- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
Yesterday we covered last year’s wooden spooners the Newcastle Knights, and today we’re looking at the Wests Tigers’ hopes in 2016.
2015 in review: Ah, let’s not talk about that
It was a season to forget for the Tigers as they limped into a 15th place finish and looked worse than that record suggests at times.
2015 was supposed to be the dawning of a new era as future State of Origin halves Luke Brooks and Mitchell Moses took the reins for a team loaded with young talent. However, both Brooks and Moses struggled in their second seasons while Blake Austin, whom the Tigers released at least in part to give Moses and Brooks more opportunities, flourished in Canberra.
READ THE ROAR‘S FULL 2016 NRL PREVIEW SERIES HERE
The shining light was the phenomenal form of James Tedesco who sloughed off two seasons of injury hell to put in the second finest fullback season of the year (behind probable Jedi Roger Tuivasa-Sheck).
Off-season story: So he’s staying now?
Have you heard the one about the team who realised they were going to have to vastly overpay their hard-to-get-along-with captain and told everyone he was leaving?
They tried really hard to find somewhere for him to go, couldn’t find anywhere and then declared that it was all sweet. He was going to stick around but only after the club also acquired another top level player who plays the same position.
After all that palava, Robbie Farah will indeed be remaining at the Tigers – for the time being at least. But the reality is that much like a couple who break up and then get back together, the mutual commitment to a new beginning will likely only last until first adversity.
The underlying reasons that led Tigers management to the drastic decision to publicly humiliate one of the team’s most talented and popular players can’t simply have been fixed over a couple of beers or a nice latte.
Roster management
2015 gains: Matt Ballin, Michael Chee Kam, Joel Edwards, Justin Hunt, Jack Littlejohn, Jordin Rankin, Tim Grant.
2015 losses: Siteleki Akauola, Martin Taupau, Pat Richards, Keith Galloway.
The big news is Farah staying and the ramifications for Matt Ballin (and Manaia Cherrington). But don’t sleep on the overall awfulness of these roster moves. The team have lost their goal-kicker (and equal leading try scorer) and two of their best forwards in 2015 while gaining, Ballin aside, only bench players or fringe first graders.
While Keith ‘Big Red’ Galloway may well have reached the natural end of his first-grade career, he was still making a solid contribution on a weekly basis, averaging over 114 metres per game and making 23 tackles, and Marty Kapow will be a huge loss.
While many fans grew frustrated with his perceived ill-discipline and combustible temperament, Martin Taupau was the only genuine tackle-breaking threat in the Tigers pack with his 77 tackle breaks in 2015 nearly three times as many as the next best (Aaron Woods with 28).
The late acquisition of Tim Grant is unlikely to help replace Galloway and Taupau as he is a long way from the player he once was, averaging only 35 minutes per game as a bench player for Souths.
Finally, losing Pat Richards is a big blow as he not only took the goal-kicking responsibilities but was also still a first-rate finisher and veteran presence in an outside backs corps that will now feature only two players with over 50 games experience and none with more than 60.
Likely line-up
1. James Tedesco
2. David Nofoaluma
3. Tim Simona
4. Kevin Naiqama
5. Justin Hunt
6. Mitchell Moses
7. Luke Brooks
8. Aaron Woods
9. Robbie Farah
10. Sauaso Sue
11. Curtis Sironen
12. Chris Lawrence
13. Dene Halatau
14. Joel Edwards
15. Tim Grant
16. Ava Seumanufagai
17. Kyle Lovett
So what do you do when you’ve got two hookers who have both been 80-minute players for the majority of their careers, plus a young player who probably needs regular game time to develop? This will be the first big challenge of year two for coach Jason Taylor.
In this line-up I’ve plumped for the most obvious solution, which is to go with a four-forward bench and rely on the guy who plays 80 minutes at State of Origin level to do so at club level as well.
This means leaving out both Ballin and Cherrington. However, one can also imagine a scenario where the team does decide to reduce Farah’s workload by cutting him to perhaps 60 to 65 minutes.
But even then it makes no sense to carry Ballin on the bench as he is no one’s definition of an impact player. Cherrington is a much likelier candidate for that role in such a scenario.
In the forwards, it is also easy to imagine some re-packaging of this group and perhaps a role for players such as Jack Buchanan and recruit Michael Chee Kam who saw very limited action at the Sea Eagles after a stellar junior career at the Raiders. Overall, though, it is one of the weaker forward packs in the competition.
The backline seems to pick itself with journeyman winger Justin Hunt drafted in to replace Richards. The key will be to get all five of these players on the field at the same time on a consistent basis.
Each of Tedesco, Tim Simona and David Nofoaluma has missed significant time to injury over the last three or four seasons. In fact, even Simona, who has been the least injured of the trio, has still only appeared in 56 per cent of Tigers games over the last four seasons.
Player to watch: Mitchell Moses
While Brooks attracted more attention after his stellar rookie campaign in 2014, Moses was as much a part of the long-term plan for the Tigers. After his first-grade debut was delayed after some unpleasantness in an Under-20s Origin game, Moses made several impressive cameos at fullback in 2014.
However, he was unable to carry that form into a full-time role at five-eighth (or more accurately as right-side half given Brooks’ focus on the left edge) in 2015.
Moses’s defence, in particular, was troubling as he missed an appalling 83 tackles of 512 attempted, one of the worst rates in the competition along with James Maloney and Ben Hunt. The difference being that the latter two players had 20 and 18 try assists respectively at the other end of the park while Moses contributed only eight for the Tigers.
Until he improves substantially in defence or finds a way to prosper in attack despite being targeted in defence, the spotlight will remain firmly on Moses. Especially given the perception, rightly or wrongly, that Origin contender Austin was forced out to make way for him.
To add to the pressure on Moses in 2015, he is also likely to inherit the goal-kicking duties given the departure of Richards. While Richards was not among the top tier in goal-kickers, the Tigers are likely to need every point they can get and every missed conversion will only increase the pressure on Moses.
Predicted finish: Bottom four
Even if Farah and Taylor can now magically coexist. Even if the outside backs can stay healthy. Even if the young halves can arrest their regression and begin to become the players they were promised to be… even if all those things happen the Tigers still have one of the weakest forward packs in the competition.
It is hard to see them consistently giving the young halves the time and space they need to flourish. This will likely be another long year for the Tigers fans.
Follow Lachlan on Twitter @mrsports83
Reckon you can pick the winning team? Build your own dream team with Draftstars daily fantasy and compete on any match. For great odds on the NRL head on over to PlayUp. Imagine what you could be buying instead. Set a deposit limit.