Wests Tigers coach Mick Potter calls on fans to back team

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Wests Tigers coach Mick Potter calls on fans to back team
April 12, 2014 - 11:04PM
Brad Walter
Chief Rugby League Writer
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Just 6456 fans saw the home side record their fourth victory of the season in a scrappy game against the Cowboys.

Wests Tigers coach Mick Potter has called on fans to get behind the in-form team after a crowd of just 6,456 attended Saturday night's match at Campbelltown Stadium.

The poor turnout was a disappointment for the Tigers, who added North Queensland to an impressive list of scalps this season that includes Manly, South Sydney and competition leaders Gold Coast.

The club plans to announce a $10 ticket deal for their round 11 clash with Brisbane in a last-ditch bid to attract support at Campbelltown, but will be forced to re-assess the financial viability of continuing to play games at the venue if they don't get a good crowd.
Clinical: Martin Taupau of the Tigers goes into contact.

"It is disappointing to only have 6,000 fans here," Potter said. "I think we are not going too bad, we have won four out of six so you would like to think we would have some fans here who would want to come and watch a good game. It was a good game to watch and we appreciate the people who were here."

While he described the game as "slow and dour", Potter was proud of the performance of his young team and said their defence had secured the 16-4 win over the Cowboys.

NSW Origin prop Aaron Woods again led the way, carrying the ball for 164 metres from 18 runs and making 35 tackles, while skipper Robbie Farah topped the tackle count (40) as well as scoring one try and setting up the Tigers' other two.

"I thought we defended really well and toughed it out there under some unusual circumstances," Potter said. "I thought we were doing alright defensively and they didn't trouble us too much. Occasionally they did give us some trouble but I thought our players looked comfortable defensively."

The Tigers completed 35 of their 40 sets with the ball, including 19 out of 20 in the first half, and wore down the Cowboys, who committed 14 handling errors.

"Errors are a part of the game and everyone tries to minimise them, but whether they were forced or they didn't make the most of the situation, I was happy they did make 14 errors because they probably had three opportunities to score tries and came up with errors," Potter said.

 

[happy_tiger]

Fantastic completion rate

I would imagine our completion rate would be in the Top 3-4 teams

 

[glebe_tiger]

pretty disappointing crowd last night. i know we played an out of sydney team but geez, as fans we're digging a big holes for ourselves. if this keeps up both our traditional home grounds will lose an allocated game each year, possibly more. is this what we want?

 

[brk53y]

Looked like more then 6000 to me. The atmosphere was pretty dull but

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[Gazman]

I was there and thought the crowd was bigger than that posted I don't get to Sydney that often but never miss a live game and thought the $10 deal was a bonus. The crowd was not as vocal I thought though .

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[Pommy_tiger]

Was at the game last night really enjoyed it but there were a couple off things that I struggled to get my head round ,what is with the magpie fanatics abusing there own fans just because there not wearing a magpies jersey we are Wests tigers have been for 15 years let's cut this out and get behind the club it was my first time out at Campbeltown the stadium is great for watching footy but the crowd was pathetically low ,you so called diehards need to realise your club is gone there are no more magpies /balmain just Wests tigers :sign:

 

[1_4_chicken_chips]

Well said pommy .
But you'll always have a dope factor in any club .We Wests were dead in the water until Balmain offered the lifeline .15 years later we are the Wests tigers and nothing else .

 

[sideline_eye]

Don't worry about a few idiots abusing their fellow fans, it was probably the booze talking. If that crowd was only six thousand, I'll eat my hat. Come round 11, I'll be at Campbelltown and I'm coming from the Hunter Valley. So come on all you Wests Tigers fans, who is going to match me or beat me for distance travelled to get to Campbelltown! Mmmmm, I could eat a horse!

 

[Knuckles]

I've been going to CSS since '87 and am certain the attendance number is wrong. My guess was between 8.5 and 9 which was still disappointing. With cheap tix and better marketing and promotion of the match we will do a lot better against Brisbane. Hopefully some of _**the knockers might show up as well**_.

 

[brk53y]

Was at the game last night really enjoyed it but there were a couple off things that I struggled to get my head round ,what is with the magpie fanatics abusing there own fans just because there not wearing a magpies jersey we are Wests tigers have been for 15 years let's cut this out and get behind the club it was my first time out at Campbeltown the stadium is great for watching footy but the crowd was pathetically low ,you so called diehards need to realise your club is gone there are no more magpies /balmain just Wests tigers :sign:

I copped it off them too. Chanting at me that I was whipped because I was holding my 8 week old boy. The bloke waving the massive flag goes pretty quiet when you tell him where to go.

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[Defiant]

I was an old magpie fan when the merger happened.
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6000 paying fans is pathetic. I don't know how we can justify taking games there any more .

The main benefactor of the team is based at Ashfield… i'd be cutting Cambo loose outside funding their junior footy.

 

[Wagga_Tiger]

Don't worry about a few idiots abusing their fellow fans, it was probably the booze talking. If that crowd was only six thousand, I'll eat my hat. Come round 11, I'll be at Campbelltown and I'm coming from the Hunter Valley. So come on all you Wests Tigers fans, who is going to match me or beat me for distance travelled to get to Campbelltown! Mmmmm, I could eat a horse!

I'm coming up for this game, 400km drive for all three grades, 15 year anniversary game can't wait.

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[Tim Sheens]

Well said pommy .
But you'll always have a dope factor in any club .We Wests were dead in the water until Balmain offered the lifeline .15 years later we are the Wests tigers and nothing else .

As a Tiger supporter I was happy that we threw that line to Wests. Realistically, whilst Balmain did win a spot in the re-unified competition and could have plodded along on our own, we too needed to merge.

Parramatta were courting us at the time, with the main aim of gaining the Tigers brand/name being public knowledge. I for one am pleased that we are not the Parramatta Tigers and really don't mind no longer being the Balmain Tigers for that matter, as something had to give. Either way, we would still be predominately called the Tigers by most fans and the media, just as we are now. To think otherwise would seem ridiculous to most.

Surely being part of something is better than holding onto the whole of nothing. Wear any of our past respective team jerseys with pride at any venue by all means, but please leave any grudges, negativity and attitude at the gate. If they are not willing to leave the past behind, I would prefer they stay at home and bash the wall of their caves as they only put off new supporters.

Back on topic. Most probably, like many others (especially for those of us with children) that live a good distance from Cambo, it was windy and raining a little right up until the latest time to leave to get the ground, and us such we decided not to go. It turned out to be the wrong decision, but last week it was the correct one

The crowd did look sparse on TV and with the weather in the area supposedly clearing prior to the NYC game, the locals can't use the weather as an excuse. Together with the the lack of numbers in recent years, Mayer is within his rights to question the continued use of the venue. Not being a wealthy club, we cannot afford to continually not break even.

The numbers from the Storm and Cows games last season at Leichhardt were played in conditions similar to that our far north QLD forumers are now experiencing and would not be selected by ANZ as one of their matches either, so should not really be taken into consideration.

 

[jabbajay]

I have no idea what CEO Grant Mayer's background is, but to help him stop having to scratch his head about Campbelltown crowds may I suggest he has a look at the following points. I have attached the 2014 draw table.
Round 5 Sun 6 Apr Wests Tigers Sea Eagles Leichhardt Oval 3:00PM
Round 6 Sat 12 Apr Wests Tigers Cowboys Campbelltown Stadium 7:30PM
Round 8 Sun 27 Apr Wests Tigers Titans Leichhardt Oval 3:00PM
Round 11 Sat 24 May Wests Tigers Broncos Campbelltown Stadium 7:30PM
Round 16 Sat 28 Jun Wests Tigers Raiders Campbelltown Stadium 5:30PM
Round 17 Sun 6 Jul Wests Tigers Panthers Leichhardt Oval 3:00PM
Round 21 Fri 1 Aug Wests Tigers Storm Campbelltown Stadium TBC
Round 26 Thu 4 Sep Wests Tigers Sharks Leichhardt Oval TBC.
First point, all the games at Campbelltown are against teams from other States, not one sydney based team, so its natural that there will not be many opposition supporters to boost crowd numbers. He is quoted as saying, "It is incredible to think 16,000 sat and stood in the rain to watch the team win against one of the competition heavyweights but, six days later, we have 6000 at one of the greatest venues in rugby league in Campbelltown Sports Stadium." but naturally he didn't make a comment about the opposition. The heavyweight of course being Manly, a Sydney based team.
Point two, except for the last two games where I have not been able to get the game start times, all the games are 3pm starts on a Sunday at Leichhardt Oval. Campbelltown on the other hand has a 5.30pm ( the earliest) and then two at 7.30pm, but NOT ONE on a Sunday. Now 7.30pm seems reasonable but if I want to take my grandkids along, which I was, the earliest that I would get home would be about 9.30 to 10pm, which is too late for some of them.
Dropping the price to $10 a ticket is a great idea, but as he knows and implied it is not a viable proposition. Sure, the prices could be dropped a bit to make it more affordable for families so more would come.
It disappoints me that he has so little regard for the people of Campbelltown when he is quoted as saying "It is a last throw of the dice for Campbelltown to come and show they support their club. Then, we will have to reassess whether we continue to run games here at a loss". I am of the opinion that maybe he should reassess what games are played at Campbelltown, what times and what day, so the people get a better deal and then there should be no loss.
I am aware that just these two points on their own would not be the final solution but I believe that they would help.

 

[Magpie_Magic]

I've been going to CSS since '87 and am certain the attendance number is wrong. My guess was between 8.5 and 9 which was still disappointing. With cheap tix and better marketing and promotion of the match we will do a lot better against Brisbane. Hopefully some of _**the knockers might show up as well**_.

Was certain there was 9k.

 

[Peaches]

I paid $30 for my general admission ticket because I couldn't make it into the stadium before 4pm. I feel that's a touch expensive.

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[krayola]

I had a feeling this was going to happen, although I'm amazed the crowd was THIS low - how is it possible to only get 6500 to a game?? I understand Manly are a Sydney team but their fans are notorious for not travelling and there was 2000 of them there at best last week, so the 'Sydney' factor doesn't really fly. And of that 16 000 I'm not sure how many were travelling from Campbelltown either…I'm gobsmacked that the team could have such poor support from people in the area.

 

[Newtown]

I paid $30 for my general admission ticket because I couldn't make it into the stadium before 4pm. I feel that's a touch expensive.

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$30 for a general admission ticket? Therein lies the major part of the problem Mr. Mayer. How can you expect young families to attend at those prices?

 

[southerntiger]

I paid $30 for my general admission ticket because I couldn't make it into the stadium before 4pm. I feel that's a touch expensive.

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$30 for a general admission ticket? Therein lies the major part of the problem Mr. Mayer. How can you expect young families to attend at those prices?

Been that price for three years. Family tickets are better value.

Price isnt the problem.

I have no problem paying $30 to see elite athletes going around.

Club also has some very cheap short term memberships.

Plenty of options.

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[Black_n_White]

I paid $30 for my general admission ticket because I couldn't make it into the stadium before 4pm. I feel that's a touch expensive.

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$30 for a general admission ticket? Therein lies the major part of the problem Mr. Mayer. How can you expect young families to attend at those prices?

Been that price for three years. Family tickets are better value.

Price isnt the problem.

I have no problem paying $30 to see elite athletes going around.

Club also has some very cheap short term memberships.

Plenty of options.

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Southern, the problem doesnt lay with getting the hardcore membership holders to turn up, its getting the locals to rock up on a whim to grow the membership, get those chained to the couch out there… how many locals would have off the cuff heard the $10 deal on twitter, the answer was sweet fook all. I only knew because of on here and I follow Mayer, thats a advertising failure of massive proportions...