Under the leadership of former coach Tim Sheens, the Wests Tigers were one of the most exciting teams to watch in the NRL.
With entertainers like Benji Marshall in the side, it is not hard to see why.
But time and time again, the Tigers would stumble toward September as they were found lacking in mongrel and that basic necessity we call defence.
They were pretty to watch and certainly could draw a crowd. But when the whips were cracking, they simply weren’t respected enough by their opponents.
It seems as though the grind outlasts the flash in the NRL.
Despite having representative props Keith Galloway and Aaron Woods, and a back row which boasted Gareth Ellis and Adam Blair, the Tigers still failed to instill fear into other teams in 2012.
Coach Sheens was clinging to an outdated game plan and the holes were showing.
The Tigers shocked the rugby league world in 2005 with some of the greatest attacking onslaughts the modern game has seen. But since then, the Tigers have flicked and sidestepped their way into oblivion.
Enter Michael Potter.
Despite losing Ellis and Chris Heighington, Wests still have the stocks to make serious moves in season 2013.
With Woods, Galloway and Blair leading from the front and Robbie Farah at his scheming best, the merged club still has the potential to find the aggression that has been lacking for far too long.
“I don’t want to tread on anyone’s toes, but I thought they could have got forward a bit more, with a bit more vigour,” Potter told Sky Sports Radio in late October.
It’s obvious now. The Tigers had forgotten how to get dirty.
As anyone would, Potter is looking for more discipline from his team in 2013.
“The style they played was very good but they tilted the balance to being too flamboyant down their own end, not getting out of jail with a really hot kick-chase game,” he said.
“They would come up with a little trick play they tried once or twice too often.”
The club continues to bolster their forward pack with the signing of young prop James Gavet from the Canterbury Bulldogs. Gavet joins new recruits Eddy Pettybourne, Bodene Thompson and Braith Anasta.
Tigers fans will have to get used to a more simplistic team in 2013.
It’s the end of the most exciting and frustrating time in the history of the Wests Tigers.
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