Wests Tigers coach Ivan Cleary concedes their recruitment and retention saga wrought a toll on the club this NRL season but he says he can see the silver lining.
The club was battered from pillar to post following the mid-season departure of Mitchell Moses and their failure to retain Aaron Woods and James Tedesco.
Woods and Tedesco will play their final home match at Campbelltown Stadium on Saturday night when the Tigers take on North Queensland.
Amid a disastrous season in which they rank 15th and remain in contention for the wooden spoon, the Tigers can see some upside.
Over the past five weeks they’ve pushed Penrith, Parramatta and Sydney Roosters and beaten Manly.
Three of their six wins this season have come in the past seven rounds.
Cleary said the Woods-Tedesco-Moses saga piled the pressure on his young side and affected their on-field performance.
“We’ve just been a bit more settled,” Cleary said of the turnaround in form.
“There was a fair bit going on around here. Once we got a few things sorted out in terms of recruitment and retention and you guys (the media) weren’t turning up every day, it settled things down and it’s shown on the field.
“No doubt (it had an effect), our club is definitely in a recovery mode. We didn’t know how long that’s going to take, we’re probably still in it to some extent.
“But the last couple of months we feel like we’re getting some traction.”
The Tigers will blood rookie back-rower Bayley Sironen – the son of Tigers great Paul Sironen – against the Cowboys on Saturday night.
If the Tigers fail against the Cowboys it will be the first time in the joint venture’s history that they have failed to win a game at Campbelltown in a season.
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