How can the Wests Tigers reach their potential?

The Canterbury Crusaders and super Rugby and Manchester United in the Beckham years are two excellent examples of teams built around a group of boys who grew up playing together. Melbourne Storm had this with Smith, Cronk and Slater, even though Melbourne is 2000kms away from the Norths Devils club that has given them so many juniors. Even the Geelong Cats have a thriving junior system from which they draft players if they can, but the ones that get poached often return to the club 8 years later in free agency. They also enjoy more than the average number of father-sons, which is another way they can retain local juniors. The problem with the Tigers is that they had their youth generation of Jacob Miller, Mitch Moses, James Tedesco, Marika Koroibete, Curtis Sironen, Jessie Sue, Nathan Brown, David Nofoaluma and Luke Brooks, but in the end only kept Nofa and Brooks. They even let Ryan Papenhuysen go.

it all starts with the jersey. Home games the Tigers wear the 1989 Balmain jersey, away games they wear the 1978 West Maggies jersey.

mate - she all starts with the board

Tim I agree with most of your comments re the Wests Tigers, especially the one where you suggest the players be put on a retainer wage and then rewarded on the work rate they put in in the match, as you say even if they don't perform they still get picked, I have never understood that. I know in the past years we haven't had a lot of players to pick from, lets hope that changes with the coming of Tim Sheens. Hopefully that will prove to be a masterstroke signing and Tim can sort us out- I just hope we are not too far gone, and that happier days are coming for us long suffering fans and members. I think the new COE is more for the general public to enjoy rather than the Wests Tigers, we just seem to be tacked onto the end of it !!!! and yes we should be out in the Campbelltown region :stoked:

Your lads will get you (hopefully) into the Top 10-12. Our lads (with a prayer) Top 4.

Hardly represents the South West, where the biggest growth of NRL fans will be. Have a look at patrons of Wests Club at Ashfield. I think you would find it hard to get a member to name a current player. I believe Wests Cambelltown (walking distance from the Oval) gave up their share of joint venture, because they were being excluded.

doing the same thing and expecting a different result. Yep, that's gonna work.

I'm thinking the focus like Gould is doing at the Bulldogs is to fix all areas including pathways. I did note the Bulldogs grabbed some Tigers staff I think for the whole reason to steal juniors coming through the Tigers ranks they haven't identified yet.

I'd argue the Bulldogs. But really anything we signed was an improvement.

From my family travelling to Campbelltown for 5 to 6 games a year for 10 years to zero now. Thats how things have changed in my family and friends. I grew up a kilometre from Lidcombe Oval and have always been a die hard Magpie. Watching the board over the years Shoot the Tiger and Kill the Magpie has done nothing but make my blood boil. Having 4 coaches who could not teach our outside backs how to defend (100's of tries scored against us on the wing has made us a laughing stock) and a board, who seem to have zero instinct on what players to hold and what players to let go are just two things I have loathed . It's like the board are are always holding a pair of two's and think they have a winning hand. Hopeless decision makers, pathetically hopeless. Yet, the only changes the Board seem to do, other than losing home grown talent are aimed at the coach. Get rid of the board. Move to Campbelltown and dig those roots so hard that we end up with a team that every player wants to play with and finally have a board that we WESTS TIGERS can be proud of.

Yeah of course. But as a snap shot, In the Inner West Council, 16% of people are born in China, Korea and India - Not generally cultures that follow or play rugby league. Where as in the Macarthur that number is just 3%.

Speaking of Sheens, what does a ‘football director’ actually do? It sounds like the high performance manager that Cricket Australia are/were fond of. In other words a Mickey Mouse position. Paying an old bloke $1 million over 3 years, is a bonus for no one but Sheens himself.

And do you think the demographic is not changing in the southwest also?

They don’t the vast majority of resources for those juniors comes from outside the clubs. The entire point of the commission was to have a clearer delineation of responsibilities so that you have a the right skill sets running the right parts of the game but ensure that money flows from the professional game to the grass roots (because if left to the teams it would trickle). We’re supposed to have an over arching strategy that then is executed by local organisations that specialise in running junior competitions. Any allocation of juniors then is just an arbitrary boundary that the club should be thankful of as their competitors paid effectively 15 times more for than they did (about to be 16). This idea that the NRL clubs, most of which Penrith outsmarted by simply thinking in the medium term rather than next year, are somehow capable of vertically integrating rugby league is laughable. Does anyone think rugby league is the best run professional sport in the world? If you don’t then ask does any other sport have the model we seemingly lust for of junior to retirement? Well none with a draft obviously – which rules out a lot. And not sure about the transfer mad EPL either and yes League can do transfers, the issue is it doesn’t create cap space which is the scarce resource. The tigers should be targeting juniors. Not out of some benevolence (because let’s face it more NRL club management involvement is unlikely to raise the quality) but because of the cost and optionality of juniors in the team.

But is that where they will come from in the future? Have a look at the changing demographic in those areas. A lot more people and families from cultures that do not traditionally play rugby league. But if all the kids in Strathfield are lacing on boots because they want to be like Adam Doueihi.... well good luck to the Tigers and the NRL.

But what they “do” Tom is constantly change. Changing again is sticking with the West tiger MO. I looked it up recently and I think they average a change of Ceo, Chairman or Coach around once a season over the past decade. I used to think it was board level but it’s a step further – the problem is the underlying fan/power base. They can’t agree on what the club is and what is important. They’re hung up on the two entities it used to be or making sure their area is the key in the way forward. This is where the NRL fans myopic geographic view are chains upon progress. From the outside it’s clear they’ve got a case of the Kobe Bryant’s. They don’t necessarily want to win, each faction wants to the be the reason they won. So as soon as they have a bad season (ie a typical tigers season) another group rips the conch from the current ruling group, changes strategy… rinse repeat. there isn’t a point in time where everyone has been pulling in the same direction. The fan’s baying for constant change is the entire underlying reason for failure. The people in the stands are what are weighing West Tigers to the ocean floor of the NRL. They are also the ones with the capacity to change it. Coaches Blame players until it’s clear it wasn’t their fault Ceo’s blame Coaches until it’s clear it wasn’t their fault Board’s blame Ceo’s until it’s clear it wasn’t their fault Owners (the Fan’s in this case) blame Chairs until it’s clear it wasn’t their fault [original version had me stopping and starting :laughing: ] It’s been 16 years since a lightning in a bottle premiership I think it’s clear which part of the blame process we should be up to. Moving, without everyone getting on board for the good of the club, just creates the obvious lightning rod for the next coup when inevitably something doesn’t go to plan.

I think you're on the money with your synopsis! Wests need one home base to play out of. A home ground will develop a spirit and culture that they have never really had, every organisation needs roots. The centre of excellence at Concord and playing out of three home grounds is dysfunctional and will never progress. The Brookes player of the year was a bit of a farce, more than anything its a reflection of the coaches myopic view on the half back. Jackson Hastings arrival will be a challenge for Maquire and team selection. Tim Sheens will bring some much needed stability and oversight of Maquire. Whether Maquire will accept guidance will be interesting, he might be on borrowed time.

Put the Storm management and recruitment team in charge of the Tigers 20 years ago and what position is the club in now? I had a close look at Manly a few years back to see why my club was struggling. The best recruit over a very long period was probably Peter Hiku. That was the big issue. I was being told the club couldn't spend on recruitment because of back-ended contracts and all sorts of things. It's nonsense. The club was recruiting young players but they just weren't picking winners. The list of great recruits in the long period before that is as long as your arm. Players like the Stewarts , Matt Ballin , Matai and DCE had no one fighting over them and were as cheap as they come. If the recruiters keep on buying expensive flops and missing out on the next generation of rep players then they still won't have any rep players in 10 years time. I read a story about how they let Tedesco go. If the plodder who decided it was ok is still sticking his beak into the recruitment area , the club is buggered.

Brooks has to go. He is the Tigers handbrake. Tigers should have a ton of juniors wh could advance the Tigers but instead buy duds for squillions

Reynolds was widely quoted as saying it was about the change of lifestyle Qld offered for him and his family more than the money. Finucane was about the money thru the extra year. And Nicho would have had a price tag commensurate with the form he was in.. Sharks have plenty of cash.