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Wests Tigers must turn around their season in round seven clash with Panthers
James Hooper
The Sunday Telegraph
April 15, 2012 12:00AM
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TODAY is put up or shut up time for Benji Marshall, Robbie Farah, Tim Sheens and the Wests Tigers.
Staring down the barrel of a sixth straight loss against an injury-depleted Penrith, the one-time premiership favourites desperately need to turn their season around.
But how did the NRL's most exciting attacking outfit get to a 1-5 start?
It has been said their star players Marshall and Farah don't get on, coach Sheens has lost the senior playing group, the club has too many egos, prize recruit Adam Blair has failed to fire and they have a soft underbelly.
The Tigers say all of this is rubbish, but it's hard to argue with the statistics about them being the worst defensive outfit in the NRL.
Leading into today's match against Penrith at Centrebet Stadium, backrower Liam Fulton has opened up about the horror start and slammed rumours about a club divided.
"Everyone loves Sheensy. Everyone respects him. When you hear stuff about how the senior players don't get on with him, it's pretty bad," Fulton said.
"It's definitely not true. We've lost five straight so it's never going to be easy. But everyone's just knuckling down and doing everything we can to get a win. Whenever we're not winning, there's always talk about Benji and Robbie.
"For me personally, it doesn't bother me.
"It annoys Robbie more than it annoys Benji, but at the end of the day they know they're mates so they don't give a s…t."
When The Sunday Telegraph spoke to Tigers legends Steve Roach, Garry Jack and Benny Elias, the trio agreed Tim Moltzen's switch from halfback to fullback was a big part of the problem.
After training over the entire off-season to partner Marshall in the halves, coach Sheens chose to abandon the experiment shortly after young fullback James Tedesco was ruled out for the season with a knee injury.
Last week at fullback, Moltzen looked like a drunken sailor under the high ball.
"I'd leave Moltzen at halfback," Jack said.
"From what I saw of him trying to catch the ball last weekend, fullback is not a position to be if you lack confidence.
"It's the worst position on the park to be if you're trying to catch those high balls, and it looked like he'd lost his nerve.
"I know Humble is a utility, but for me he's a better option at fullback."
Marshall has also accepted his share of responsibility for the mess.
The other area where the Tigers have been badly exposed is goal-line defence and through the middle of the ruck.
There are several reasons for this.
The retirement of front-rower Todd Payten, coupled with the salary cap-forced exits of Bryce Gibbs and Andrew Fifita to Cronulla, have left a massive hole.
"No doubt they're missing Gibbs in the middle, especially his defence," Roach said. "But I also think maybe a few of them are a little bit too focused on making the Sydney Confidential pages.
"You want to make the back page of the paper for winning. I'm a Tigers man through and through, I love the joint, I just want to see them winning. Maybe it's time to drop off all the social stuff and worry about trying to do what you're paid to do, win games."
James Hooper
The Sunday Telegraph
April 15, 2012 12:00AM
\
\
TODAY is put up or shut up time for Benji Marshall, Robbie Farah, Tim Sheens and the Wests Tigers.
Staring down the barrel of a sixth straight loss against an injury-depleted Penrith, the one-time premiership favourites desperately need to turn their season around.
But how did the NRL's most exciting attacking outfit get to a 1-5 start?
It has been said their star players Marshall and Farah don't get on, coach Sheens has lost the senior playing group, the club has too many egos, prize recruit Adam Blair has failed to fire and they have a soft underbelly.
The Tigers say all of this is rubbish, but it's hard to argue with the statistics about them being the worst defensive outfit in the NRL.
Leading into today's match against Penrith at Centrebet Stadium, backrower Liam Fulton has opened up about the horror start and slammed rumours about a club divided.
"Everyone loves Sheensy. Everyone respects him. When you hear stuff about how the senior players don't get on with him, it's pretty bad," Fulton said.
"It's definitely not true. We've lost five straight so it's never going to be easy. But everyone's just knuckling down and doing everything we can to get a win. Whenever we're not winning, there's always talk about Benji and Robbie.
"For me personally, it doesn't bother me.
"It annoys Robbie more than it annoys Benji, but at the end of the day they know they're mates so they don't give a s…t."
When The Sunday Telegraph spoke to Tigers legends Steve Roach, Garry Jack and Benny Elias, the trio agreed Tim Moltzen's switch from halfback to fullback was a big part of the problem.
After training over the entire off-season to partner Marshall in the halves, coach Sheens chose to abandon the experiment shortly after young fullback James Tedesco was ruled out for the season with a knee injury.
Last week at fullback, Moltzen looked like a drunken sailor under the high ball.
"I'd leave Moltzen at halfback," Jack said.
"From what I saw of him trying to catch the ball last weekend, fullback is not a position to be if you lack confidence.
"It's the worst position on the park to be if you're trying to catch those high balls, and it looked like he'd lost his nerve.
"I know Humble is a utility, but for me he's a better option at fullback."
Marshall has also accepted his share of responsibility for the mess.
The other area where the Tigers have been badly exposed is goal-line defence and through the middle of the ruck.
There are several reasons for this.
The retirement of front-rower Todd Payten, coupled with the salary cap-forced exits of Bryce Gibbs and Andrew Fifita to Cronulla, have left a massive hole.
"No doubt they're missing Gibbs in the middle, especially his defence," Roach said. "But I also think maybe a few of them are a little bit too focused on making the Sydney Confidential pages.
"You want to make the back page of the paper for winning. I'm a Tigers man through and through, I love the joint, I just want to see them winning. Maybe it's time to drop off all the social stuff and worry about trying to do what you're paid to do, win games."
