Tigers vs Storm: Leichhardt Oval fails to deliver in golden point fizzler

Normally, golden point is exciting, but Sunday’s clash between Wests Tigers and the Melbourne Storm was one of the most dispiriting games I have seen for a long time.

While the ten minutes of extra time can be incredibly empowering for the home team if they come away with the win, a loss is particularly agonising.

That is especially when it comes on the back of the kind of losing streak that the Tigers have suffered over the last five weeks.

In many ways, the match between the Roosters and the Warriors was the ideal golden point scenario. Although the Chooks were technically ‘hosting’ New Zealand, neither side felt quite at home at Central Coast. The novelty of golden point segued quite well with the novelty stadium. Even though Sydney lost, it didn’t have the full sting.

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For the Tigers, the sting was doubly painful in that this was the game that should have been the turning point for the team this season. Sure, you could say that about every game over the last five weeks. When you start to contemplate your fifth straight loss, though, things are starting to reach a critical mass.

At the same time, the Tigers have shone most brilliantly at their home games in 2016. Having attended both the clash against the Warriors at Campbelltown Stadium in Round 1 and the Sea Eagles at Leichhardt Oval a couple of weeks later, I can easily say that these have been among the most galvanising live matches I have seen in a long time.

Despite the absence of skipper Aaron Woods it felt as if the second game at Leichhardt this season should spell a return to form for the Tigers. After losing last week to a Knights outfit that was decimated 53-0 by the Broncos this round, it felt as if Wests had something to prove when they rocked up to Leichhardt yesterday afternoon.

That they didn’t almost felt like a failure of Leichhardt itself as a venue. As the debates continue to rage about the virtues of suburban and large-scale matches, there’s more and more pressure for local matches to prove why they’re still an integral part of the game. Last night, however, Leichhardt felt dead – with only about 9000 people there, it seemed empty even for one of the smallest venues in the competition.

I’d like to say that it was a combination of the weather and the Tigers’ poor performance that made Leichhardt feel so denuded by Cooper Cronk’s field goal at the 84th minute. In reality, though, it was the other way around: the Tigers’ performance felt like a direct result of a home venue that wasn’t quite behind them.

The contrast couldn’t be clearer with the Bulldogs home game at Belmore a couple of weeks ago. As with the Tigers, the Dogs lost in a fairly ignominious way, as well as copping a sudden shower at half-time that unexpectedly turned the second forty minutes into a wet weather slog.

Nevertheless, it never felt as if Belmore itself was at stake. If anything, the Dogs’ loss seemed to gather the supporters in a more fervent unity. By the time Canberra planted their final four-pointer and Jarrod Croker had schooled Canterbury-Bankstown with one of the most decisive gestures of captaincy this season, Belmore was in full fortress mentality.

Of course, the Dogs haven’t had anything like the losing streak that has plagued the Tiges since Round 3. Still, the march of Bulldogs supporters back up to Belmore station couldn’t have been more different than the aftermath of Cronk’s 84th-minute effort.

Within a couple of seconds, it felt as if the stadium had emptied. Perhaps people had been heading out all along – my attention had been fixed on those final four minutes – but suddenly it felt as if there was nobody left to even mourn the Tigers’ loss. My mates and I were right at the southern corner, and it was only a matter of seconds after Cronk’s boot hit the ball before we were also back in the dark fumbling our way down the hill towards Iron Cove.

I’d like to make excuses for the Tigers, but they just missed too many opportunities. As with so many other games this season, I found myself wondering just what it is that prevents this team working. They’ve got a top-level spine, a good handful of Origin or Origin-worthy players and one of the proudest heritages in the competition. What’s the problem?

At some level, the answer has to be Jason Taylor. They say that teams only really thrive in defence when they have a strong sense of synergy and club culture. Whereas attack is something that can happen in bits and pieces, often in quite discrete parts of the field, defence works best when the entire team is thinking as one.

At the same time, defence depends on the kinds of rapid, spontaneous and subliminal on-field communication that only work when a team is in complete agreement. Given the massive fractures between Taylor and Farah, it’s hard to believe that’s really the case.

The loss to the Storm was all the more bitter in that Melbourne probably shouldn’t have won. Although Cronk was as ice cold as ever, Cameron Smith has been distinctly off his game since Slater left and had a very average night on Sunday, only converting one of four tries.

On the other side of the Steeden, Jordan Rankin only managed one of three as well, although at least he made up for it with two penalty goals in the 10th and 79th minutes, the last of which finally brought a struggling Tigers outfit level with the Storm after a try from Kevin Naiqama in the 68th minute.

While neither team coul be described as consistent in attack, the Tigers’ forwards were marginally better than those of the Storm, although James Tedesco didn’t display the same dexterity at the back as he’s shown over the last couple of weeks. In fact, one of the things that made Sunday’s match so hard to watch was that this was the first real Tigers choke of the season that hasn’t felt redeemed by an Origin preview from Teddy.

Worsening the blow was the fact that Luke Brooks and Mitchell Moses couldn’t quite seem to gel, with both of them going for crazy field goals – even for golden point standard – in the final four minutes. Booting the Steeden before they had established a proper angle, they seemed to condense all the anxiety and desperation of their team mates.

Aside from Cronk, the Storm’s two biggest assets in terms of points put down were Marika Koroibete, who felt as if he’d run straight out of last weekend’s stellar performance against the Dogs to plant the last try for Melbourne in the 58th minute.

Nevertheless, the game belonged to winger Sulisasi Vunivalu, who not only put down the first four points of the game in half as many minutes, but landed a high shot on James Tedesco minutes later, only to get off with a warning and plant another try thirteen minutes into the second half.

On top of that the Tigers missed out on a penalty goal in the first half, with Richard Kennar landing on Chris Lawrence as he put the ball to ground only to be let off with a ten-minute sinbinning.

Whether or not the penalty goal should have been allowed, it’s clear that the bunker isn’t operating as consistently as might be hoped when it comes to giving players the benefit of the doubt. Sometimes it’s a matter of innocent until proven guilty, sometimes it’s a matter of guilty until proven innocent.

Of course, that’s all complicated by the nature of the penalty goal itself, which is by definition a hypothetical four points, but to a sodden and desperate Tigers outfit the last thing they wanted was to become a talking-point about grey areas in the NRL.

None of that, however, is meant to excuse the Wests Tigers effort. With Wayne Pearce Hill recently unveiled – and Mitchell Pearce and Andrew Johns in the crowd – it felt as if the Tigers were crushed by their heritage rather than living up to it, especially since this also happened to be 80s Week at Leichhardt Oval, with Tina Turner blasting “Simply The Best” at half-time to a crowd of Balmain old-timers.

It’s going to be especially critical, then, for the Tigers to bring home a win against the Raiders next weekend if they’re going to save any face in 2016.

On the other hand, both the Storm and the Warriors have now lost one of their big three following the recent announcement that Roger Tuivasa-Sheck will be out for the next six months. What happens at AAMI Park is anyone’s guess, but you can be sure that the Storm will be hoping to make good on Sunday’s win. Here’s hoping that both teams manage a bit more consolidation in Round 8.