Bk210
Member
I've been watching the tigers since 2009 and seen the team play throughout the years (Benji Marshall/Robbie Farah era, the "big 4" and all the dramas involving the coaches such as J.Taylor/Cleary). Here's what I have to say about the modern game Wests Tigers' struggles.
1. Our attack doesn't threaten the opposition. In most games, our plays in the opposition half hasn't led to points. For the most part, we either have to rely on our kicks or the other teams mistakes, which isn't a good look for a team trying to make the top 8. In comparison from today's game, when you watch the Eels play you can see most of their tries are from the players (e.g Sivo) running over the line comfortably. They are also very threatening when playing in their own 40 even - every play there's players sprinting, the players have support and they are looking dangerous when they carry the ball which makes our defence nervous. We need to improve on this aspect otherwise it's game over by half-time when the opposition scores 3 tries.
2. Momentum - we always collapse when for example, a referee decision goes against us. Fair enough most if not all the calls went against us this game with the soft penalties, however a good team such as the storm/roosters are still able to maintain control and bring the 2 points home at the end of the game. They do this by defending well, holding onto the ball and making little to no errors. Today it looked like we conceded two tries in a matter of seconds when we were down to 12 men, and from that moment on our defence seemed to have become worse (which brings me to my next point.. defence).
3. Besides the rare one or two games a year, our defence isn't that great. Look at the tries we've conceded this game, the Eels were walking all over us this game. To make things worse, when we got a player in the bin, all hope is lost and any team that has decent players are able to easily score a couple tries against us. Until our defence improves, we won't make the top 8, and if we do we will just be making up the numbers finishing 7th/8th. If players play in line with each other and have a stronger structure defensively, the other team won't get over the line as easily. I've also lost count on how many times our players on the right/left went for the intercept (and knocked on) because we are short on that side and are unable to handle the opposition one on one.
Other notes:
- Control of the game - we've seen this today, the Eels dominated in possession and for the most part the game was played on our own half. It's hard to score points when you're always stuck in your own half trying to get out of trouble.
- Whenever our players make a tackle, we can't seem to push the opposition back. Quality teams (such as the 2014 Rabbitohs in the GF) are very good at this and makes the opposition's attack a lot more nervous when they are near their own goal line.
- Our team's goalkicking, which we still haven't mastered imo.
- Our 40/20 kicks needs improvement. Adam Reynolds single handedly nearly won the preliminary finals game against the panthers last year.
- We've raised many superstars however a champion team will always beat a team of champions. Likewise players such asTtedesco will not always stick around unfortunately and we risk losing talent to other competitive clubs.
We always get demolished whenever we play teams like the eels (just like the 2016-2019 Raiders). We lost like 7 in a row and most of them seems like 40 or 50-0 (further highlighting our terrible attack and defence). I might as well skip watching the games against Eels and hope that the opposition the following week is kinder to us.. (It only gets tougher from here).
Sorry for the long post this is my first official post in these forums after lurking around for a long time.
1. Our attack doesn't threaten the opposition. In most games, our plays in the opposition half hasn't led to points. For the most part, we either have to rely on our kicks or the other teams mistakes, which isn't a good look for a team trying to make the top 8. In comparison from today's game, when you watch the Eels play you can see most of their tries are from the players (e.g Sivo) running over the line comfortably. They are also very threatening when playing in their own 40 even - every play there's players sprinting, the players have support and they are looking dangerous when they carry the ball which makes our defence nervous. We need to improve on this aspect otherwise it's game over by half-time when the opposition scores 3 tries.
2. Momentum - we always collapse when for example, a referee decision goes against us. Fair enough most if not all the calls went against us this game with the soft penalties, however a good team such as the storm/roosters are still able to maintain control and bring the 2 points home at the end of the game. They do this by defending well, holding onto the ball and making little to no errors. Today it looked like we conceded two tries in a matter of seconds when we were down to 12 men, and from that moment on our defence seemed to have become worse (which brings me to my next point.. defence).
3. Besides the rare one or two games a year, our defence isn't that great. Look at the tries we've conceded this game, the Eels were walking all over us this game. To make things worse, when we got a player in the bin, all hope is lost and any team that has decent players are able to easily score a couple tries against us. Until our defence improves, we won't make the top 8, and if we do we will just be making up the numbers finishing 7th/8th. If players play in line with each other and have a stronger structure defensively, the other team won't get over the line as easily. I've also lost count on how many times our players on the right/left went for the intercept (and knocked on) because we are short on that side and are unable to handle the opposition one on one.
Other notes:
- Control of the game - we've seen this today, the Eels dominated in possession and for the most part the game was played on our own half. It's hard to score points when you're always stuck in your own half trying to get out of trouble.
- Whenever our players make a tackle, we can't seem to push the opposition back. Quality teams (such as the 2014 Rabbitohs in the GF) are very good at this and makes the opposition's attack a lot more nervous when they are near their own goal line.
- Our team's goalkicking, which we still haven't mastered imo.
- Our 40/20 kicks needs improvement. Adam Reynolds single handedly nearly won the preliminary finals game against the panthers last year.
- We've raised many superstars however a champion team will always beat a team of champions. Likewise players such asTtedesco will not always stick around unfortunately and we risk losing talent to other competitive clubs.
We always get demolished whenever we play teams like the eels (just like the 2016-2019 Raiders). We lost like 7 in a row and most of them seems like 40 or 50-0 (further highlighting our terrible attack and defence). I might as well skip watching the games against Eels and hope that the opposition the following week is kinder to us.. (It only gets tougher from here).
Sorry for the long post this is my first official post in these forums after lurking around for a long time.
