Looking forward to tonight’s match between the Tigers and the Rabbitohs, I’ve been thinking about Tim Simona’s try against the Roosters at Allianz last week.
Sure, they might have lost, but the game still felt like a bit of a breakthrough moment for the Tigers.
While they’ve shown us that they can win well in 2016, there haven’t been many moments at which they’ve lost well.
From their agonising match against the Storm at Leichhardt Oval to their humiliating loss to the Knights earlier in the season, the Tigers have gone from winning streaks to total chokes overnight.
While they might have won two games on the run prior to last week’s game against the Roosters, it wouldn’t have meant much if they’d lost badly once again.
Indeed, as a Tigers supporters I often find myself feeling apprehensive once they start to get on a bit off a winning streaking. While I hate to admit it, I sometimes can’t help but wonder: how are they going to let us down this time?
That’s not necessarily to blame any of the individuals or even the team as a whole so much as a club culture that needs some pretty systemic changes if things are going to improve.
In the meantime, last week’s loss against the Roosters was gutsier and more impressive than some of their actual wins this season.
Combined with their victory over the Broncos, it seemed to suggest the possibility of a new consistency for the Tigers in 2016, especially with James Tedesco back on board.
Nowhere was that clearer than in Tim Simona’s beautiful try in the first half.
While the Roosters had already managed to put down twelve points, Simona’s effort somehow made it feel as if the Tigers were ahead despite the scoreboard.
In large part that was because it came on the back of a beautifully elegant series of passes, especially under the wet and slippery conditions.
It was one of the many instances in the game when players from both sides managed to use the weather to their advantage, taking just enough of a risk with the more fluid ball and field to make some spectacular plays.
In the case of the Tigers, the setup was all the more special in that it involved Teddy, Mitchell Moses and Kevin Naiqama.
One of the main puzzles to a Tigers fan is why this collection of brilliant players can’t quite manage to gel into a consistently fluid, free-flowing, first-class effort.
Seeing Teddy, Naiqama, Moses and Simona pass the Steeden from hand to hand was like a vision of what the Tigers should be given their talent pool.
While it may have only been a single moment in the game, it felt like it was enough of a motivator for the team at large to give them a surge they haven’t seen in weeks, even in the games they have won
Tonight the Rabbitohs are going to be just as keen to make their mark, but even if the Tigers lose it’s my bet – or at least my hope – that they’ll manage a few more of these moments of magic.
At this stage, what they need is consistency, and last week’s match was a reminder that you can retain that with a loss here and there so long as you show the kinds of drive that they brought out under the worst conditions of the season so far at Allianz.
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