put in resulted in a repeat set because 3 players chased to force Robertson back in goal. And we did nullify the impact of Stewart's kick returns.

And we lack a six hit-up grinding set? Pretty sure KG and Ellis in particular constantly dented the line.

 

[system]

We went missing upon the first interchange but I thought it was the grind that kept us is the game.

 

[Tigerpete]

Yeah, in general he's not far off the mark, though i agree there were some good signs defensively in the back end of last season and last week which may suggest we're understanding what it takes. Though in the 10-15 mins after that first round of interchanges we did enough to lose the game right there. That is a bigger concern to me than trying to play the grind.

 

[simonthetiger]

He makes some good points.

But, we are the Tigers,we make the rules.

On our low point in the middle,we really arent giving Manly enough credit(and we did have a try dissallowed and droppped on over the line).

Manly subbed on Rose and Kite,2 enormous blokes and they all lifted.

We went down a peg,but thats because a very physical pack( that we dominated for 20 mins) got some penalties and got some oomph on.

Its all well and good to say our interchange didnt kill it,thats true…..

But Manly gave us a dose of our physical play,we absorbed it and won playing tiger style footy.

Lets see how we go against the Rorters who while plucky(hahaha) dont have the size amd oomph of that Manly pack.

 

[Mighty_Tiger]

Hard to argue with anything he said, far from a goose

 

[hybrid_tiger]

Hard to argue with anything he said, far from a goose

Agreed.

 

[Staks]

Stating the obvious. We all know that frequent defensive lapses have been the difference between a top 8 and another failed season. Depth to cover injuries and team selections will also play a major part.

 

[Geo]

What a goose. Did Ritchie even watch the game against Manly?

We don't have a good kick chase? Pretty sure the first kick we put in resulted in a repeat set because 3 players chased to force Robertson back in goal. And we did nullify the impact of Stewart's kick returns.

And we lack a six hit-up grinding set? Pretty sure KG and Ellis in particular constantly dented the line.

:laughing: :laughing: He was there ….pehaps he didn't like the fact that a certin group of Wests Tigers Fans gave him a gobful throughout the game...especially at the end.....

Geez ....we held the much vaunted Manly side and then ran over the top of them..... where even some of our own supporters didn't give us a hope....

Other mates that support other teams where impressed at the physical nature of the game and how Wests had the better of it!!!!!

Soft Pack....pfft with Galloway, Gibbs, Ellis, Fulton, Farah and Heighno et al ...Wests Tigers are far from that!!!

 

[crouching_tiger]

If i recall, the last time we played Manly, wasn't that the time when Watmough dominated the match, carved the WT up, and was called the DNA freak?? But Tigers still beat them in the end?

 

[AmericanHistoryX]

running on empty aint bad.

 

[TimmyB]

Compare how we fared against Manly last year to this year. Physically, we looked much closer to them this year, bar the 15 minutes from the 20th to the 35th.

I understand the point Ritchie made, but I don't think it's a particularly balanced article. A balanced article would have observed that whilst we relied on our attacking brilliance on Monday, our forwards played a much more physical game than they traditionally do.

 

[crouching_tiger]

Only a fool would not see:

Manly played excellent and LOST
WT played crap and WON

:righton:

 

[simonthetiger]

Compare how we fared against Manly last year to this year. Physically, we looked much closer to them this year, bar the 15 minutes from the 20th to the 35th.

I understand the point Ritchie made, but I don't think it's a particularly balanced article. A balanced article would have observed that whilst we relied on our attacking brilliance on Monday, our forwards played a much more physical game than they traditionally do.

Very well said.

That game was dead set brutal.

And we were dishing out plenty of it.How about Galloway trampling King,how good was that??

I can recall massive hits from all the forwards,and Lawrence and Lote got a few in too.

 

[MGB]

I think it's a pretty narrow view, Manly will out muscle most sides and I really didn't think they were that much more physical over the entire 80 minutes. Sure the middle quarter they were but 'Tigers win despite being out muscled' makes a decent headline I guess.

 

[innsaneink]

Compare how we fared against Manly last year to this year. Physically, we looked much closer to them this year, bar the 15 minutes from the 20th to the 35th.

I understand the point Ritchie made, but I don't think it's a particularly balanced article. A balanced article would have observed that whilst we relied on our attacking brilliance on Monday, our forwards played a much more physical game than they traditionally do.

Physically we only matched them for 20 odd minute.
Then they got out to a 16 point lead when we couldnt go with them
Then they started head hunting
Penalties got us home in the end

Articles accurate

 

[TimmyB]

Compare how we fared against Manly last year to this year. Physically, we looked much closer to them this year, bar the 15 minutes from the 20th to the 35th.

I understand the point Ritchie made, but I don't think it's a particularly balanced article. A balanced article would have observed that whilst we relied on our attacking brilliance on Monday, our forwards played a much more physical game than they traditionally do.

Physically we only matched them for 20 odd minute.
Then they got out to a 16 point lead when we couldnt go with them
Then they started head hunting
Penalties got us home in the end

Articles accurate

In your opinion. I thought we matched them in other patches of the game.

Penalties didn't get us home, spreading the ball wide did. Only one try came off the back of a penalty. The others were all from breaks from our own half.

 

[Geo]

:laughing: the ref's gave us penalties to get us home….seriously.....some people are never happy

What where Manly's penalties for....gifted them 8 points....

Didn't we go back to back with tries to Ayshford and Fulton...from that point on the much superior Manly ran out of puff ....Wests Tigers finished 80mins with plenty in the tank...IMHO...

 

[innsaneink]

:deadhorse:

Penaltys give you possesion, possesion gives you the ball without which you cannot score trys.

Seriously guys, do try to keep up

Dont think im not happy geo…I am...thats a bonus win we really shouldnt have

 

[Geo]

Again….so Manl'y penatlies didn't give them posession and POINTS....... :brick: