Troubled Tigers - my first post

[_lt_TigerBrad_gt]

Hi all, this is a blog I put together for a Facebook page/website I mess about with with a couple of mates. Thought I'd share, given the tough run we're going through. In a weird way, writing this was something of a cleansing experience…

The Wests Tigers love mediocrity. They embrace it. They reward it. Their players, coaching staff, sponsors and corporate bosses accept it. Their fans have become conditioned to it, and now we’re all paying the price. If you’re going to bring up the “true fan” rubbish then stop reading now. Just stop. You won’t enjoy this.

The current crop of Wests Tigers are the biggest underachievers of the modern era. Forget the Dragons of the early 2000s, this lot puts them to shame. The Tigers have nine internationals on their books – nine. For those playing at home, Adam Blair, Gareth Ellis, Robbie Farah, Chris Heighington, Keith Galloway, Chris Lawrence, Benji Marshall, Lote Tuqiri and Matt Utai have all represented their country.

Throw in Liam Fulton, Tim Moltzen, Joel Reddy and Aaron Woods, who have all played City v Country, and Tim Sheens has 13 representative players at his disposal. That’s a whole team by the way, and the perfect number for Sheens considering he never uses his bench.

Put simply, the coach has lost the team. Key players have quit on the only coach they’ve ever known. The players have packed it up for 2012 but don’t kid yourself, this is all on Sheens. The game has changed, the Tigers haven’t. Marshall and Farah still make rookie mistakes. They still kick the ball out on the full every week. They still run the same ineffective scrum plays every week.

The Tigers have had 31 halves combinations in nine years. If David Furner or Stephen Kearney were running the show fans would absolutely riot. But at the Wests Tigers, with Sheens and Benji in charge, it’s accepted. It’s normal. It’s more of the same.

This isn’t about kicking the players while they’re down. This is about reclaiming the team I love. The team I have cheered for and cried for since I watched the 1988 Grand Final in a little house in the heart of Leichhardt. Mediocrity is for mugs, and this Wests Tigers fan deserves better. We all do.

<^TigerBrad^>

 

[bundyboy]

Hi all, this is a blog I put together for a Facebook page/website I mess about with with a couple of mates. Thought I'd share, given the tough run we're going through. In a weird way, writing this was something of a cleansing experience…

The Wests Tigers love mediocrity. They embrace it. They reward it. Their players, coaching staff, sponsors and corporate bosses accept it. Their fans have become conditioned to it, and now we’re all paying the price. If you’re going to bring up the “true fan” rubbish then stop reading now. Just stop. You won’t enjoy this.

The current crop of Wests Tigers are the biggest underachievers of the modern era. Forget the Dragons of the early 2000s, this lot puts them to shame. The Tigers have nine internationals on their books – nine. For those playing at home, Adam Blair, Gareth Ellis, Robbie Farah, Chris Heighington, Keith Galloway, Chris Lawrence, Benji Marshall, Lote Tuqiri and Matt Utai have all represented their country.

Throw in Liam Fulton, Tim Moltzen, Joel Reddy and Aaron Woods, who have all played City v Country, and Tim Sheens has 13 representative players at his disposal. That’s a whole team by the way, and the perfect number for Sheens considering he never uses his bench.

Put simply, the coach has lost the team. Key players have quit on the only coach they’ve ever known. The players have packed it up for 2012 but don’t kid yourself, this is all on Sheens. The game has changed, the Tigers haven’t. Marshall and Farah still make rookie mistakes. They still kick the ball out on the full every week. They still run the same ineffective scrum plays every week.

The Tigers have had 31 halves combinations in nine years. If David Furner or Stephen Kearney were running the show fans would absolutely riot. But at the Wests Tigers, with Sheens and Benji in charge, it’s accepted. It’s normal. It’s more of the same.

This isn’t about kicking the players while they’re down. This is about reclaiming the team I love. The team I have cheered for and cried for since I watched the 1988 Grand Final in a little house in the heart of Leichhardt. Mediocrity is for mugs, and this Wests Tigers fan deserves better. We all do.

Can you tell us something we don't know?. Like when is sheens going to admit he's lost the plot & the senior players are to scared to question the master?
\
\
_Posted using RoarFEED 2012_

 

[RatedRKO]

Well said.

 

[ambostu]

Well said.

x 2
\
\
_Posted using RoarFEED 2012_

 

[Cultured_Bogan]

It's a fairly accurate post to start off with Brad. Hard to argue with any of it really.

 

[tiga4eva]

Brad, you had me at hello.
\
\
_Posted using RoarFEED 2012_

 

[lethalleftedge]

have faith my friends
time to get on Tigers at tab are 34-1

 

[supercoach]

Being banging the same drum for a while, a few years back you would get your head pulled off if you said something negative about Sheens, now you are getting lots of people saying the same thing. Anyway the power of the people dosnt work in tiger town, tiger Tim is with us for two more long years. At the end of his stay we will be just like the team he took over all those years ago–- a basket case

 

[reyre2000]

Nothing new there Tigerbrad. Welcome to the forum but you are among the other 90% of us fans who thinks Sheens should not only be shown the door but booted to the gutter and the door locked behind him. Ive been banging on about his poor coaching since 2007\. The Tigers with all their youth in that year that we won the comp, it should have been the start of a dynasty. How very wrong that turned out to be. I'll give him a pass for 2006 as it was a horrible year for injuries to key players (Hodgo, Benji, Prince), the game changed to rub us out to an extent and we were facing an uphill battle being defending premiers. From 2007-2009 he did absolutely nothing to replace our premiership winning half back when he brought in Johnny Morris and star recruits Jason Moodie Jamhahl Lolesi and Sam Harris. What a huge failure the Jonny Cronk experiment failed to be…....... for 3 years!! 2010-2011 i think we missed our chance. The biggest difference in 10'11' was we actually had a half back. HELLO TIMMY!! No half back this year, where are we now?! What an idiot this bloke is. 3 years of failure due to no half, 2 years of minor success and now back to no half back. The mind just boggles. The sooner this clown is kicked out, the sooner this team can go forward.

This year weve had a huge injury list but i dont consider Rhino, Groat, Ellis, Lote, Rowdy or a rookie Fullback with 30mins of game time to be key players. We have had Robbie (with the exception of a few games) and Benji fit all year. the problem is simply, no spine. (That can be read both ways) no fixed 1, 6, 7, 9 and no backbone, the players have been soft as butter all year.

So, i will pose this question, who is responsible? If its not the god like Sheens it must be Robbie and Benji. No one with a single brain cell can say its the players fault. The buck stops with the head caoch.

Get out of town Sheens, You are not wanted in Tigertown.

 

[happy_tiger]

Love your stuff TigerBrad I'm with you if we can't at least achieve what we did last season , this season should be classed as a failure and the same goes for Sheens

The talk he and Humphrey have post season shouldn't be a pretty sight , but we all know better than that

 

[kh_canada]

Love your stuff TigerBrad I'm with you if we can't at least achieve what we did last season , this season should be classed as a failure and the same goes for Sheens

The talk he and Humphrey have post season shouldn't be a pretty sight , but we all know better than that

X2
\
\
_Posted using RoarFEED 2012_

 

[Tiger_Watto]

Well put together statement Brad… Welcome to the Forum and enjoy!

 

[foreveratiger]

Very well put together Brad , can't argue with any of it . I suggest you send this post to Stephen Humphreys.
Welcome to the Tigers mad house…

 

[Gary_Bakerloo]

The Wests Tigers love mediocrity. They embrace it. They reward it. Their players, coaching staff, sponsors and corporate bosses accept it. Their fans have become conditioned to it, and now we’re all paying the price. If you’re going to bring up the “true fan” rubbish then stop reading now. Just stop. You won’t enjoy this.

<^TigerBrad^>

It comes down to fan's expectations. Considering where we have come from, mediocrity is not too shabby. From 1960 - 1999 we contested just 7 grand finals out of a possible 78 seasons, winning just the one (1969). In between it was mid table finishes with a handful of semi finals appearances. There were a few wooden spoons to throw in as well.

In reality, Wests Tigers have continued this tradition, with the exception of not winning spoons. So far so good in my humble opinion, because we could take the short term option of gambling on massive signings and going through coach after coach. This is the Parramatta and Sydney Roosters method. Problem is, it can pay off short term with a GF appearance, but then you crash just as quickly as you can't keep making the big signings.

I think the strategy of using our junior pool moreso than other clubs serves us well over the long term.

 

[tig_prmz]

It comes down to fan's expectations. Considering where we have come from, mediocrity is not too shabby. From **1960 - 1999** we contested just 7 grand finals out of a possible 78 seasons, winning just the one (1969). In between it was mid table finishes with a handful of semi finals appearances. There were a few wooden spoons to throw in as well.

meh

In reality, Wests Tigers have continued this tradition, with the exception of not winning spoons. So far so good in my humble opinion

oh so we haven't won a spoon, so it's all good??

, because we could take the short term option of gambling on massive signings and going through coach after coach. This is the Parramatta and Sydney Roosters method. Problem is, it can pay off short term with a GF appearance, but then you crash just as quickly as you can't keep making the big signings.

we've had our fair share of "massive" signings

Look I'm not attacking you… but sheens can't keep living on the past.
he has made mistakes and he never learns from them. so many people see it, there is only a minority which dont... unfortunately they're the ones that matter the most.

 

[Guest]

Ok, so people are entitled to have a whinge, or defend the coaching staff and players…that's fine. But at the end of the day, what is the solution?

And when I say solution, I mean realistic solution. Is Sheens under pressure to hold his job for next year? Have any players been put on notice? Are we cashed up enough to buy a top halfback or another prop?

I fear unless a major attitude change occurs throughout the club over the off-season, new policies and procedures are out in place, then I fear we'll see a repeat of this year, next year. Why? Because I don't believe Sheens contract will be torn up or paid out, I don't think we'll see a mass clean out of players and we clearly are not in the market for a top shelf halfback.

 

[Cultured_Bogan]

Ok, so people are entitled to have a whinge, or defend the coaching staff and players…that's fine. But at the end of the day, what is the solution?

And when I say solution, I mean realistic solution. Is Sheens under pressure to hold his job for next year? Have any players been put on notice? Are we cashed up enough to buy a top halfback or another prop?

I fear unless a major attitude change occurs throughout the club over the off-season, new policies and procedures are out in place, then I fear we'll see a repeat of this year, next year. Why? Because I don't believe Sheens contract will be torn up or paid out, I don't think we'll see a mass clean out of players and we clearly are not in the market for a top shelf halfback.

Are they not valid concerns though Willow? We have seen a worrying trend here where a number of key (and well paid,) players are just not performing to expectations. Just because we don't foresee a change, doesn't mean that it may not be called for.

 

[tig_prmz]

there are two parts of solving a problem

1\. identify the problem
2\. fix it

(1) hasn't been done yet.

 

[GNR4LIFE]

As sad as it is Sheens job is as safe as a bank. Not once in almost 10 yrs has there ever been one hint of pressure from within the media on him. Never known another coach who seemingly has control over the board, at any sane club it's usually the other way around. The WT board have the spine of a paramecium

 

[Snake]

People power can win out ….when the member ship packages come next season we all do what I'm going to do that is if there is not a major directional change made and a 1/2 back signed I will not be renewing our memberships,I don't like
Doing it but it's my protest that things have to change.
\
\
_Posted using RoarFEED 2012_