Work needed but Tigers looking good for 2017

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jctiger

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Work needed but Tigers look good for 2017 http://cdn.newsapi.com.au/link/63b4647aec83770e7f714f57ddc4ff22?domain=newscorpaustralia.com

THE Tigers battled on amid a host of injuries and off-field problems and still managed to come within one game of the semi finals.

This season was a great leap forward for players like Mitchell Moses and Luke Brooks, with Moses in particular beginning to look like the kind of player many hoped he can be.

It was something of a transitional season for the joint venture as they began to shed the last vestiges of the Tim Sheens era and there were some growing pains — like the 60-6 belting at the hands of Canberra in April — but this is a team on the up.
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The Tigers came close to finals football but fell one win short.
This was a team who were expected to challenge for the wooden spoon but managed to stay in contention until the final day of the regular season and if James Tedesco, who clearly emerged as their best player this year, was still around they could have scraped through to September. However, you’d be a fool to assume that the Tigers finish on the ladder is cause for nothing but smiles and sunshine.

Conceding fifty points when your season is on the line is unforgivable and the Tigers meek display at a sold out Leichhardt Oval left a bad taste in the mouth in a season that saw them come so far. A finals appearance may have simply taped over the cracks. While the talent is emerging and the promise is undeniable, there is still much to be done.

BY THE NUMBERS

MOST TRIES; TEDESCO, NOFOALUMA 14
MOST TRY ASSISTS; MITCHELL MOSES 22
MOST ERRORS; MITCHELL MOSES 36
MOST TACKLES; ELIJAH TAYLOR 577
METRES GAINED; DAVID NOFOALUMA 3013
SUPERCOACH; DAVID NOFOALUMA 1377 (av 59.9)

THE STAR

It’s a toss up between Tedesco and Moses.

Tedesco had already revealed himself to be a star with his play last season and backed it up big time, running 14 tries and leading the club in line breaks with 16\. He was also second at the club in tackle busts (92) and third in line break assists (10). Quite simply, he is a superb all-round footballer and very well could be the best fullback in the world.
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James Tedesco and Mitchell Moses are stars on the rise.
Moses was more of a slow burner but over the final eight weeks of the competition he began to deliver on the potential that has been promised for so long. With teammates falling all around him Moses picked up the playmaking slack and churned out 23 try assists (the most at the club and fifth most in the NRL) and produced career highs in line breaks and line break assists.

If the Tigers can find themselves a good hooker to replace Robbie Farah they’ll be well positioned for a finals run next year.

THEY SAID IT

“We had two wins after eight games and to get ourselves in the position where it was in our hands whether we go on to play in the semi finals is great progress,” Tigers coach Jason Taylor said.

“We learned a lot about ourselves throughout the season and slowly but surely started playing a more controlled, more composed brand of footy that’s going to get us to semi finals down the track and wins NRL matches consistently.

“There’s enormous development for all of us. We’re a young team and we’ve got a great future. I’m really excited about that.”

WHO’S IN, WHO’S OUT?

OFF CONTRACT: Elijah Taylor, Rod Griffin, Chance Peni, Bayley Sironen.

GAINS: None.

LOSSES: Dene Halatau (retirement), Josh Addo-Carr (Storm), Manaia Cherrington (Sharks), Robbie Farah (released).

2017 FORECAST

The Tigers 2017 finals hope hinge on the resigning of Elijah Taylor, who was superb once he joined the club from Penrith in the middle of the season.

Some renewed defensive intensity, ensuring that Taylor remains at Concord and finding a replacement for Dene Halatau at hooker (Matt Ballin and Jacob Liddle are the prime in-house contenders) are the key steps in ensuring that a finals charge in 2017 is possible for the Tigers.
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The Tigers had a mixed season but things look brighter for 2017.
 
I've said many times that we won't make the finals next year with the cattle we have.

BUT … if our new defensive coach can work miracles and Ballin is fit for most of the year, finals is possible.

Our defense has never been a strong suit but if they can improve this area and mininimal injuries .....?
 
2 days after the season ended for us and we are already getting fluff pieces.Its going to be a very long off season.At least the Bengals start playing this week to keep me going
 
@jadtiger said:
2 days after the season ended for us and we are already getting fluff pieces.Its going to be a very long off season.At least the Bengals start playing this week to keep me going
Click to expand...

Amen.

Who dey?!
 
Make or break year for Brooks.
If he keeps dishing up this crap I wouldn't resign him and keep the money to top up the other 3 and buy some decent players.
Littlejohn was offering more.
 
Matt Ballin is not a first grader anymore. There is no speed in his delivery, he seldom runs and isn't physical enough to have an impact in defence. He was always lucky at Manly to play behind a good pack and be flanked by assertive halves. It's all well and good to believe in your own fitness but if the evidence is telling you something else, 2 ACLs and the wrong side of 30 - then you cut your losses and move on. If he plays this season we may as well have our end of season function before the season begins.

Littlejohn is also a park footballer. Brooks is incredibly frustrating but we have from now until the start of next season to get him right. He needs to be coached properly. I despise Jason Taylor - I cannot indicate how much I dislike him on this forum. He needs to pull his finger out and either pay attention to the plethora of shortcoming in Brooks game or, which is highly unlikely due to his inability to compete with anyone elses opinion, bring in an Andrew Johns style mentor for Brooks and Moses in the same way that Joey helped develop Cherry-Evans and Foran. Maybe the club should approach Harry Triguboff to finance such an arrangement.

Littlejohn is not a first grade half. His kicking positions are terrible. He does not organise his outside runners at all. It's great that he has tried his best for us but that is where it ends. At a club with a winning culture and formula these blokes would never get a look in - so they shouldn't get a look in here either.

When are we going to stop trying to convince ourselves that mediocre players are all of a sudden going to become good at our club. Unless you have a Craig Bellamy style coach you cannot support these sub par types in your football team. While Bellamy is proof that you can coach anyone - Ryan Morgan and Cheyse Blair - you also need to have the skills as a coach to get the best out of your players. Jason Taylor is not a good coach in both psychological and knowledge based aspects of the job requirements. Therefore our capacity to support average footballers or footballers who need to work harder but have talent - Brooks, Sirronen, Moses, Nofa - is greatly reduced. Craig Bellamy would have Sirronen knocking on the door of NSW selection - Jason Taylor has him playing park football. How can we support players like Matt Ballin and Littlejohn who weren't even born with any talent in the first place when it's clear that our talented players can't even get it right?

The future for us is bleak without the right coaches and the right structures in place. These players need to realise that they are no longer young men, with plenty of chances still available and room for error still afforded to them - they are men. They are professional men who are employed by an important organisation to do a job for a body of support that has given them an opportunity in life to do something thoroughly enjoyable - but with the expectation that they deliver having been given the opportunity.

Brooks and Moses have played two years of first grade now. They are not rookies anymore - they are footballers. Look at what they are producing. Moses is definitely playing better than Brooks but look at other footballers of similar ages in the same positions - Foran and Cherry-Evans were taking their team to grand finals at the same age - Benji lead his team to a premiership in 2005 after two years of grade. Simply hoping for better returns year after year is never going to make these halves better players. Coaching, culture, work ethic and life skills is what is going to open the doors of potential for these two and others to succeed as professional footballers.

Cooper Cronk is a strange bloke and Cameron Smith makes me sick every time he talks but look at them as men. They are driven professionals whose dedication to their craft is second to none. They are not proud of themselves for merely existing - they are proud because they produce the results in their chosen field that gives them not only satisfaction, but also the credibility to justify themselves as professionals and as men. They are excellent at what they do because they work hard and value the results that come from this work.

Some of the Tigers players were drinking at my local pub the night before the Raiders game! Do you think that any team that was serious about winning football games or even serious about themselves as blokes would allow their team mates to be out the night before a game of that importance? Of course they wouldn't.

Our problems lie within our lack of culture and our players lack of understanding of the task at hand. Supporting ordinary footballers is another part of that issue but it is clear that with the right structures, processes, information and people in place you can support not only ordinary players but you can also make them good professionals as well.

Our club needs wholesale changes at every level from head office to playing personnel and everything in between.

We aren't going to play finals next season and we sure wont be in contention for a premiership for a long time if we keep making excuses for the pitfalls of our club and not respecting our organisation for what it is.
 
Lets hope 2017 will be a good year … However we need some astute buying before we are a real finals contender. Two forwards and a centre would be a good start.
 
@HarryHaller said:
Matt Ballin is not a first grader anymore. There is no speed in his delivery, he seldom runs and isn't physical enough to have an impact in defence. He was always lucky at Manly to play behind a good pack and be flanked by assertive halves. It's all well and good to believe in your own fitness but if the evidence is telling you something else, 2 ACLs and the wrong side of 30 - then you cut your losses and move on. If he plays this season we may as well have our end of season function before the season begins.

Littlejohn is also a park footballer. Brooks is incredibly frustrating but we have from now until the start of next season to get him right. He needs to be coached properly. I despise Jason Taylor - I cannot indicate how much I dislike him on this forum. He needs to pull his finger out and either PAY ATTENTION TO THE SHORT COMINGS OF BROOKS GAME or, which is highly unlikely due to his inability to compete with anyone elses opinion, BRING IN AN ANDREW JOHNS STYLE MENTOR FOR BROOKS AND MOSES in the same way that Joey helped develop Cherry-Evans and Foran. MAYBE APPROACH HARRY TO FINANCE SUCH AN ARRANGEMENT.

Littlejohn is not an first grade half. His kicking positions are terrible. He does not organise his outside runners at all. It's great that he has tried his best for us but that is where it ends. I'd like to see him released just to remind him of his actual ability as a rugby league footballer.
Click to expand...

Why do people think Andrew Johns can coach?
Just because he was gifted doesn't mean it will translate to a teaching method.
His time at Manly ended abruptly as he was seen as a bad influence outside training.
You remember he played his career full of ecstasy.
 
Eddie Jones called Andrew Johns in to consult with the England union halves before the 3-0 series whitewash of Australia because he quote "sees things that no one else does". The proof was certainly in the pudding there wasn't it?

Ecstasy or not he is still the best footballer to play rugby league? I am an advocate of professionalism in sport but sometimes talent is undeniable and you need to put your personal and often ill informed opinions aside and use the evidence before you.

Look at how quickly those halves at Manly developed under his guidance. Time is running out for our halves. In a time when it seems it is now or never don't you think it would be pretty prudent to give these blokes the best chance possible of succeeding
 
@HarryHaller said:
Matt Ballin is not a first grader anymore. There is no speed in his delivery, he seldom runs and isn't physical enough to have an impact in defence. He was always lucky at Manly to play behind a good pack and be flanked by assertive halves. It's all well and good to believe in your own fitness but if the evidence is telling you something else, 2 ACLs and the wrong side of 30 - then you cut your losses and move on. If he plays this season we may as well have our end of season function before the season begins.

Littlejohn is also a park footballer. Brooks is incredibly frustrating but we have from now until the start of next season to get him right. He needs to be coached properly. I despise Jason Taylor - I cannot indicate how much I dislike him on this forum. He needs to pull his finger out and either pay attention to the plethora of shortcoming in Brooks game or, which is highly unlikely due to his inability to compete with anyone elses opinion, bring in an Andrew Johns style mentor for Brooks and Moses in the same way that Joey helped develop Cherry-Evans and Foran. Maybe the club should approach Harry Triguboff to finance such an arrangement.

Littlejohn is not a first grade half. His kicking positions are terrible. He does not organise his outside runners at all. It's great that he has tried his best for us but that is where it ends. At a club with a winning culture and formula these blokes would never get a look in - so they shouldn't get a look in here either.

When are we going to stop trying to convince ourselves that mediocre players are all of a sudden going to become good at our club. Unless you have a Craig Bellamy style coach you cannot support these sub par types in your football team. While Bellamy is proof that you can coach anyone - Ryan Morgan and Cheyse Blair - you also need to have the skills as a coach to get the best out of your players. Jason Taylor is not a good coach in both psychological and knowledge based aspects of the job requirements. Therefore our capacity to support average footballers or footballers who need to work harder but have talent - Brooks, Sirronen, Moses, Nofa - is greatly reduced. Craig Bellamy would have Sirronen knocking on the door of NSW selection - Jason Taylor has him playing park football. How can we support players like Matt Ballin and Littlejohn who weren't even born with any talent in the first place when it's clear that our talented players can't even get it right?

The future for us is bleak without the right coaches and the right structures in place. These players need to realise that they are no longer young men, with plenty of chances still available and room for error still afforded to them - they are men. They are professional men who are employed by an important organisation to do a job for a body of support that has given them an opportunity in life to do something thoroughly enjoyable - but with the expectation that they deliver having been given the opportunity.

Brooks and Moses have played two years of first grade now. They are not rookies anymore - they are footballers. Look at what they are producing. Moses is definitely playing better than Brooks but look at other footballers of similar ages in the same positions - Foran and Cherry-Evans were taking their team to grand finals at the same age - Benji lead his team to a premiership in 2005 after two years of grade. Simply hoping for better returns year after year is never going to make these halves better players. Coaching, culture, work ethic and life skills is what is going to open the doors of potential for these two and others to succeed as professional footballers.

Cooper Cronk is a strange bloke and Cameron Smith makes me sick every time he talks but look at them as men. They are driven professionals whose dedication to their craft is second to none. They are not proud of themselves for merely existing - they are proud because they produce the results in their chosen field that gives them not only satisfaction, but also the credibility to justify themselves as professionals and as men. They are excellent at what they do because they work hard and value the results that come from this work.

**Some of the Tigers players were drinking at my local pub the night before the Raiders game! Do you think that any team that was serious about winning football games or even serious about themselves as blokes would allow their team mates to be out the night before a game of that importance? Of course they wouldn't.**

Our problems lie within our lack of culture and our players lack of understanding of the task at hand. Supporting ordinary footballers is another part of that issue but it is clear that with the right structures, processes, information and people in place you can support not only ordinary players but you can also make them good professionals as well.

Our club needs wholesale changes at every level from head office to playing personnel and everything in between.

We aren't going to play finals next season and we sure wont be in contention for a premiership for a long time if we keep making excuses for the pitfalls of our club and not respecting our organisation for what it is.
Click to expand...

Sad if true. I really think JT should wield the axe if true!
 
JT should wield the axe at himself the future looks bleaker with him as coach. I reckon they thought they played their finals game against the Cowboys and that was enough. If you look at them in the sheds before the game they didn't look like a team that was going to win.

There is no mental toughness or winning culture at this club at all. And the ridiculous decisions being made are just digging a deeper hole to get out of. What good player would want to come and play for this farce of a club. They can't even get up for games when their season is on the line. What a joke.
 
Even if you watched the Cowboys game though - we were pedestrian at best. There was hardly any penetration in to the Cowboys defensive 20 in the second half - which was driven primarily by poor decision making at dummy half.

We were lucky that Thurston played the worst game of his career that day.

The only thing that got us over the line in that game was some good reads by Kev and Nofa in defence and good pressure from our kick chase which is usually non existent. Just goes to show how we have the capability to play complete footy but our coaches cannot isolate these key areas and reinforce their importance when it comes to producing 80 minute displays of football week in week out.
 
It is easy to think we were going better than what we really were with the Cowboys result. We played with great intensity in that game and they defended as a unit. You can only play what's in front of you, but the Cowboys had their worst game of the season. They looked better even when JT was not playing. Even still it took us 80 mins to get the job done. 9/10 the Cowboys will turn up and win that game. The gap between us and the top sides is still huge.
 
@HarryHaller said:
It's true as true. Some players were still there drinking beers at 11pm.
Click to expand...

This doesnt surprise me. When the captain of the team describes his position as 'just a job' the lack of intensity filters through the rest of the squad. Biggest game of the year tomorrow? Meh its your shout bro…..
 
@HarryHaller said:
Matt Ballin is not a first grader anymore. There is no speed in his delivery, he seldom runs and isn't physical enough to have an impact in defence. He was always lucky at Manly to play behind a good pack and be flanked by assertive halves. It's all well and good to believe in your own fitness but if the evidence is telling you something else, 2 ACLs and the wrong side of 30 - then you cut your losses and move on. If he plays this season we may as well have our end of season function before the season begins.

Littlejohn is also a park footballer. Brooks is incredibly frustrating but we have from now until the start of next season to get him right. He needs to be coached properly. I despise Jason Taylor - I cannot indicate how much I dislike him on this forum. He needs to pull his finger out and either pay attention to the plethora of shortcoming in Brooks game or, which is highly unlikely due to his inability to compete with anyone elses opinion, bring in an Andrew Johns style mentor for Brooks and Moses in the same way that Joey helped develop Cherry-Evans and Foran. Maybe the club should approach Harry Triguboff to finance such an arrangement.

Littlejohn is not a first grade half. His kicking positions are terrible. He does not organise his outside runners at all. It's great that he has tried his best for us but that is where it ends. At a club with a winning culture and formula these blokes would never get a look in - so they shouldn't get a look in here either.

When are we going to stop trying to convince ourselves that mediocre players are all of a sudden going to become good at our club. Unless you have a Craig Bellamy style coach you cannot support these sub par types in your football team. While Bellamy is proof that you can coach anyone - Ryan Morgan and Cheyse Blair - you also need to have the skills as a coach to get the best out of your players. Jason Taylor is not a good coach in both psychological and knowledge based aspects of the job requirements. Therefore our capacity to support average footballers or footballers who need to work harder but have talent - Brooks, Sirronen, Moses, Nofa - is greatly reduced. Craig Bellamy would have Sirronen knocking on the door of NSW selection - Jason Taylor has him playing park football. How can we support players like Matt Ballin and Littlejohn who weren't even born with any talent in the first place when it's clear that our talented players can't even get it right?

The future for us is bleak without the right coaches and the right structures in place. These players need to realise that they are no longer young men, with plenty of chances still available and room for error still afforded to them - they are men. They are professional men who are employed by an important organisation to do a job for a body of support that has given them an opportunity in life to do something thoroughly enjoyable - but with the expectation that they deliver having been given the opportunity.

Brooks and Moses have played two years of first grade now. They are not rookies anymore - they are footballers. Look at what they are producing. Moses is definitely playing better than Brooks but look at other footballers of similar ages in the same positions - Foran and Cherry-Evans were taking their team to grand finals at the same age - Benji lead his team to a premiership in 2005 after two years of grade. Simply hoping for better returns year after year is never going to make these halves better players. Coaching, culture, work ethic and life skills is what is going to open the doors of potential for these two and others to succeed as professional footballers.

Cooper Cronk is a strange bloke and Cameron Smith makes me sick every time he talks but look at them as men. They are driven professionals whose dedication to their craft is second to none. They are not proud of themselves for merely existing - they are proud because they produce the results in their chosen field that gives them not only satisfaction, but also the credibility to justify themselves as professionals and as men. They are excellent at what they do because they work hard and value the results that come from this work.

Some of the Tigers players were drinking at my local pub the night before the Raiders game! Do you think that any team that was serious about winning football games or even serious about themselves as blokes would allow their team mates to be out the night before a game of that importance? Of course they wouldn't.

Our problems lie within our lack of culture and our players lack of understanding of the task at hand. Supporting ordinary footballers is another part of that issue but it is clear that with the right structures, processes, information and people in place you can support not only ordinary players but you can also make them good professionals as well.

Our club needs wholesale changes at every level from head office to playing personnel and everything in between.

We aren't going to play finals next season and we sure wont be in contention for a premiership for a long time if we keep making excuses for the pitfalls of our club and not respecting our organisation for what it is.
Click to expand...

One of the best posts on here for the last couple of years, And well thought through.
The opinions of the individual players is very accurate, although a some here will have a fit when they read it.
Mediocrity has always had a home here, and unfortunately nothing has shown me that that has changed
if your post is read without blind allegiance to anyone here, but objectively, i think a lot would agree with most of it.
well said
 
@HarryHaller said:
Matt Ballin is not a first grader anymore. There is no speed in his delivery, he seldom runs and isn't physical enough to have an impact in defence. He was always lucky at Manly to play behind a good pack and be flanked by assertive halves. It's all well and good to believe in your own fitness but if the evidence is telling you something else, 2 ACLs and the wrong side of 30 - then you cut your losses and move on. If he plays this season we may as well have our end of season function before the season begins.

Littlejohn is also a park footballer. Brooks is incredibly frustrating but we have from now until the start of next season to get him right. He needs to be coached properly. I despise Jason Taylor - I cannot indicate how much I dislike him on this forum. He needs to pull his finger out and either pay attention to the plethora of shortcoming in Brooks game or, which is highly unlikely due to his inability to compete with anyone elses opinion, bring in an Andrew Johns style mentor for Brooks and Moses in the same way that Joey helped develop Cherry-Evans and Foran. Maybe the club should approach Harry Triguboff to finance such an arrangement.

Littlejohn is not a first grade half. His kicking positions are terrible. He does not organise his outside runners at all. It's great that he has tried his best for us but that is where it ends. At a club with a winning culture and formula these blokes would never get a look in - so they shouldn't get a look in here either.

When are we going to stop trying to convince ourselves that mediocre players are all of a sudden going to become good at our club. Unless you have a Craig Bellamy style coach you cannot support these sub par types in your football team. While Bellamy is proof that you can coach anyone - Ryan Morgan and Cheyse Blair - you also need to have the skills as a coach to get the best out of your players. Jason Taylor is not a good coach in both psychological and knowledge based aspects of the job requirements. Therefore our capacity to support average footballers or footballers who need to work harder but have talent - Brooks, Sirronen, Moses, Nofa - is greatly reduced. Craig Bellamy would have Sirronen knocking on the door of NSW selection - Jason Taylor has him playing park football. How can we support players like Matt Ballin and Littlejohn who weren't even born with any talent in the first place when it's clear that our talented players can't even get it right?

The future for us is bleak without the right coaches and the right structures in place. These players need to realise that they are no longer young men, with plenty of chances still available and room for error still afforded to them - they are men. They are professional men who are employed by an important organisation to do a job for a body of support that has given them an opportunity in life to do something thoroughly enjoyable - but with the expectation that they deliver having been given the opportunity.

Brooks and Moses have played two years of first grade now. They are not rookies anymore - they are footballers. Look at what they are producing. Moses is definitely playing better than Brooks but look at other footballers of similar ages in the same positions - Foran and Cherry-Evans were taking their team to grand finals at the same age - Benji lead his team to a premiership in 2005 after two years of grade. Simply hoping for better returns year after year is never going to make these halves better players. Coaching, culture, work ethic and life skills is what is going to open the doors of potential for these two and others to succeed as professional footballers.

Cooper Cronk is a strange bloke and Cameron Smith makes me sick every time he talks but look at them as men. They are driven professionals whose dedication to their craft is second to none. They are not proud of themselves for merely existing - they are proud because they produce the results in their chosen field that gives them not only satisfaction, but also the credibility to justify themselves as professionals and as men. They are excellent at what they do because they work hard and value the results that come from this work.

Some of the Tigers players were drinking at my local pub the night before the Raiders game! Do you think that any team that was serious about winning football games or even serious about themselves as blokes would allow their team mates to be out the night before a game of that importance? Of course they wouldn't.

Our problems lie within our lack of culture and our players lack of understanding of the task at hand. Supporting ordinary footballers is another part of that issue but it is clear that with the right structures, processes, information and people in place you can support not only ordinary players but you can also make them good professionals as well.

Our club needs wholesale changes at every level from head office to playing personnel and everything in between.

We aren't going to play finals next season and we sure wont be in contention for a premiership for a long time if we keep making excuses for the pitfalls of our club and not respecting our organisation for what it is.
Click to expand...

It sounds pretty easy when you put it like that… Maybe you should be our coach? There is a few months before pre season training starts, plenty of time to ease in an application...

It is very easy to criticise the team and make statements about who should and shouldnt be in the side when you arent looking after the finances... If if was that easy, then everyone would have a great team... Maybe we have the team and coaching staff we have because that is all we can afford, due to previous poor decisions... and perhaps that is in the process of being addressed... Organisational change doesnt happen overnight...

The comments about the tigers players drinking (assuming you are suggesting alcohol) the night before is disappointing if true... Nothing personal mate, but anyone can come on here and write anything... Unless there is something to measure what you have said against, like a history of you posting reliable and objective comments, it is probably best to assume it is rubbish until proven otherwise...
 
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