Wests Tigers: 2021 season by the numbers

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Wests Tigers: 2021 season by the numbers
Author - Alicia Newton
NRL.com Reporter
Timestamp - Fri 22 Oct 2021, 10:01 AM

Wests Tigers' finals drought stretched to 10 years as they slumped to 13th on the competition ladder, their worst finish since 2017.

While the Tigers managed to score more points (500) in their 25-round regular season than they had done in eight years, defensively they conceded a whopping 714, their worst effort since 2001.

The departure of club legend Benji Marshall to South Sydney proved too great a loss to overcome in the end, although Adam Doueihi and new recruit Daine Laurie were among the shining lights for coach Michael Maguire.

Laurie finished as a joint player of the year alongside Luke Brooks, who produced some solid performances without being brilliant.

Maguire's future was up in the air following a humiliating 38-0 loss to last-placed Canterbury in round 25 but the club have thrown their support behind the premiership-winning coach moving forward.

Regular-season win/loss record
A sluggish start of one win from their opening seven games put the joint venture on the back foot before a mid-season resurgence saw them climb to 11th after round 13.

The move to Queensland from round 18 started positively with a 42-24 win over Brisbane but losses to Manly and the Warriors during the next fortnight pushed them back further.

Three straight defeats to end the season, in which they conceded 118 points and scored just 36, brought the curtain down on a disappointing campaign.

Run metres differential
Wests Tigers were among the clubs to struggle most for yardage with 115 metres conceded on average per game to their opposition.

Their 1557 metres per match average ranked them 13th for the regular season in an area Maguire will need to fix in 2022.

Defensively they sat alongside some top-eight sides in conceding yardage with 1672, ranking them ninth.

Mid-season recruit Ken Maumalo (158.3m) and winger David Nofoaluma (133.6m) finished the side's best for average metres recorded per game.

Try scoring - game time

Wests Tigers were slow starters but found their groove in the second halves of games with a split of 37-50 tries.

They scored 180 of their 500 season points in the final 20 minutes of games.

Winger David Nofoaluma finished as the club's leading try-scorer for a second consecutive season although his tally of 13 was well down on his return of 17 tries in 2020.

Young gun Tommy Talau finished second best with 11.

Tries conceded - game time
The Tigers struggled to repel opposition sides throughout the course of the 80 minutes with their starts particularly an issue despite managing points in the opening quarter.

Wests Tigers recorded 30 points in the first 10 minutes of a game throughout the year but conceded 70 in return for a -40 differential.

They scored 16.8% of their points (84) between 10-20th minute mark but were again let down by their defence to concede 96.

Over 30% of their points conceded came before and after the half-time break.

Tries scored/conceded from six-agains
Wests Tigers ranked equal 10th alongside the Bulldogs for scoring tries off ruck infringements conceded by the opposition with 13.

In return, the side struggled to defend their own ruck infringements (they had more than any other all season) to let in 22 tries, two fewer than the Bulldogs.

Metres gained from offloads
Wests Tigers recorded the highest number of offloads in 2021 with 306 in total to edge out Parramatta.

However, despite producing more offloads, they generated 1768 metres to rank sixth behind teams like the Eels, Storm and Panthers, indicating the lack of effectiveness.

David Nofoaluma (50), Luciano Leilua (38) and Joe Ofahengaue (27) led the way in the offloading stakes. Nofoaluma's offloads generated a club-high 329 metres while Leilua's produced 278.

Goal-kicking accuracy
The joint venture has struggled in recent years with their goal-kicking but Adam Doueihi's accuracy with the boot in 2021 saw them rank sixth alongside some of the best teams in the competition.

Doueihi finished with a 79.3% success rate while Luke Brooks slotted seven goals for the year from nine attempts.

Players used
The Wests Tigers used a total of 31 players throughout their 2021 campaign at an average age of 25.1, the equal fourth youngest in the competition.

Of the 31 players, 18 appeared in 11 or more games while Luke Brooks, David Nofoaluma and Luciano Leilua played in all 24 matches.

The club blooded six debutants throughout the year while 11 players were under the age of 23 – the equal third-highest amount across all squads this season.

The Wests Tigers had just 18 of their 31 players feature in 11 games or more.

Decoys and Supports
Two areas the Wests Tigers have improved in recent years is their decoy and support play, which indicate players are often in motion around the ball.

They led the competition in both areas ahead of heavyweight teams Melbourne, Penrith and Sydney Roosters.

An area to work on will now be how to convert their opportunities into points in 2022.

Kicking game variety
Plenty was made about the Wests Tigers' attacking kicking game throughout the 2021 season with NRL.com stats able to show how much variety the side lacked with the boot.

Luke Brooks and Adam Doueihi took most of the ownership in this area while Moses Mbye and Dane Laurie also had their moments.

The side ranked first for cross-field kicks but fell away with other types of kicks, preferring to place the ball in the air more than along the ground.

 

[happy_tiger]

See Packer has been a great influence

Our decoys runs increased and we finished 13th .....

Those are the positives ....now for the negatives .....

Ohhh ..better not the "You can't criticize the club toss pots" might be reading ...might start wailing lamentations and hitting themselves in the head with rocks

 

[innsaneink]

We gotta improve everywhere.... I see it all too much to turn around at once.... Will take time IF it happens

 

[needsanewusername]

We may have lead the comp in decoy and support runners but our spine did not have the variation, vision or skill to take advantage of this. Instead our patterns and shapes utilised were so boring and easily read that shutting them down became a simple exercise for opposition defences.
We were just horrible everywhere and major improvement is required across every facet of the game.

 

[Bus 2 Terrigal]

We may have lead the comp in decoy and support runners but our spine did not have the variation, vision or skill to take advantage of this. Instead our patterns and shapes utilised were so boring and easily read that shutting them down became a simple exercise for opposition defences.
We were just horrible everywhere and major improvement is required across every facet of the game.

That’s a good point.

I imagine if a side scooted from dummy half on every play throughout a season, they’d lead the comp in completions.

They’d also win the spoon.🤔

 

[Tigers_Tale]

Our attack was not the problem, and considering the amount of new players we had in the side, we did really well. It was our defence that let us down and possibly the reason for this was the new 6 again rule, and it would be nice to know the stats on that, which they did not provide. I know even the Penrith game at Leichhardt which we won, the 6 again calls went against us.

 

[needsanewusername]

Our attack was not the problem, and considering the amount of new players we had in the side, we did really well.

Can you go into more detail on how you arrived at this extraordinary statement please?
We had a favourable draw this year, playing the poor sides more than the good. Our 500 points scored has us ranked 10th in attack. We played the top 6 teams a combined 10 times and scored 27 tries against them. Not great when you average over 30 points a game against.
I thought our attack was predictable, pedestrian junk this year with our scoring tally padded by posting late tries in numerous contests of games we had already lost.

 

[Tigers_Tale]

Our attack was not the problem, and considering the amount of new players we had in the side, we did really well.

Can you go into more detail on how you arrived at this extraordinary statement please?
We had a favourable draw this year, playing the poor sides more than the good. Our 500 points scored has us ranked 10th in attack. We played the top 6 teams a combined 10 times and scored 27 tries against them. Not great when you average over 30 points a game against.
I thought our attack was predictable, pedestrian junk this year with our scoring tally padded by posting late tries in numerous contests of games we had already lost.

We actually beat sides in the top 8, Newcastle twice, Penrith once and we should of beaten South's. Also, we scored enough points in games to win, its just defence let us down , ie look at games against Titans, Cowboys, Warriors. We probably one of the few teams that played Roosters at full strength, Also , you need to understand we have have one of the youngest squads, the least experienced squad, and we have just done a big cleanout of players, brought in a lot of young new players, and some fans here expect them to gel immediately. We are playing against some teams that have basically had the same squad's for 5 seasons. Also, i watched a lot of their games and thought we got the raw end deal with the 6 again calls

 

[Wagga_Tiger]

Stop 1 try per game just 1 and we play finals. Stopping 1 in some games means nothing to the result but we beat Warriors twice, Cowboys and Souths. Also brings our against to 570 which is still -70 but Storm, Roosters, Sharks, Manly and Dogs games were all blowouts that added 188 points against us. Halve that number and we are in the positive. All good in hindsight and what ifs I know but all the experts say defence wins games and I think we all know that.

 

[needsanewusername]

Our attack was not the problem, and considering the amount of new players we had in the side, we did really well.

Can you go into more detail on how you arrived at this extraordinary statement please?
We had a favourable draw this year, playing the poor sides more than the good. Our 500 points scored has us ranked 10th in attack. We played the top 6 teams a combined 10 times and scored 27 tries against them. Not great when you average over 30 points a game against.
I thought our attack was predictable, pedestrian junk this year with our scoring tally padded by posting late tries in numerous contests of games we had already lost.

We actually beat sides in the top 8, Newcastle twice, Penrith once and we should of beaten South's. Also, we scored enough points in games to win, its just defence let us down , ie look at games against Titans, Cowboys, Warriors. We probably one of the few teams that played Roosters at full strength, Also , you need to understand we have have one of the youngest squads, the least experienced squad, and we have just done a big cleanout of players, brought in a lot of young new players, and some fans here expect them to gel immediately. We are playing against some teams that have basically had the same squad's for 5 seasons. Also, i watched a lot of their games and thought we got the raw end deal with the 6 again calls

A lot to unravel there. My following comments are predicated on my agreement that our defence was thoroughly atrocious in most of our games:
1. You have only scored enough points within a game to win that game - if you manage to win. If you lose, enough points weren’t scored.
2. There was a top 8 on paper only this year. Newcastle and the Titans were so far behind the top 6 they may as well have been playing a different sport. I only included the top 6 because the bottom 10 were barely playing first grade level football this year. I consider wins against these other 9 teams as misleading in terms of performance.
3. I’m not sure why you brought up the Roosters game, but as you did, we were outclassed in every facet of that game including our attack which looked truly aweful.
4. Yes we do have a young squad. The guy who organises our attack is not inexperienced however and should have done better. You claimed our attack did ‘really well’. I thought it was clumsy, disorganised, rudderless and at times completely incompetent. What did happen was individuals stood up at times and got us points through their skill. That gives the new coaches something to work with.
5. I do not agree with the fan base of this club’s assertion that we always get the raw deal from refs. Our discipline is mud. Even having an ex ref at training has barely improved our work in the wrestle. This is purely a defensive issue, which I fully acknowledge.

 

[Tigers_Tale]

Our attack was not the problem, and considering the amount of new players we had in the side, we did really well.

Can you go into more detail on how you arrived at this extraordinary statement please?
We had a favourable draw this year, playing the poor sides more than the good. Our 500 points scored has us ranked 10th in attack. We played the top 6 teams a combined 10 times and scored 27 tries against them. Not great when you average over 30 points a game against.
I thought our attack was predictable, pedestrian junk this year with our scoring tally padded by posting late tries in numerous contests of games we had already lost.

We actually beat sides in the top 8, Newcastle twice, Penrith once and we should of beaten South's. Also, we scored enough points in games to win, its just defence let us down , ie look at games against Titans, Cowboys, Warriors. We probably one of the few teams that played Roosters at full strength, Also , you need to understand we have have one of the youngest squads, the least experienced squad, and we have just done a big cleanout of players, brought in a lot of young new players, and some fans here expect them to gel immediately. We are playing against some teams that have basically had the same squad's for 5 seasons. Also, i watched a lot of their games and thought we got the raw end deal with the 6 again calls

A lot to unravel there. My following comments are predicated on my agreement that our defence was thoroughly atrocious in most of our games:
1. You have only scored enough points within a game to win that game - if you manage to win. If you lose, enough points weren’t scored.
2. There was a top 8 on paper only this year. Newcastle and the Titans were so far behind the top 6 they may as well have been playing a different sport. I only included the top 6 because the bottom 10 were barely playing first grade level football this year. I consider wins against these other 9 teams as misleading in terms of performance.
3. I’m not sure why you brought up the Roosters game, but as you did, we were outclassed in every facet of that game including our attack which looked truly aweful.
4. Yes we do have a young squad. The guy who organises our attack is not inexperienced however and should have done better. You claimed our attack did ‘really well’. I thought it was clumsy, disorganised, rudderless and at times completely incompetent. What did happen was individuals stood up at times and got us points through their skill. That gives the new coaches something to work with.
5. I do not agree with the fan base of this club’s assertion that we always get the raw deal from refs. Our discipline is mud. Even having an ex ref at training has barely improved our work in the wrestle. This is purely a defensive issue, which I fully acknowledge.

1. There scoring a lot of points, if you read the first message we have scored more point this than previous years. we are scoring 4-5 tries then letting the other team score 6. our attack is not the problem we just need to fix the defence, or reduce the 6 again calls which seems to be what's killing us.
2.Your comment not mine, you said top 8 sides.
3. Roosters played with basically a 2nd rate side by the end of the year which meant other teams had a better chance of beating them, Probably us and Manly were the only teams that met Roosters full strength. Yes we got smashed off the park , half our side had played together for the second time in their life against this Roosters side.
4. Some of our players have some X factor and our attack got better through the year. The coaches organising our attack and defence do have a harder job working with a young squad, than if they dealing with a side that's played together for a number of seasons. Players do not gel combinations overnight not matter who the coach is.
5. Your kidding yourself, there are certain players and clubs that get a little more leiniency. Check the stats. For example that game against Penrith at Leichhardt , we did not get a 6 again call in the second half, Penrith got 5. We won that game. Penrith were given every chance to win that game, and if it was left in the hands for ref on field we would have lost, it bunker calls that got us the win through referred decisions. There were a number of games we got a raw deal.

 

[needsanewusername]

Our attack was not the problem, and considering the amount of new players we had in the side, we did really well.

Can you go into more detail on how you arrived at this extraordinary statement please?
We had a favourable draw this year, playing the poor sides more than the good. Our 500 points scored has us ranked 10th in attack. We played the top 6 teams a combined 10 times and scored 27 tries against them. Not great when you average over 30 points a game against.
I thought our attack was predictable, pedestrian junk this year with our scoring tally padded by posting late tries in numerous contests of games we had already lost.

We actually beat sides in the top 8, Newcastle twice, Penrith once and we should of beaten South's. Also, we scored enough points in games to win, its just defence let us down , ie look at games against Titans, Cowboys, Warriors. We probably one of the few teams that played Roosters at full strength, Also , you need to understand we have have one of the youngest squads, the least experienced squad, and we have just done a big cleanout of players, brought in a lot of young new players, and some fans here expect them to gel immediately. We are playing against some teams that have basically had the same squad's for 5 seasons. Also, i watched a lot of their games and thought we got the raw end deal with the 6 again calls

A lot to unravel there. My following comments are predicated on my agreement that our defence was thoroughly atrocious in most of our games:
1. You have only scored enough points within a game to win that game - if you manage to win. If you lose, enough points weren’t scored.
2. There was a top 8 on paper only this year. Newcastle and the Titans were so far behind the top 6 they may as well have been playing a different sport. I only included the top 6 because the bottom 10 were barely playing first grade level football this year. I consider wins against these other 9 teams as misleading in terms of performance.
3. I’m not sure why you brought up the Roosters game, but as you did, we were outclassed in every facet of that game including our attack which looked truly aweful.
4. Yes we do have a young squad. The guy who organises our attack is not inexperienced however and should have done better. You claimed our attack did ‘really well’. I thought it was clumsy, disorganised, rudderless and at times completely incompetent. What did happen was individuals stood up at times and got us points through their skill. That gives the new coaches something to work with.
5. I do not agree with the fan base of this club’s assertion that we always get the raw deal from refs. Our discipline is mud. Even having an ex ref at training has barely improved our work in the wrestle. This is purely a defensive issue, which I fully acknowledge.

1. There scoring a lot of points, if you read the first message we have scored more point this than previous years. we are scoring 4-5 tries then letting the other team score 6. our attack is not the problem we just need to fix the defence, or reduce the 6 again calls which seems to be what's killing us.
2.Your comment not mine, you said top 8 sides.
3. Roosters played with basically a 2nd rate side by the end of the year which meant other teams had a better chance of beating them, Probably us and Manly were the only teams that met Roosters full strength. Yes we got smashed off the park , half our side had played together for the second time in their life against this Roosters side.
4. Some of our players have some X factor and our attack got better through the year. The coaches organising our attack and defence do have a harder job working with a young squad, than if they dealing with a side that's played together for a number of seasons. Players do not gel combinations overnight not matter who the coach is.
5. Your kidding yourself, there are certain players and clubs that get a little more leiniency. Check the stats. For example that game against Penrith at Leichhardt , we did not get a 6 again call in the second half, Penrith got 5. We won that game. Penrith were given every chance to win that game, and if it was left in the hands for ref on field we would have lost, it bunker calls that got us the win through referred decisions. There were a number of games we got a raw deal.

Ok well we can go back and forth all day on this. Different supporters seeing different things.
If you think our attack is great then good on you. If you think we are hard done by and unlucky to miss the 8 then good for you.
I do not hold either of those views so we’ll leave it there.

 

[Wagga_Tiger]

When you score 500 and let in 700 it’s pretty obvious where the problem lies.

 

[happy_tiger]

When you score 500 and let in 700 it’s pretty obvious where the problem lies.

Yeah score 1200 .....Sheens is back

Reasons not excuses everyone