Why have Wests Tigers gone off the boil

[black_and_white_tige]

By Trent Hile
FOX SPORTS

They began the season as competition favourites, but now Wests Tigers are facing the very real prospect of missing out on finals altogether.
Five defeats from their past six outings has seen the February fancies plummet from the top four to outside the top eight.
With five rounds remaining, the Tigers sit precariously in 10th place on 22 points, in a cluster of teams jockeying for a piece of September action.
This wasn't how the script was meant to read for the once $6 favourites. So where did it all go wrong?
It all began when rookie fullback James Tedesco hit the deck against Cronulla way back in round one.
Since then, Tim Sheens has lost player after player to one of the most wretched runs of injury seen this season.
Curtis Sironen, Lote Tuqiri, Chris Lawrence (six weeks) and Ben Murdoch-Masila (indefinite) are likely to join Tedesco on the sideline for the remainder of the season, while Tim Moltzen and Keith Galloway are in doubt for Monday night's clash against Parramatta.
Key backrower Gareth Ellis has made just six appearances this season, while only Benji Marshall, Beau Ryan and Aaron Woods have played in every game this year.
The nightmare run with injury, particularly in key positions, is highlighted by the fact Marshall is likely to line up alongside Liam Fulton - his eighth halves partner of the season - against the Eels.
The effects of this constant shuffle can be seen in the Tigers' stats this season.
Known in recent years for their scintillating attack, the Tigers are ranking a lowly 15th in linebreaks (4.1 per game) and tackle busts (26.1p/g) this season.
Since 2007, the Tigers have finished no worse than sixth in linebreaks and seventh in tackle busts. They were the second-best side in both categories last year.
Marshall's switch from five-eighth to halfback has seen the Tigers move away from off-the-cuff plays towards structure and a grinding style of footy. But has it come at the expense of their greatest strength?
The famous grinders like Melbourne, St George Illawarra and Canterbury-Bankstown do so because they boast the three best defences in the competition this year.
The Tigers on the other hand concede the fifth most points, second most line-breaks and miss more tackles than any other side in the competition.
Catch the Tigers clash with Parramatta LIVE on Fox Sports 2HD on Monday night from 6.30pm (EST)
So is going back to the style of old the key to a late-season Tigers resurgence? Not-so if you ask Marshall.
"These last few days in realising we have to win a few games to make the semis, it's made me go back and look at things we were doing in the past when we won that seven in a row," Marshall said.
"We were just grinding out games. I was just providing direction, not trying to force the issue too much. That was having success for me.
"We weren't throwing the ball around for success - we were going through teams, grinding out games, kick-chase, completing sets.
"When we complete over 85 per cent, we're winning games. For the last four or five weeks we have been well under that."

 

[system]

Nice to see the media buying the excuses hook, line & sinker

 

[bundyboy]

Because the kettle's not plugged in .
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[system]

I think I am taking the weekend off from football until Monday evening.

Being negative at this hour on a weekend means I need a break

 

[Snake]

That's life it is generally not what you know but who you know…. the smother is on in earnest ! All fluff especially from the wonder boy the player that will be remembered as a top liner but not a great of the game all talk!
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[RatedRKO]

The nightmare run with injury, particularly in key positions, is highlighted by the fact Marshall is likely to line up alongside Liam Fulton - his eighth halves partner of the season - against the Eels.

The Tigers on the other hand concede the fifth most points, second most line-breaks and miss more tackles than any other side in the competition.

Injuries have nothing to do with those stats.

"When we complete over 85 per cent, we're winning games. For the last four or five weeks we have been well under that."

We completed 87% last week and got slaughtered 30-6\. It's not that we don't have the ball it's that we don't do anything with it.

 

[russelldp]

If there was a stat for most sideways metres, WT would be on top.

Our centres, wingers and wide forwards make no line breaks because our halves and hookers crab across the field, boxing them in.
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[happy_tiger]

We are running on empty , both mentally and phsyically and the bloke who should be getting the side motivated for the run home appears to have no new ideas or any capacity to get the side to lift

All will be revealed on Monday , but I'm not overly confident

 

[851]

Players getting moved out of position every week and even a couple a times a game makes for no cohesion,and defence suffers,that is a major problem,yet Sheens keeps doing it,how the hell is he the national coach,he makes rookie mistakes every week and they are usually ones he made last year and the year before,he just don't learn.

 

[hybrid_tiger]

Nice to see the media buying the excuses hook, line & sinker

Absolutely ridiculous.

 

[Flippedy]

They were never on the boil, Trent baby, and injuries have little to do with it! Did Sheens commission you to write this drivel?

 

[supercoach]

The wheels are in motion, the smoke screens, the excuses are all coming out. Their will be plenty more of these articles in the coming weeks. Would be great if someone actually directed some heat at Sheens but that will not happen. Anyway as for me iam giving them away till Sheens is gone so it looks like Bret will be my league fix for the next two years.

 

[Gazman]

In remember an old saying "watched kettles never boil"
This expression means: If you wait for something to happen without trying to do anything at all, it will never happen

Maybe thats what this articles about ? :laughing:

 

[Frank_the_tank]

I have no idea what this article is about, didn't really say anything.

 

[regit]

I really feel that they are trying to hard to play composed, ala stgeorge or Melbourne. Instead of there normal free flowing kind of play. St George style is not there thing (nor is it st georges this year) so I say go back to the tigers of old and see were we end up. I don't mind them scoring 40 if we score 50.
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[Paris_Cobbs]

Our run of injuries is a matter of fact, not opinion. It is impossible to develop cohesion when the side changes every week due to injuries. The loss of Lawrence and Siro just when we finally got Ellis back was a cruel blow, and very bad luck. I don't see how anyone can deny that. Liam will be Benji's 8th partner this season. How can he develop a combination?

The injury that has been the 'defining moment' of our season so far, though, was the injury to James Tedesco, just 30 minutes into the season. It threw the planning and development of the 'spine' during the off season into chaos. Sheens had to either find another fullback, quickly, most likely Joel Reddy, Tom Humble or Beau Ryan, or move Moltzen back to full back, where he had played half of the 2011 season, and find another half back. Sheens chose the latter. With the benefit of hindsight, it might have been better to go the other way, because Moltzen has missed a lot of games, but you can't call Sheens decision to put Moltzen back to full back a stupid or retrograde decision. For one thing, half the forum agreed with him.

My view of where we are now is that we have at last got all our forwards back (given that Sauce returns) and can build on that. Our real problem is in the three-quarters. We don't have the strike power we have had in the past. Tim Moltzen is the wild card in this, if he can get back on the field. Without him, Benji has no one outside him to do anything with.

 

[Frank_the_tank]

Yeah is gree with the injuries, they have been a major problem to overcome this year. also I agree about losing Tedesco in the first 30 minutes.

My questions are this, at the start of the season prior to tedesco going down, moltzen was the halfback. Presumably if tedesco isn't injured moltzen is still the half back and has been there all year. Let's say moltzen got injured for the season in that first game, then who plays the rest of the year at halfback?

Who was/is the back up halfback going into the season?

So we lose our fullback and moltzen goes back there. Fair enough he's done ok there before. Who now plays halfback?

Makes perfect since to me that there is a back up and he gets a run. And I mean a decent run, maybe half a season if he is showing anything at all. Not one game here, half a game there.

Why was there no backup. I hear people say what about humble! Ok what about him, why didn't he get a decent shot? Same for Miller, is he that bad after seeing him for half a game when our forwards got smashed to write him off for good.

In probably the most important position in the team, why wasn't a back up halfback option available in the club given a run and locking down the job. At worst he is not the player you'd have hoped for but, at least now you are certain of that. And secondly it couldn't possibly have been worse than chopping and changing with 8 or so half combinations and marshal playing like a chump out of his position. Worst case is you would have a average halfback with some form of combination building for the finals with your strike players playing in position.

The whole situation looks to me like there is no forward thinking, no contingency plans for when things don't go the way you want them to, poor recruitment and poor team management.

Injuries aside I believe that is what has gone wrong this year.

As the old saying goes " a fish rots from the head first"

 

[innsaneink]

Theres been obviously little foresight re recruitment Frank.

Look at front row…..it was almosy halfway thru the year they realised we needed another prop.
Former international & Origin player mason, and ex park footy player cashmere are available....we know the rest.

 

[Frank_the_tank]

Theres been obviously little foresight re recruitment Frank.

Look at front row…..it was almosy halfway thru the year they realised we needed another prop.
Former international & Origin player mason, and ex park footy player cashmere are available....we know the rest.

Yep even with groat, who we all thought would work out better we were always a "quality" prop short.

 

[Paris_Cobbs]

The back-up half backs were Humble and Miller, neither of whom were given a fair chance to develop into the role.
Really, Benji was the back-up half, Siro the back-up 5/8 - stuffed up by another injury.

With the benefit of hindsight, and I stress that, it might have been better to leave Moltzen at half, as planned and used Ryan at fullback right from the word go. It's easy to say that now, Ryan has had the best year of his career.