It seems to happen around this time every year, the Wests Tigers joint venture starts the NRL season with a big bang – winning and winning well, establishing themselves atop the ladder.
But, usually around the 10-12 week mark – they hit trouble.
And it looks like its ringing true again in 2010 after the Tigers were beaten up badly by South Sydney to the tune of 50-10 today in the NRL heritage round at the SCG.
Tigers keyman Benji Marshall having a day he would want to forget and the rest of the Wests side were fairly abysmal in their efforts also.
But what goes wrong? Again they do have a large injury roster at the moment, but their club depth isn’t too bad and their ability when they are ‘on’ is there for all to see.
It again raises the question of the ‘old guard’ at the Tigers. Sheens has struggled to achieve any success since 2005 and surely it’s time that the veteran coach moves aside and breathes new life into the club.
Maybe a change of personnel at the top will help the club keep focus at critical times during the year. The task for the Wests side doesn’t get easier next week – playing a desperate Knights side at EnergyAustralia Stadium.
But the microscope should also be extended to some players in the squad who might not be pulling their weight.
Prop Bryce Gibbs despite making the City Origin side this year – has probably struggled more than most in the team. Since 2005, Gibbs hasn’t really done a lot. The nuggety forward’s temper generally gets his side into trouble, he is generally assured of giving away at least 2 penalties in each and every match he plays.
As we’ve said before, the Tigers probably should have held onto Bronson Harrison and shown Gibbs the door.
The Tigers also handled recruitment and retention badly in regards to the fullback spot, losing both Shannon Gallant and Shannon McDonnell with both proving to be decent players at their new clubs.
Galloway must be a frustration to both fans and coach. Big Keith has so much talent and is a handful for opposition defence lines everytime he touches the ball, he has been on the cusp of NSW Origin for some time.
But Galloway has quickly become ‘cotton wool’ man and rarely plays consistently due to injury concnerns.
Too much of the onus for the Tigers falls onto the shoulders of Robbie Farah and Benji Marshall, with the latter showing signs of pressure today given the quality of his game.
While it might be hard to change things mid-season, Wests Tigers officials need to start planning for the future and they need to do that now.
The problem in the past has been that good performances at the back end of the year has masked the poor patches in the middle of the season and blinded officials as to how the team is really tavelling.
Wests need to map out some future direction now, prepare to make the hard decisions and make them at the end of the season.