If like me you are a Wests Tigers fan you would know we are a very divided bunch.
We were thrown together in 2000 as two sets of supporters from clubs that hadn’t looked success in the eye for some time. To be honest both sides were on death row.
Balmain and Western Suburbs boasted loyal and staunch supporters that were not happy with the merger but were too “rusted on” to walk away. The new joint venture brand offered a truckload of cash courtesy of the NRL and the promise of a successful future in the modern rugby league world,
So what has happened? In 2005 we celebrated an unexpected premiership that hadn’t been delivered by Balmain since 1969 and the Magpies 1952.
However what we have done since 2000 is bicker, snipe and argue with each other on topics that generally fall along foundation club lines.
We quarrel about colours, home grounds, junior favouritism, management bias, lack of financial input from Balmain, training headquarters and the list goes on.
In the last couple of years the bickering on social media and at games has gone to a new level both in terms of battle lines and personal abuse.
Merged club loyalties were forgotten and fans stood staunchly on the side of coach Jason Taylor or player Robbie Farah.
Personally I don’t think it is that black and white or orange. I have met Robbie and Jason briefly in a work capacity and found them to have similar traits. Both fairly quiet and polite but you could also detect a smouldering intensity below the surface.
Perhaps these are good attributes for athletes and coaches. It may also explain why they had difficulty working together.
I have seen the accusations by those “in the know” on social media. Talk of undermining team culture, being disliked by other players and using the media to destroy the club.
I am not close enough to the club to know what is truth in all these rumours but here is what I know.
It was telling from a management point of view that the Wests Tigers chair acknowledged the departure of Halatau on social media but didn’t afford the same recognition to Farah.
Both sides played PR games during the fallout even up until last week with payment negotiations being “leaked” and a puff piece on the improved culture at Wests Tigers appearing in Fairfax media. Robbie may have had the last PR laugh with that photo opportunity last Sunday sitting on the Leichhardt Oval scoreboard.
Farah is a life member, grand final winner and former captain of the Wests Tigers. He is arguably the best player we have had. He is also in the twilight of his career. Robbie has played 247 club games as well as 16 State of Origin games and eight matches for Australia. He deserves respect for that reason alone.
Taylor as a coach with his job on the line is entitled to pick the team that he wants and if he can’t work with a player then it is must be his call to cut him loose.
Whether the call from the coach was right is still up for debate. The eventual explanation for dropping Farah was that the team and particularly the halves functioned better without his imposing and strong willed approach to his dummy half work.
Mitch Moses certainly improved in the latter part of the season taking a lead role in attack and improving his defence. The team had some success, being one win off the finals, but struggled for consistency and succumbed to a couple of embarrassing losses in the last few games. Still the end of season outcome was an improvement.
Luke Brooks on the other hand has not kicked on in line with his junior potential and his career is at a crossroads. A couple of seasons seasons back Phil Gould said the problem for the Tigers is that Luke Brooks and Moses are both halfbacks.
I tend to agree. Both players look better without each other and given a free hand to run the show.
So to 2017. Robbie Farah will be at Souths and Jason Taylor will be in his third year of coaching at Wests Tigers with the team he wants under the salary cap rules.
I say no excuses! No excuses about a young team, players undermining the club or financial woes. Next season should be our year and the administrators, coaches, players and fans should all be on board and accountable.
Let’s honour what players such as Robbie Farah and Dene Halatau have done for the club in the past and unite as fans for a future where the only slanging matches we have are those with opposition supporters.
Jimmy Tsokas
Guest
Well said Jacko!!!!!!!!!!!!
Obs
Guest
The amount of bile being sprout social media displays there is an amount of hatred on both sides of the argument that will never disappear, regardless of the actual situation. For a minority of fans, the whole Taylor v Farah argument is down the fault line of the club: Taylor and Board = Wests Farah = Balmain Taylor and Board have told Farah to move along. Some are still so rusted to the old clubs they just can't handle it the decision.
Sleiman Azizi
Roar Guru
lol
Casper
Guest
Gees Steveng, no matter which thread you contribute to it's all the same anti-Taylor & pro-Farah vitriol. Not being invested in the Tigers, I see it a bit differently. I see the sense in moving on an older player on the wane in favour of developing younger halves, that's been done by plenty of quality coaches. Gould, Bennett etc have cut quality players for the benefit of team cohesion and morale. Bennett moved the King on in the Broncos early years and that worked, Barba has been subsidised at the Sharks because of his view that h was invested in Boyd- that's worked for both sides and I never saw the constant slanging match through the media (from the players & coach). Rightly or wrongly, Farah was at the least involved in the demise of 2 coaches at the Tigers, who can forget his strike actions under Potter. He should bite his tongue, take the money, play well for Souths and move on with his life. If anyone should be snakes it's Damien Cook who's just hit his straps & looks like getting shafted for Robbie, no apologies heard about that. I reckon Moses is a future gun while Brooks still has the opportunity to live up to his early promise. Qld has at least 4 hookers better than Farah, so this constant reference to being a state of origin rep deserving a mortgage on the club role is a crock. He's lucky that he's eligible for new and not qld. Move on tigers.
Gaz
Roar Rookie
Please, please, please. No more Robbie anything. All done and dusted. Curtains.
Stuart McLennan
Expert
I think you have hit the nail on the head Monkey. All ego and little compromise from eithe side. Club is now short on hookers. Liddle is a fantastic prospect but very young and I am not sure if Ballin will overcome knee problems.
Stuart McLennan
Expert
Agree it is an ongoing issue Albo. Eventually it will fade out as new supporters arrive with no foundation club baggage. That is a while off yet.
Stuart McLennan
Expert
Yeah I would like to see what JT can do in his third year without the "distractions" before the board make a decision on extending his contract.
Jacko
Guest
Are you serious? Extend Taylors contract now? Cost more to keep him after a great 2017? Souths will improve, Parra wont have 12 points deducted, Roosters will improve massively and Manly and the Warriors could easily have a win or 2 more than this year yet I cannot see any area where Taylor has, or will for next year, improve this team. I predict 12th for the Tigers and a punch and the sack for Taylor but worst case is they keep the same loser coach for quarter of the money he is on now and Taylor should pay the $750k he has just cost the club
HarryT
Guest
Interesting thoughts Chris. I agree that the whole club had to be heavily involved in Farah's departure. The sad reality is that the Tigers don't have the money or 3rd party donors to buy in quality players. So the only course left for Taylor is to develop their own and produce a champion team rather than a team of champions. I can only presume that Farah was an obstacle to achieving a harmonious team. My feeling overall is that Taylor has been successful in developing great teamwork and the general skills of his players. The blowout to the Raiders belied the vast improvements in both attack and defense. If not for some questionable decisions that cost them some close games, we would be giving them the same praises as those aimed at the young Panthers team. It does make sense for the board to back their decision and extend Taylor's contract. If, as I predict, they have a great year in 2017, it will just cost them a lot more money to keep him.
Remo Shankar
Roar Pro
It's hard to believe that somewhere along the line Taylor, Farrah, Moses and Brooks didn't have some kind of discussion centred on the way Taylor wanted the Tigers to play in attack this year. It's been made obvious through leaks and reports in the media that Taylor wanted Farrah to take a back seat and carry out a more 'functional' role as dummy half. This would have been quite a blow to the ego of Farrah - and based on his credentials and abilities, quite understandable. BUT, if you're the coach of a team and you're issuing instructions on how you want your team to play and these instructions are being ignored by a player, and it keeps happening, then what does the coach do? If the scenario I've just painted isn't correct, then the Taylor-Farrah imbroglio really does come down to nothing more than just a personality clash, which I find very hard to believe. It's about ego and control.
Jacko
Guest
Of course the other thing is that the players will no longer add to group discussions, team meetings etc for fear of getting on Taylors wrong side. Taylor has proven he selects by personality not talent. It will build until a player punches the coach. .........has that ever happened before?..... haha....yes it has and who was the Coach? This may well lead to the young guns leaving as soon as their contracts are up...if not before
Jacko
Guest
Agree Stuart, Moses seems to do things at the right time but Brookes tries it all whenever he can. It takes more than a couple of good young halves to make a team successful tho
Jacko
Guest
Chris it is Taylor that has caused the $750k to be playing against the Tigers so he certainly does not deserve any free pass for 2017. You give free passes for something beyond his control, not something he, himself was the only instigator in bringing about. When he dropped Farah, everyone said that he , as the coach, has the right to do that because he needed to qualify for finals. This became somewhat of a joke when junior wingers and a retiring backrower were the people Taylor chose to replace one of the best hookers in the competion. That fact alone proved to many that it was nothing to do with playing style or any other weak excuse he came up with but was very clearly a personality clash and whilst it is the coaches prerogative to select his team, it is also his responsibility to select the team with the best chance of success based on ability, not personality. Taylor is the coach of the Tigers and as such he has a responsibility to the Tigers board, sponsors and , not just to himself and from the reception Farah received on sunday it was very clear what the Tigers fans thought about it all. I am extremely confident in saying that if Taylor haddone a lap at the end of the game then the fan response would have been considerably different. Taylor should have been sacked on sunday arvo after that game as he failed to achieve what he said he would and he cost the club $750k of next years cap in the process
Albo
Guest
Yep ! A great summary of the Wests Tigers status in the game, Stuart ! Born out of division in 2000 and plagued by ongoing division ever since despite the enigma of that rare success in 2005. Two great foundation clubs from 1908 , Balmain & Western Suburbs forced into amalgamation to survive in the NRL competition, but with all the inherent problems of their lost traditions, big personalities, empire building, logistics & fan base satisfaction, that was never really sorted out. These things are still a huge impediment to the Wests Tigers going forward. As we have seen with the divisions over the Farah / Taylor positions, the fighting over the retention of the Tigers spiritual Leichhardt Oval , and the directionless Board decisions over recent years. I am not sure if the divisions will ever be healed until both the Balmain & Western Suburbs Clubs physically merge as one, and both clubs' traditions such as 1969 & Leichhardt Oval ( Balmain) and the " Roy Masters fibro's" from Lidcombe Oval & Pratten Park ( Wests) are long forgotten. Until then, we will be sure to have plenty of controversy surrounding the Club unless some messiah can bring them all together and bring them on field success.
The Barry
Roar Guru
That's the part that needed clarification...?
Chris Love
Roar Guru
As much as I dislike Jason Taylor for his handling of all of this I will say this. If the board and management at the Tigers were willing to sign off on benching then releasing Robbie Farah then they should have the guts to give Taylor more than 2017. Taylor now has the best part of $1m playing against him next year and that's $1m he doesn't have on his top 25. That alone should give Taylor almost a free pass for 2017. Sure he'd have to show signs of a much improved defence and a team (with hopefully some rising stars that don't have the name Brooks or Moses) showing potential. 2018 is the year that Taylor will have a team largely free of the salary cap basket case he inherited and should be 100% accountable for. So in saying all that I wouldn't begrudge the board for keeping Taylor after 2017 if they don't make the finals. 2018 however they make the finals and give a solid showing or he's gone!
steveng
Roar Rookie
Sorry, that should have been the 52-10 score line with Raiders
steveng
Roar Rookie
Moses and Brooks are the reason(s) why Taylor used and shoot his mouth off and used Farah as the reason for using whatever to get rid of Farah. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that Farah is an angel, far from it, but in 2017 these two boys have allot of pressure and will have to ‘come up to the plate and with the goods’ if the Tigers and Taylor will justify their decision for getting rid of Farah and how Taylor and got rid of Farah and used Farah to for the Tigers means. It’s going to be very interesting to see where 2017 and beyond and Taylor ends up with the Tigers? And how and where Moses and Brooks end up with the Tigers and beyond? And if Taylor made the right move and decisions to used Farah as his excuse(s) for the future? In my opinion he didn’t e.g. the Raiders is a perfect examples like that of 34-10 score lines, there will be more like that in 2017 and Moses and Brooks are not the answer for the failures of Taylor and the Tigers and they will never ever bring the Tigers out of the ‘Taylor Demise’ in the future for 2017 and beyond. Think about it Jason Taylor!
no one in particular
Roar Guru
Brooks came into first grade first, so people think he is therefore the better player and higher ceiling. It looks like Brooks is developing into the organiser and Moses the playmaker. Just what is needed out of a halves pairing