With five minutes to go in the Wests Tigers 26 to 22 win over the New Zealand Warriors yesterday, Phil Gould said in commentary that “this might be the big turning point in the season” for the joint venture. Gould had just witnessed another seemingly impossible comeback from the Tigers.
They trailed 22 to 4 in the 59th minute and didn’t look like troubling the scorers again, but over the next 21-minutes produced a scintillating display of football culminating in Beau Ryan’s match winner.
The Warriors let in four tries in a stunning 13-minute period at the end of the match and Benji Marshall helped the cause by nailing all three conversions.
It was part Harlem Globetrotters and part, well, typical Tigers. It’s the reason many predicted they’d be one of the title challengers this season, but coach Tim Sheens won’t be getting too excited.
He knows his side has been poor in defense this season and they weren’t at their best once again against the Warriors yesterday.
The first half was one of the worst defensive displays from any team this season and similar performances from here on out will have them closer to the bottom of the ladder than the top.
Yes, the club has had a full casualty ward all season and that may be contributing somewhat towards the lack of physical presence without the ball and a general absence of cohesion, but the statistics don’t make for pretty reading.
The Tigers have conceded 262 points in 13-games this season. It’s the worst of any of the top-10 teams in the competition. They’ve been saved, as they were yesterday by their attack, with their 284 points scored this season only bettered by Manly and North Queensland while they sit equal in that department with Melbourne.
In eight of their 13 games they’ve also let in more than 20-points and have only kept a team to single figures once in 2011.
Their was a general feeling of relief from Sheens and Marshall after the match, but once the euphoria of another come from behind win fades they’ll realise their off the pace being set by their rivals.
The good news for the Tigers is that their is still 11-games to go this season.
The bad news is that five of those games are against Melbourne, Canterbury, North Queensland, Manly and the Dragons.
They’re still in the hunt, but the tackling bags at their Concord base in Sydney will need to get a work out if they want to make life a little easier for themselves.
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