Tough times, but Tiger Tim is still the best man for the job
Date September 9, 2012 3 reading now
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Benji Marshall
Troubled Tigers … from pre-season fancies to finals flops. Photo: Getty Images
All this talk about Tim Sheens facing the chop at the Wests Tigers is beyond me - I still think he is the best coach in the game.
He's second to none not only in terms of how he reinvigorates the game, but also the manner in which he keeps up with changes in the game. A great example is how he had the Tigers playing when we won the comp back in 2005\. Now everyone plays that way.
If anyone can rebuild the club it's Tim. He's been around coaching for such a long time. Even though we didn't have success this year, I still feel he is the man for the job.
Put it this way, if I was the CEO or on the board of any club, the only reason I'd change the coach would be if there was someone better - I don't feel there's anyone better.
The people who say he's grown stale being at the same club for a long time don't see what he does with us - every week at training, Tim pulls out something new. We're practising things that he gives us the confidence to do, like me with flick passes, so that when we're in a game situation, they'll come off.
In terms of the respect of the players, on and off the field, he still has it in spades at the Tigers and I don't see that changing.
He always drums into us that the most talented players don't make it in the NRL because their attitude is not right. He keeps us on our toes.
We are all disappointed we're not in the finals. At the start of the year we didn't expect to be feeling sorry for ourselves at this time of year and I think we owe our fans an apology for the way our season turned out. As players, we expected better.
We have big expectations on ourselves and we not only let ourselves down, but the coach, the club and the fans.
It was the players' fault. The coach gave us great game plans all season, but our execution let us down. We were way too inconsistent.
We know, deep inside, that we were good enough to make the finals. But the hardest part is the simple fact that we weren't successful.
A lot of things didn't go our way, with injuries and Robbie Farah's mother tragically dying knocking us all around, but we can't blame anyone but ourselves. It just wasn't our year. It's a hard one as we weren't far off where we wanted to be all year but, in the end, we were so far away.
It's the usual thing at this time of year for the teams that didn't make it - you look back at the games you could have or should have won. We lost to Souths in extra time when Greg Inglis kicked a field goal and there was the game a couple of weeks ago against the Dogs which they also won in golden point.
Looking ahead to next year, the good thing for the club out of this season is we've unearthed some stars of the future in Aaron Woods, Curtis Sironen and Marika Koroibete.
**We've also got a few new players coming in. I can't wait for Braith Anasta to come over from the Roosters, it will be great. I'd be happy if he played halfback and I can go back to five-eighth. I think that'd suit my game and his. I'd have a bit more room to move and he could do a lot of the organising, which is what he's been doing all his career anyway. His experience in big games will also help us out a lot.**
I just want to get on the training field so we get back to where we want to be next year. I know we can be a lot better in 2013 - and I know changing the coach is not the answer
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