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It's West Tigers Podcast. Unfortunately you guessed it. It's another post loss edition of the West Tigers Podcast after the twenty eight to ten surrender to Manly drop fell on Friday night. And Steve is here, and Eddie is here, and Gary is here. Gentlemen, I've got one, two, three, four, five, I've got seven one words, so I've splurged a.
Bit on one words. Gary. Have you been able to keep it to one? Have you got more than one?
I actually found it really hard to find a one word this week because how do you describe that performance? There's so many words that can describe such an inapt display, So I'm just going to stick with in apt. It was a horrible game on Friday night and it showed our performance was just in apt for an NRL team.
Steve's dressed in red and black. It kind of looks a little bit like the Perth Bears colors. I hope we're not losing you to the WA team.
Steve Well, I've considered it carefully, but not at this stage. Perth might be a bad option then. So my one word is, well, it's a phrase. It's a phrase. Chiles ten to fifteen percent, and it just seems to me that we play ten to fifteen percent worse than whoever we're playing. So we play the Raiders and they turn up and we played ten to fifteen percent worse than they do and just don't get away with the points.
Then we play Manly, who are there for the taking, who were absolutely horrible, and we played ten to fifteen percent worse than them. So that best sums up our season.
I Reckon and Steve. I think Manly only played at ten percent themselves, so I guess that puts us at negaty five percent.
That's one hundred percent, right, Eddie, which would be eighty five percent if you take the fifteen.
Off, Eddie, how are you feeling?
Not very good? Jobs? The boys have got sensible one words mine not very sensible. You know. I went outside this morning, jol and it was a bit slippy and I fell over, actually so just outside the front door. So I went online and I went to a place called Sydney Doormats, and I thought, I need a new doormat, and I'm going to get an orange and black one to call it West Tigers, because that's what we are. We are a walkover as a club on and off the field. And I'll get into some of my rants later.
Well, I think the topic that sort of sums that up has something to do with talent the silver and we'll talk about talent in a moment, because my seventh one word does lead us into a bit of a discussion about that. So I've got talk and sometimes it comes up on the forums, and our fellow West Tigers fans say to me, you know, they are sick of
hearing all of the talk. If you remember last week, there were the press conferences, the media opportunities where players stood up there and they spoke about this and spoke about that, and it just all becomes talk and they don't follow through on it. The other thing I'd like to say is I'm a little bit over the excuses.
All of the time. There is always an excuse you know, it's the referees, it's the weather, it's the it's the.
This, it's that, there's always an excuse, and that that only runs so far as far as I'm concerned, I think there was a certain amount of complacency in that in the way the West Tigers approached that game, albeit obviously missing some really key players, but I think they thought that they just had to turn up.
I think they looked at that manly lineup, they looked at.
That manly forward pack and went, we got this, and they went out there with that attitude, which of course.
Leads into arrogance.
There is I don't know, there does seem to be a little bit of arrogant sometimes. I have, of course, got physicality and collision. You can't win if you don't win the collision momentum as well. We just struggle to get any momentum in games. But my number one word for the week is natives. And it may not be the most politically correct term to use, but the natives are restless. I haven't seen the West Tigers fan base so upset in a while, and it seems to me, Eddie, I'll.
Flick it back to you first.
It seems to me that the talented Silver situation seems to be the tipping point. It just seems to have pushed you know, the Galvin stuff. There was a lot of things we didn't.
Know, but people are really unhappy at the.
Moment, all rightly. So, I mean I went on for about twenty minutes last week pushing back not necessarily on Gary's points, but just asking a lot of questions around this talent of Silver thing and whether you rate him as a better player Appy or not. Is I think it's a separate discussion. It's the wider discussion of we're just giving up on another season. You know, we let our other elite junior go eight weeks ago in Lackland Galvin.
So like, if you're get to run dual narratives Benji and Richo, just be careful because you know, Benji even said in his press conference, we're still in the top eight race. No we're not. We're not because we're giving up good players halfway through a season and we're getting nothing in return. Or maybe we're getting a small transfer fee. But you know what, Richo, fans don't give a stuff about winning a little bit of money on the side. They want to win games.
We want to.
You know, we thought this season was going to be at least competitive for the top eight until the end. But we've we've just thrown a white flag on this. And I know Happy, I understand them backing Happy over talent. I do not understand at all him letting him go to Paramounta this week and lo and behold. You know I spoke about on Wednesday in the midwek pot I said, well, what's their grand plan if Appy gets injured? Well they got their just deserts and Happy got eleven days for
a concussion. I hope he's okay, but Reserve Greater will start this week. So well done everyone.
No, I can't disagree with any of that, Eddie. For me, I've got no problem with the club deciding to let telln leave. I've got no issue with that whatsoever. But that happens in November. That doesn't happen now. And and we're at the point again, we're three quarters the way through the season and the end of this season's going to be horrible. Now. I'm not going to sit here and say we're going to get the wooden spoon, but it's not going to be a fun end of the season.
We're going to have some awful losses next weekend with the side that we're going to have to field next weekend. And I gave Eddie a hard time for saying this when we played Melbourne. What's the point like the side we're going to field next week is not reserve grade standard and we're just lucky that Laurie Daily is a fool because if he had have taken Terrell May into that New South Wales so I'd like he should have
done tonight, would be in an even worse position. Right, I'm okay with the club deciding telling the Silver is not the future. I'm not okay with letting him go tomorrow, especially after what happened on Friday night, especially with what we've got coming up next weekend, because Eddie's right, it's giving up on the season. It's saying we don't I think we can do anything in this season now, So we're going to give up a player who can contribute to us between now and the end of the season.
And it's not like we're under salary cap pressure. It's not like we need the money, it's not like we need the roster spot. We've let three players go during this season and had no players coming in. That's three players in David Klemmer in, a Lucky Galvin and now Talent to Silver. We've let go and it's just waking to askuad to the point where I think we've got about nineteen players we can choose from the next weekend.
I think the question has to be asked, when does the line get joining the sand? You know, love, We get asked to stay positive, we get asked to be in the crocodile role, We get told that, you know, true supporters don't walk away. True supporters support the club and support every player, and I think the vast majority of us try to do that as much as we possibly can. But I'm going to tell you you've Any and Garry, you've both mentioned that the season's over, and
I agree the season is now now over. We've lost two of the best Jews. I remember having a conversation or we all had a conversation with Tim Sheen's a couple of years ago where he was talking about telling the Silver you know, being the next greatest could become the greatest player in the game. We had these juniors coming through. Two of them are now gone, two of the brightest stars are gone and for the fourth n a row, I think where hit June and the season
is dead. Now. I don't know about you guys, but I've paid for my membership right through to the end of the season and there's still I don't know half a dozen home games that I'm going to attend and cheer for a team because I want to see a team succeed and win, and I want to see a team make the eight. And quite frankly, I'm fed up. We've been told to wait to a next season. We're getting halfway through US season and saying it's going to happen next season, because I got news for you, It
doesn't bloody happen. But we got told next season is the one, and then next season comes around and come June we piss it up against the wall again again, and now we're going to wait for next year. What will the excuse be next year? And will with an ex bloke to walk out the door because he doesn't want to be part of the rebuild or the crocodile roll or whatever you want to call it.
And Steve, sorry, mate, keep going now, you're right in saying we get that message at true supporter support the club. We are true supporters and we support the club. We're still supporting the club. Now, we're all giving up our Sunday night to sit here and have this conversation. There's going to be many people who give up part of their day tomorrow to listen to this podcast. Despite what the side dished up on Friday night. These people are all true supporters of the club. But it's time the
club supports us. It's time the club supports the fan base and gives them a side that's going to compete throughout the entire season, not get to this point in the season and just meekly surrender. Because that's what we're doing. We're meekly surrendering. And I think that's a really valid, valid point about membership Steve. We've got the lowest memberships
in the competition. How do you sell memberships when year after year you get to this point of the season and the club makes a decision to pretty much tank the rest of the season to create some mythical war chests for next season. Now, I am still positive. I still think we're going in the right direction. I still think as a club, next year is going to be better than this season, but they're still like, what is it ten rounds to go this season? Give us this season first.
I think the club's to a degree loss control the narrative as well. You know, as I said, the natives are restless, and I think the club has lost control of the narrative, which means that the damage and the scar tissue that's under the surface is never too far from the surface. With the fan base, but I think there's a lot of people that are really disillusioned, including by the look of it NBWT on X and NBWT
nothing but West Tigers. Of course, they often have really really good information from the club that most of us don't have, Like they normally gazumpus on a lot of stuff, but on X they posted My favorite part of the silver stuff is Appy hasn't actually even signed an extension yet. Not getting a single player back, even just for the rest of this year for two juniors under contract is as bad as any football decision the club has made. The other thing i'd say of Frodi Gary, but the
Knights are on fourteen points as well. I don't see them handing over Ky Paul, even though Kay peers Paul is signed with us for next year. Like I don't understand, I'm struggling to find the logic of letting players go without getting anything in return. I just can't see what the upside is.
On that Appy thing. There's no doubt that Appy signed, there's no doubt that well, there shouldn't be any doubt that they're not doing this if Appy is still unsigned on the Kypeers, Paul one, the Knights should be the club who is releasing someone because they're on a salary cap pressure. They've got a guy coming in next season who's on one point three million dollars that they couldn't really afford. And if anyone was going to be releasing players,
it would be the Knights. And it's not the Knights, it's us, who apparently have a war chess and apparently have lots of roster's fades left, and we're the ones releasing players.
So, Gary, you mentioned then that we're going in the right direction, and I agree with that, and I think most people, when they're in a reasonable frame of mind, would agree with that. But I just have pulled some stats out for that, and I'd like to say, when I did all the research myself, but I didn't. I actually saw it online. So last year at this stage we'd won four lost eleven. This year we're five and ten.
We were seventeenth last year, we're fourteenth. This year. We've got a differential of minus one hundred and thirty nine. Last year we got a differential minus eighty four. This year, so we are making progress. But for me, it feels like we take three steps forward and then we take two point nine steps back. Right, the growth is just so slow, and is this incumbent by I think decisions that have b like have been made today and it's
just not happening fast enough. The other thing I just want to mention too, that really disappointed me about this weekend's game, and that was the press conference by Benji. And I like Benji, and I still think Benji's the guy for the job. I don't necessarily think he's got the right people around him, but I think he's the guy to take the team forward. But he came out and he praised Manly's efforts in the press conference. I can't remember his exactly.
But he praised Dows as well.
But he said they were tough for him, said, you know, they were gritty, or something like that. Now, look, mate, Manly were horrible. Manly were horrendous. The only thing is we were ten percent worse than horrendous. Right now, just compare that to Craig Bellamy and I know we're not Melbourne, but surely that's what we aspire to be. Isn't that what we're aspiring to get to. He demands excellence, he
demands perfection. They win games and he's as the dirts and he can't say a positive thing about their performance when they get the two points. We get beaten in a rabble of a game that we should have won by twenty points. And I know we had I know, you know we had little open out and all that sort of stuff, but that's just an excuse, right next man up and Benji was proud of the effort and was saying that we competed well against a team that
was tough. Mainly weren't tough. Anyone would have beaten man last night, anyone, Joel.
I've got a game. We won't play it now and I'm not the host, but I've got a game for you later. I only take a few minutes. It's about Shane Richarton. But firstly, I will say now he is a very intelligent, experienced operator, and I think I don't want to speak for all the boys, but I think we all think he's been one of the best things to happen to this club and I hope sincerely that he is here for the next few years. But like the sad thing, all I can think of, I don't
know what's going through his head. Is the sad thing is that he feels with Galvin and the Silver that we don't have maybe a good enough environment to control this. Whereas you mentioned Ky Peers Paul at Newcastle, he's not going anywhere in the middle of the season. You know, Rusters have had players leaving next year and they're not giving up two or three players in the middle of
the season. So I just think that's a sad indictment, the fact that when there's potentially two local juniors want to move on in eighteen months or one definitely wanted to move on, that Richardson feels like as a club we're not strong enough to withstand that noise and we're just going to give them up straight away, like it just doesn't happen elsewhere.
I can understand giving up tell under Silver at the end of the year, he's on five hundred thousand dollars plus next year. I can understand them move to letting go the next season. You can't do it now. There's no way you can make that decision now, And that, for me is the issue.
Gary, Just why do you think. I know we can't get inside his head, but there must be a logical reason why he's doing it. Besides, you know, you just think it's a money thing.
Well, like you and I had a conversation earlier about our club being a doormat, and I don't think it's our club being a doormat. I think there must be a reason why they've made that decision there, and I'm guessing it's got to do around culture. But we need this guy. We need this guy at least for the remainder of this season. Appy's had not These things can stretch out past eleven days. He could be out for
the next two to three weeks. We knew that Lui was likely to be playing Origin, so we wouldn't have him next weekend. You and I actually discussed this and I wasn't as against releasing him at this point of the season. On Wednesday night, when we discussed the Eddie, but how Friday night went that changes your decision on it. And I don't care if you've made arrangements with paramatter for him to go now that wasn't signed off on
because he played for us on Friday night. There's no way he plays for us on Friday night if it's signed off on. What happened on Friday night makes a big difference to me in the thinking around that. And I don't know why the club has still going through with it. I wouldn't have still gone through with.
It Eddie to give you applausible explanation to your question about you know, why is it happening? I think we're just paying for the sins of the past, I really do, you know. I think, as I've already said, we are heading in the right direction, but it's not having quick enough. And these guys want instant success. They want to be holding the trophy this year or next year. It's as simple as that. He can't see himself getting enough first grade time at the club and so he doesn't think
the club is worth hanging around for him. Look at young Wisha down up Melbourne, absolutely outstanding football who sits behind Munster, you know, and he's happy to play at fourteen and play his role at Melbourne. He's quite happy because he knows he's going to get success, or he believes he's going to get success and develop his game at that club. These guys obviously still don't think that.
Despite the fact that we are improving, despite the fact that we've made positive steps, these guys obviously do not think it's going to happen quick enough or well enough to be worth staying as part of our club. I said this last year, guys on the pot, I said my biggest fear, right, my biggest fear was that all this was going to blow up in our face because these young guys coming through weren't going to stay and weren't going to want to be part of the club.
And if you add Stefano to the mix, that's three of them that have walked out the door since we talked about that last year. And it continues for me to be a major concern despite the improvements that seemingly have been made.
I'm not overly fussed on lou Galvin. I'm not only fussed on losing Stefano. You know, plays like books like Tarzan plays like Jane if you watch him every week, it's yeah, I'm not not that fast about that, and I'm not that fast about TDS. What I'm fussed about the only thing that annoys me is the way that
the club is handling this. The way that the club has again lost the narrative, has allowed the fan base to get this upset and this angry without explaining what's going on and taking us for the ride and doing it in a sensible adult kind of way, which is sort of like, Okay, well, Talent's going to not be here next year, but that's okay, because you know, we need him this year. We want to be part of him, to be part of the team, and we you know, we'll talk about it at the end of the year.
But it just seems that if you kick up enough stink, we just roll over and get nothing in return. So yeah, I'm not, as I say, I'm not, I'm not really that fussed about losing any player. I mean, there's some generational players like Tedesco, which which will always hurt, But it's more the way that the club appears to be managed again that is sticking in my crawl.
Gary.
Yeah, and what I'm going to say next isn't about excusing the club either, But the NRL needs to fix the system as well, because the system is broken when you've got players. These players are agitating now because they're allowed to negotiate in November for twenty twenty seven. That
system needs to be fixed. What it allows for is for the poorer performing teams, the lower end teams be pillaged and have players ripped out of them constantly because players are looking to shore things up almost two years before they're due to move clubs. That needs to be fixed. That's not the excuse anything the club's done today. There's no way they should have made that decision regardless of the system in place. But that system needs to be fixed as well.
I do not want to have a discussion about private ownership. Please let's I go into a discussion about private ownership. But I wanted to share this post from Gareth Sales on the West Tigers Fans for Life Facebook post page because I think it just sort of sums up a lot of how we're feeling. Gareth says, I've been a fan since ninety two and honestly, this is as disheartening as it's ever been in over thirty years, we've seen less than ten finals games and I don't see that
changing under the current ownership model. The joint venture has failed. There's no accountability, no clear football vision, and no sustained planned for success. Other clubs have rebuilt. We just keep repeating the same mistakes. It's not just about losses. It's the culture, the leadership, and the complete lack of professionalism in every area. We're constantly chasing our tail while other clubs rise again. Now, Gareth does say the only way
forward is to find a serious investor. I don't really want to go down that path, but he says until it happens, it feels like we're doomed to keep suffering year after year. Wooden Spoon after Wooden Spoon and Eddie. I'm going to ask you, two new clubs coming in, at what point does it become untenable?
At what point does it.
The challenge become too big to turn this club around? I mean we are most likely going to now be finishing last or somewhere around the bottom of the table.
Again, the amount of damage.
That the brand has sustained for a long time, but especially in the last five or six years, it just seems like the mountain doesn't get smaller, it seems to get bigger.
I agree with the boys. There's been a lot. There's been a lot of improvements this year, but it can all spectacularly combust. That's the problem. I think that's we see or we fear that, you know, Benji could gat sack ben Liu. I activate this course and then it just completely combusts and you're at the bottom for another ten years. Like that's Murry and Ah. Like you mentioned,
he mentioned a lack of professionalism in every area. I think we've said it a few times on the pod this year that I think that it's getting to a point. And Shane Richardson will never admit this because he's a chess beater and he knows what he's doing and he's a very successful operator. But I think this job is a lot harder than he thought it was and him and Benji Marshall are not enough manpower to turn this
club around. I've read various forums the past two days and a lot of fans venting and just like us, but you read things like other clubs have you know, four or five people on their recruitment staff or whatever, and you know, we've got Richo at the moment. He's doing here, there and everywhere at the moment. So yeah, I know it's a very easy podcast for us to come on and vent, but I think the points we're
making are pretty salient. It is painful progress. I'm still hopeful we can avoid that wooden spoon, which is what I said at the start of Yeah. I set very pretty low expectations. Combet some of you guys. I said, if Benji can avoid the wooden spoon and finish fourteenth and get eight or nine wins, it'll be okay. That's still up for grabs. I know that's probably setting the bar extremely low and people will say, oh, that's just mediocrity. But the worry I think for all of us is
we can see it all combusting. You know, when these things just lead to snowballing and snowballing down the road and then the losses pile up. It's another season with an eight game losing street coming up like that. That's just really hard to swallow.
Steve, on that same sort of path, What's something I'd like to sort of talk about for a moment, and that is it's something that we've often spoken about, and.
That is attention to detail.
That it does harken back to what you're talking about in regards to the Melbourne Storm, and everybody, every West Tiger's fan should go back and watch the replay of the game against Manly and count how many times passes did not hit the mark, how many times passes were up above someone's head or down around their knees, And it just seems to be that close enough is good enough. That just always seems to be the mentality, and it
does make a difference. There's a couple of opportunities in that game, and we'll talk more about the game more specifically, but there's a couple of times in that game where if the ball hits the right guy at the right time, maybe the result of that piece of play turns out differently. So attention to detail, I mean, as you said, like Bellamy drives those standards, who is driving these standards because I'm not seeing it.
I'll just say, firstly, Joel, you're right, because it did happen in the game. When do we hit that pass to see far through, run through the gap and scored untouched? Right? So when it works, it works, and we've seen that we've seen that when we get it right, we are capable of getting it very right. Look, I've been saying it for a long time, Joel, I don't know. That's probably why you threw to me this attention to detail thing.
It gets under my skin. And what goes alongside that is the acceptance of mediocrity and no stands of excellence. And look, it's just to put it out there. It's not just something that I come up with a makeup, right, It's what I've done in my career for the last twenty years, right, And so it's very dear to my heart. That's something that I suppose I think I know a little bit about. I don't know much about much, but that's something I reckon I do know a little bit about,
and I just see it. I just see it so plainly that we don't do the work necessary to operate at an excellent level, whether that be on the field or off the field. And I've seen that for a long time. And I don't want to be negative about what's happening, because I do think it's getting better and I do think it's been addressed. I'll bee it very slowly, and I can't comment about training methods and what happens on the training pradic because I've I've never played at
that level. I've never been involved in sport at that level. But it just appears to me, as someone who has spent a lifetime looking at improvement processes, structures and strategies, that we do not put the effort in where we need to put the effort in to get to excellence. And that's what you're talking about, Joe. That's the example, is you just gave the pass, it goes behind the shoulder, around the ankles. The clunkiness in the attack, the fact that our like hen we tri scored down our edges
left and right the other night. That's been happening for years. Why hasn't it been addressed? Why is it still a perennial problem? We got another try scored office where someone came through and took the ball in the air office and we didn't compete for the ball. How long has that been happening for? I don't profess to know, It's just what I think from what I see that we just do not have a culture of excellence and no
one drives those stands. Maybe we just don't know how we don't know what it looks like, but I don't know.
Well, Gary, you'd say that this level of the NRL is elite, this is the elite level, this is where this is the pinnacle. And I don't see an organization that is an elite organization. I don't see an organization that consistently hits elite. Not everybody can, not all of the time. But I feel like, you know, watching the other games this weekend, I feel like we're in so many areas of our play in so many areas, and albeit it's not just this game, it's right throughout this season.
It's scar tissue from the last few years, but we're still a couple of runs down in so many ways. We hope you're enjoying this edition of the West Tigers Podcast. Don't forget if you agree or disagree. We'd love to hear your comments and thoughts on the West Tigers Podcast Forum. It's free to join and you can contribute directly to the podcast on the forum. Just head to West Tigers podcast dot com dot au slash forum. We hope to see you there soon.
Yeah, if you're talking about the club, and I think that professional side of the club is improving. I think Richo's doing a really good job there improving that. For me, I've spoken about all season on the field that it looks to me that a lot of our sort of shape and block plays and set pieces that we just
haven't practiced them enough. We haven't had that attention to dotel, We haven't had that level of excellence where you're just repeating it training during the off season over and over and over again until it becomes natural and players are
in the right spot. And not only that, once you get to that level where you can run that play over and over and over again on the field, variations come to it as well, where you see something else in the defense and everyone's able to adjust to that and you can modify what you're doing based on what you're seeing in front of you. We don't appear to
be able to do any of that. When we do run shape, it looks like we're running plays exactly how we've run them, and we aren't able to adjust to what we're seeing in front of us and implement changes on the run because we don't have the foundation of
that bass play down far and embedded enough. And that seems to be an issue on the field since the start of the season that I think at times has improved through the season, But as soon as we lost a couple of players leading into that game on Friday night, the execution of those sort of players was back to what we're seeing at the start of the season, and it just wasn't good enough on Friday night.
Now, just not good enough.
You know, we started the season thin in some areas and we've let players go. We've lost players and we haven't replaced them, and that seems to be negligent to me. I think it's negligent to see a season and off season that so much work was put in to let it slip away the way that it has. Professionalism. Yes, however, I was getting the members email every Tuesday with the team lineup, and it's stopped. And no, it's not in
my spam, it's not anywhere to be found. I'm not getting any members emails anymore.
So anyway, be that as it may.
Let's have a look at the one words from the West Tigers podcast forum, and obviously most of these in relation to the game against Manly.
Mike's word was depressing. The Richo meter was bad.
Now technically on the rich O Meter Mike Bad doesn't exist, so I'm substituting it and saying paor so saying poor Cambra. Tiger's word was clueless the whole club, from top to bottom.
I've written.
I don't think too long after the game, but probably a lot of us that agree in a lot of ways. Tiger'sman, Sheen's ball, everybody's out of position, and we still lose. Tigertown SFS had a few regression spoon we're playing like a spoon team. And roster terrible roster and also eace. It's an interesting one word, but it was not the opponent for this weekend. It's give our license to the East Tigers LFC. Tiger's word was shambles both on and off the field. Davey Farrell broken the club and Benji
they're both broken. Benji must walk. Our lack of attack was embarrassing, Tiger tragic fifty six confused. That's our selections, our attack and our defense. Osmo seven is new to the West Tigers podcast forum. Welcome, first time commenter, longtime sufferer, and Osmo's seven's word was lackluster, terrible performance, no energy,
no direction. Wagga Tiger's word was done. The club has to be done with the way it operates, from team selections to the development of junior's Everything the club is doing needs to change. Plunder Monkey's one word was thin margins with the team, squad depth, tactical insight, capacity to overcome adversity.
All thin one word submissions continue on. We've got quite a.
Lot this week. Kiwi Tiger concerned. Maybe there's no way of turning this club around. Are we a lost cause? Chuk's word was twenty You can't win with three starting spine players being twenty years of age. Mercy Rules word was spoon bowl that'll be against the Titans in round twenty seven or should it be spoon bowl two point zero? Barrow's word is help. We the fans, the players, and definitely Benji. We all need help. Tedys Groundhog Day Nat
Max seventy eight's word was lost. We look completely lost with the ball. We lost the game. I'm lost for words After that game, Peter Ray went for malajoitness, sums up our team's performance. Of course, malajoitness meaning clumsy, awkward, lacking skill. You look that up, John, I did. Katar Tiger via the website send in a note to say, shocking, dumb, dumb, negative, worst effort of the year. But at least Melbourne are a good team. So there's all the one word subisions
from the West Tigers podcast forum. Let's have a quick look at the game. I don't really want to go back and remember it too much. What I will say is, don't ever say I'm not a dedicated West Tigers fan. I was out on Friday evening. I was actually working, and I wasn't able to see the game, and it was about eight point thirty and I went to NRL dot com to see what the score was.
I wasn't looking at the.
I didn't have an opportunity to look at the group chat or any look anywhere else. So I thought I'll go and have a look at what the score was, and I went, ah, twenty eight ten.
Bugger, I'm going.
To have to watch it because we're going to talk about it on Sunday night. So I had to sit there this morning, Sunday morning and start my Sunday watching a replay of a loss, which is a really stupid thing to do. But when you talk about it, you got to you got to watch it. What I will
say gentlemen, I'll throw to you first, Eddie Is. I believe, really sincerely that if you take Takiajo and Lodge and put their eight their eight and they're ten in our team, and the way that they played, especially in that first twenty minutes, with their line speed, with the way that they were winning the collision, then the result would have
been different. I think our problem. I know that I go on and on about physicality and winning the collision, but I still maintain that our biggest problem is upfront.
Well, it's hard to argue based on what we saw Friday night, Joel, and that was clearly the biggest disappointment of the game, because I wasn't expecting to win with Bullet and Leu eye out and the fact we've got a very thin squad, but I wasn't expecting to average thirty one meters a set. That's dreadful and like that's against a manly pack. I went through it eight seventeen, which I rated the worst in the RL. They're the worst in the NRL. Sadly I got that wrong because
we're the worst because we were completely out. I don't know if it was out in thirsd or outplayed or out line speed or just everything by a pretty no name manly Pack, and you Takyaho and you mentioned Lodge. I think it was Bullymore Bullymore around for one hundred and fifty meters, so Takiyaho. Our forwards was so disappointing
in that game. And whether it's a wider thing of you know, not being motivated or for god god knows what reason any this side could be complacent, but that was that was pretty galling getting outplayed by that Manly Pack.
Well, what I've got here is if you go back and watch it, Gary, often their play the ball was before our line was set, like there play the ball early on. It was obviously their strategy was so fast that often the West Tigers line defensive line was not set, so they had the momentum from the very beginning. And we just seemed so slow and so sluggish, and we don't ever seem to have anyone really running hard onto the ball, at least we've spoken a lot about it.
In that first twenty minute period, we just seemed to be lacking impact. I don't know, I can't describe it other than we just look like, you know, two yards off the pace all of the time.
With energy from the forwards, with execution from the forwards.
Yeah, it's a really difficult one because I think for most of the season, outside the Melbourne game, we've shown up to play football. We didn't show up the play football on Friday night. There was just no energy in anything we did. Shifting the ball was slow and clunky. As ed he said, our forwards got dominated against the pack. That like, I wouldn't take Lodge and the manly forwards because then we'd have to play with them next week. We've got a much better forward pack than them. But
our Ford pack didn't show up. Our entire side did not show up on Friday night, and I said to stave it over the weekend. If if we base that performance law is worth two million dollars to our side, because I do think a lot of that, the fact that we have shown up for most of this season. I think it's his presence for a big part of it, and him being missing on Friday night. I think we really lacked his presence out on the field because I don't think he lets players get away with what happened
on Friday night. And I'm not using that him being out as being an excused. The personal ownership should have been there for those players, but I think we haven't seen as much of that this year because we've got Jerome Louai on our side, and look, I don't know what's going to happen on Sunday when we play the Roosters because he's not there again, and it's just it's terrifying to see. And for me, it wasn't that the Manly pack is better than ours. It wasn't that man
We've got a better team than ours. I think even that rubbish squad we put out was better than what Manly has on Friday night because they didn't show up, and Manly gave us plenty of opportunities in that opening half to put points on them, and we were just unable to do so through paul play and lack of enthusiasm.
I think the problems for us started at the ruck with talon the Silver. I just don't think our tight forwards, our eight, ten and thirteen ran off to Silver as well as they run off Appy. Now, whether that's just because the Silver didn't have his head in it, I don't know, or whether it's just because he's a little bit different to the way Appy plays, but that's where our problems started. And moving Happy out to halfback didn't
work either. That running run off the first receiver we found difficult as well.
I see Steve Happy, he's the best hooker in the game at the moment to run off and it has been for the last five years. The way he gets his forwards on the ball, that there's no one better than him. So that was a huge, huge thing we're missing on Friday.
And it just and you know, even though Tallon has been coming on and playing significant minutes for us, the timing was just all wrong and we weren't able to get any momentum through the middle, and then we didn't have anyone who was able to arrest that as and Manly then grew in confidence and they did exactly what you said, Joel. They just ran straight through us and they you know, what you're talking about a lot of, Joel, is that when when we get to the defensive line,
we just stopped dead, stopped dead in our tracks. There's nothing post contact, Manly, We're getting post contact through enthusiasm. They grew an extra arm, they grew a bit of confidence. They haven't been playing well and all of a sudden they saw a win, you know, down the end of
the road, and they went for it. If we out of hit them and dropped them at the line and they won't get any post contact then, And had we had better time out of the ruck and got a little bit of momentum out of that could have been a very different game.
That forward pack we had on Friday night, though Steve has no high impact forwards in it, and that's an issue for us. And that's where I agree with Joel in the fact that we do have issues still up front. We are still lacking a high impact middle forward. As a starter, I actually think it was a mistake to move the only back to the bench and start Pola. I thought was really good and provided a bit of impact early in the game against the Raiders, and that
was severely missing on Friday night. So I think that was a selection error in starting Polo. I think Paula is much better coming off the bench, and that's where he should be for at least the next couple of years, I think, and we ever get someone in to take that, which I think we need to do, or at this point in the season, I'm running Sioni in that role because he much better starter than Paul Is in my book, and.
Probably both starting props are better off off the bench. They are the two guys you want to bring on after twenty minutes.
In my opinion, No, I'm happy May definitely has to start for us. His impact actually improves throughout the game. I'm not taking minutes away from he's playing at least sixty minutes, and he's playing that from the start. For me, it's just that you need someone to support him in that role because he does not have that impact in that first twenty minutes that you kind of need.
We haven't got the front rower at the starting front rower. That's one hundred percent correct, I believe, But we do have the impact played off the bench. The blood just hasn't been playing well. And apparently he did on the weekend, right.
Yeah, I went out to the game yesterday and he was actually fantastic. Yes, they played about thirty minutes. I only ran for about eighty five minutes, but the high impact minutes he started off the bench. He lob scored three tries yesterday of all people playing at fullback, and one of those was off a beautiful offload from from Royce Hunt, so I would have him coming back onto my bench next week if I was selecting the team.
That's good to hear about Royce Hunt. But Joel, I wouldn't necessarily put these players through your shredder because I think that means you know, they're basically dead, never to be seen again. But you know, Jack Bird's not a starting n RL player anymore, unfortunately, like he just got completely dominated. I don't know where his position is, the way his body is. I don't think he's quick enough for the backs. He's certainly not strong enough for the forwards.
He can add some impact off the bench, as he has at times this year. And then Alex, you.
Don't have a lot of options when your other options.
Yeah, but Alex, I say, probably one of our best players on the night.
So was Adam doing?
Who was the other one? I was going to mention geld Alex Twile. I just again when Gary talked about low impact sort of forwards. Every forward packs ideally going to have a mix of workmen and impact guys, and perhaps our mix is wrong, but yeah, twil and burn I've got nominated in that game.
I thought, I can't disagree. Craig Ives on Facebook just joined the forum the West Tiger's podcast for him.
He says, I can't find where to put the one word for the week.
You put it in the live game day threads and looking forward to seeing your contributions there, Craig. But Craig's word was cattle. We just don't have it, and we're still a long way off. Obviously too massive pull out some Friday's game showed our lack of depth. But everyone's still calling for Benji's head. What can we do with the cattle that we have? Was anyone calling for Bennett's
head after the Bunnies were flogged last night? I think that's a little bit of different, different scenario though, given the amount of success that South I've had in recent times.
Gary talking about Benji Marshall, I think we're tied to Benji Marshall for at least next year. The number of players that are either in our club already or who are coming to our club, or players we don't want to lose is just too high. I think there's many things he needs to do better, but I think we are tied to him for the next twelve months at least.
Craig goes on to say in my opinion, another couple of forwards who are willing to have a real crack in another center is needed. Blokes like Twile and Sayfarth should be coming off the bench and not starting.
I've got in by notes here.
It took twenty three minutes for us to really have a strong, physically dominant set in defense. Three times in a set we were able to drive them back and mainly only made twenty meters or about twenty meters in that set, which was really pleasing, but just not enough of it. Eddie Clunky is the word when it comes to our red zone attack. It's been that way even with our best team. We're just struggling once again in
that red zone. And obviously Buller, who provides that extra that extra point of offense, was sorely missing as well.
Always going to be very difficult without Leui and Buller. I probably didn't expect it to look that bad, but did. But the point I was laboring might have been last week. Opposition coaches or players often label outside unorthodox or unconventional, and my paraphrase for that is they're disorganized, and when they get sixteen kneel down, they go, oh, we've got some talent here, we're just going to start throwing the ball around, and this has happened a lot in the
last four or five games. We're pretty conservative, we're clunky, We've got passes going over their head and then we get sixteen there it will bound. So some of the better players on the side like happy. So I've got to just do something myself here, or we're going to start playing offload football. And that's happened too many times for my liking. And I don't want to hammer the coach because I've given him a few raps the last
couple of weeks and I've don't take that back. But Joel, I think it's getting to the point where he has to be told at the end of the season that you know you're staying, but I would keep him, but you're not getting to say in all your assistant coaches, or we're bringing in a coach for attack specifically because he like I don't want to bag him for sitting on the sideline, because you know, Ricky Stewart sits on the sideline every week and the top of the table,
but you can't see what's going on at ground level. You've got no idea what's going on. All you could do is talk to your troops, and that's a way of engaging, and that's a motivating way. But you've got to have someone up on the box that knows what the hell is happening out there. Because he threw his plan out after fifteen minutes, which was probably fair enough because Steve mentioned that De Silva was really struggling and
you had to get Appy back to nine. But someone said, I don't know if it's true, and I know there were a couple of hias and whatnot, that there were seven Spye changes throughout the game. Yeah, like that to me just smacks of a Jersey flag open trial in November and a scrimmage. And you go, right, oh, boys have twenty minutes at full back, have fifteen minutes at hooker, Gary, you can have ten minutes at half back. I might
as well. Let's just see how we go. So Benji, I think he's got a lot of attributes that are you know, gives me hope that he can make it as a coach, and he has certainly improved the roster more than I thought he could in a couple of years by getting big fish like Louai and May and Tarriuvera guys that are playing well, but his ex'es and O's. I know there's a lack of cattle. And Friday is not the best example to hammer him with because that was a poor side that we ran out on Friday night.
But man, we need someone to organize this team because they look like they don't know what the hell they're doing at times.
Mate, there were seven changes to the spine on Friday night, but none of them worked. I would have been changing them too.
He was like play Like God, we.
Stuck with that one at the end. So I can understand the changes because no matter what he did, nothing was working.
At talk about structure, right, So just just on that point, why wouldn't like we bought out Our next most destructive back all season has been Staff and Tower?
Now what on earth have we not put some structures together and some plays together that have our back rower on the right side running through and sometimes you give it to him, and sometimes you pass it behind him and give the ball to Tower in space, get quick ball out to him, two passes, cut across behind your back rower and get give the ball to Staff. A Tower who at the very least will then have a bit of space and time to try to do something because he's one bloke who can break a tackle and
can beat a man. But he didn't see them. He didn't see the football. Now again, I know Eddie're right, we didn't have We got thrown a curveball late with Leui, but it didn't even look like that had been thought about it.
You mentioned, sorry, Gary, He mentioned the press conference that Leui like threw us into chaos, and it was like Louis pulled out in the warm up. He pulled out pretty much the night before, so obviously mister captain's run. But it looked like he pulled out two minutes before the game. That's what it appeared like in the field, and they were just like, oh, you go here, you go there, let's let's go everywhere. That's that's where Benji's really learning on the run.
I think, well, I take your point about Tower, Steve, but you look at the guys he had playing inside him all night like happy he started on that right edge. He's not a half up with Heath Mason there who can't pass. And then Adam Dewey moved into the five eight role at some point and who I thought played really well but isn't a known ballplayer either, and there was absolutely no structure.
That's my point. That's my point, Gary, that's the point, like, even though, if you've got two blokes inside that aren't great first, that aren't stars, but you run some drills of train to get them passing the ball.
Uck quick passing training though.
Yeah, yeah, well you're telling me you can't put two blokes in there to throw a quick ball from the ruck to first receiver of the second receiver to tower and at least give him the ball with a bit of time.
None of those players playing that position have shown that yet in their career. So yeah, I'm not surprised that it was like that. You're right, it's it's probably something we needed to have. But they've been getting in pretty decent ball all season. He has been getting that early ball. That's why he's having such a good season. But the player he had running lines inside him was was Greg Byrd. Jack Bird keep saying Greg Byrd, I don't know why,
Jack Bird. He's not going to drumal defenses like the way he played the other night. It's just the cattle was really bad on Friday night, but we we just weren't good enough. That we didn't execute well enough. We didn't play with enough enthusiasm. I think if we had played with a little bit of intensity, we win that game fairly easier, even against that manly side, because they
were diabolical in that first half. They were horrible, like that was one of the worst hards of football I've ever seen, and they kept giving us the ball in good field position, and the lack of intensity, the lack of enthusiasm, we just did nothing with it.
Well, that's what I'm saying, mate. That's like, you can't tell me that it's training. They can't put whoever he is needed in those positions for the play for that play, right you can say, yeah, well you got you got X one and Z on the right edge. But for that play where we are going to get staff at the ball early and quickly, you bring someone into that position to run that play, and you train it all bloody weak, you train it hard.
And we knew we were down, okay, we knew. We didn't know we weren't going to have LUAI. We knew we were down on attacking weapons. So staff had told the players should have been to get him the ball, and it didn't look like there was anything put in place to get him the ball. I take your point, but I still maintain you've got to train to your strengths, and it doesn't look like to me they are.
And he just just something that just sparked my memory. I think we were talking about coaches and how great players don't necessarily make great coaches, and I was just thinking that through as I was listening to you guys, and I was thinking back about some players. Bellamy's a good example, Shane Flanagan much too, Gary's chagrin. I'm not saying that he's a great coach, but he's a premiership
winning coach. But guys like that was sort of scrappers in that they had to work really really hard and had to work with what they had.
To achieve first grade.
Maybe not a lot of first grade, but they achieved their goal of playing first grade. And I remember some talk about I can't remember who the coach was. It may have been when Junior took over at Balmain, where there was that concern that he was going to get frustrated with the players who weren't willing to do the extras like he always was, But I wonder if Benji, because it came so naturally for Benji, was so naturally gifted, that he just doesn't.
Know how to connect with players.
That don't have that natural gift, and he just sort of thinks that it's going to happen naturally for them, and because that's how it happened for.
Him, it's interesting. I think we spoke about it last week, like it's a discussing across the broader sports. A lot of great ex players make great coaches, and I made the point last week that teams tend to play in the personality of their coach, and he's got some great personality traits. I think he's dealt with media really well. He's kept the team relatively harmonious calm, But his career
JOL was never consistent. Like even in his great housey in days, you know there'd be three triassists and four balls going out of the sidelines. So I just think he's a young coach and I think he needs to not select all his mates as assistant coach. I think he needs a little bit of experience or some wiser guys, perhaps with ex's and o's that could help him purely really focus in on his strengths.
Maybe people that are not afraid to say no to him or to disagree.
Maybe maybe yeah, Joel, about your point about great players not making great coaches. I spent half my life as a teacher, and what I found is sometimes the most intelligent person wasn't the best teacher because a lot of things that came naturally to them, especially in things like mathematics, they would skip a step in their head and they just knew that automatically. And what happens is, then how do you teach that step that you're missing if you don't know it? And I find that with a lot
of coaches as well. My theory would be that things that they could just do naturally, they just knew how to do. How do you then break that down in the steps to teach it to someone? How do you break down that game plan of where you're meant to be if you instinctively knew where to be there? How do you identify like some halves who Cooper Krank would have been a guy who did this. He would identify things like tells in the defense about what the defense
was doing. Now, a guy like Benji probably was looking for those tells. He just automatically reacted to them. So how do you then teach those tells to a player if you weren't looking for them when you played, you were just reacting to what you saw subconsciously. And I think that is a pretty good example of what you're talking about and why sometimes really good coaches really good players don't translate to really good coaches. But look, I
think exactly right, Eddie. I think Benji is doing a really good job of well for the most part, apart from the players. Leaving of managing the players, I think most of the players have really good buy into what he's trying to do. But I think he needs help with some of the game planning side of it, and that to me looks like what's lacking at the moment.
I think you've just hit on something, Gary. I think Cooper Kronk, or a Cooper Kronk clone is the exact type of personality we need to come in and sit
behind Benji. Cooper Kronk is a guy who has well the way he talks right, the way he talks now that he's commentating, has absolute attention to detail, talks about repetition and doing it until it hurts to get it right, and as that mindset of just becoming perfect in your execution and that type of mentality teamed up with Benji and the way Benji thinks and the way Benji, as Gary just said, managers players, I think would be a
perfect combination. I'm not saying Cooper Kronk, I'm saying that personality.
It's into interesting Joel. I was sitting with Adele on Thursday night from The Westlife Tiger's podcast, and he made a point about the Penrith Cannery game and he said, these two teams are basically at the top of the competition. They're they're the most attention to detail in terms of structure in attack. Funny, it was a great game, but it was almost like they canceled each other out because they knew what each other were doing. But I just
think we've got so many steps to go. I think our talent's improved, but in terms of being that detailed of structured attack, which knows there's a couple of players out players could play the system, we look a long way from that.
I can't help but think that that missing out on Sereraldo has been another sliding doors moment.
For the club, like it's easy in hindsight, but I think it could be. It could be a sliding doors moment.
Garry, I would desroudo lasted his first year at the Bulldogs a similar year at our club. We probably suckum at the end of that year. So they were really poor in that first year, and he was obviously putting the stuff in place to move that club forward, because they've moved forward since then. But we may not have had that patience with him.
We'll never know.
I want to just quickly just be a little bit negative, and then I've got a positive, and then I've got a question.
For you also, and then I've got my game Joel, Oh.
Yeah, you game?
Medi Okay, Well, well I'll just have a look, you know, like if you West Tigers, if you were to know I've said it before on the pod, if you were to encapsulate ten minutes of the West Tigers, it's the two minutes before halftime in the game against Manley, and it's the minutes after halftime, so with a minute to go, Manly scored that try. Of course, Skelton was sort of out of position, burned for pace. They get in there in the corner. They go into halftime leading by six nil.
Not the end of the world, you know, we were still in it, but the first minute of the second half. So they've come out really, really enthusiastic. Their line speed keeps us to thirty minutes. We turn them all over to them. Our defense is flat footed, nowhere near the same level of intensity.
They make more meters, they make their way.
Downfield, they get a penalty because we're offside by the third tackle. They're attacking our line. They spread it to their left, really simple play, and they score, and all of a sudden.
It's twelve mil. And it's like, how to lose a game?
Or ten mili it might have been, but how to lose a game in ten quick minutes just from two passages of play, which is substandard. The positive before I throw to you for your game, Metie, you can host them. I've got one more question the positives. I've got to say the feinners, All three of the feinners were a positive.
I thought Samuela played well.
I thought so only did his usual you know, he's turning out to be a very consistent, very reliable prop And I thought Latsu had some really classy.
Moments which gave me hope.
Probably for me, those three stood out above anybody else. Did anybody else have any thoughts on the Feinners performance the three of them.
I thought it was Seem's best performance of the season so far. I thought he was actually damaging in his runs, which we haven't seen for a little bit. I think he must have been carrying an injury earlier in the year, and I think he's starting to get over that now. So I'm really looking forward to seeing him him back when Lui comes back into the side in what is it now, two weeks time, because I think that combination
is really going to start to build. So the only I agree, as I said earlier, I'd be starting him LAT two. I thought, really, lu I've been there. I think he still a young guy, still very inexperience. I don't put a lot of the loss unto him despite our troubles kind of in the attacking red zone. I just think he needs a little bit of help and just have that help he needed on Friday night.
Yeah, but if you if you're looking at it, if you're looking at that, at that game from an unbiased perspective, he was the guy that looked have the most class, the most.
The most I'm very happy to see what he does over the next couple of months, especially once alas in. I think they will be very telling and and part of the reason why I think we're going to like despite everything that happened today with Talon to Silver, despite the game on Friday night, Lar too fainting, is one of the reasons I think we're going to be in a much better position next season.
Edie's got a game?
Is it?
The good, the bad, and the ugly.
I've given I've given Shane Richson quite a few raps tonight because I ran him very, very highly, and I'd love him to come on this podcast one day and he could just tell me that I'm a deluded, you know, gibbering fan, which is exactly what I am.
But that's what we all think.
Yeah, fu my game, goal, my game, jol I might direct it to you because Stephen Gary, why might this game it's called Shane Richardson or Shane Pasco. You have to answer these questions because you know, Richo is a very bullish man, and he's in the crocodile role. I'm just worried this crocodiles. Dont to get on top of him at the moment, because if you would ask the question, you know, when Richo signed in twenty twenty five, Joel in July, let's call it July. Who would have the
club playing back at five grounds? Would it be Shane Richson or Shane Pasco?
Yeah?
Point?
Taking my second one, you know, who would go on a podcast in round seven and declare, in a few weeks we'll have two or three signings Shane Richardson or Shane Pasco. This one's maybe a bit below the belt, but who would sign two mediocre players managed by his son who are possibly not good enough to be in the top thirty. Imagine his name was Shane Pasco. He'd certainly be compying some flak for that.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And who would release a press release on a Friday, you know, saying that our percentage sales at Kombank Stadium and I sarcastically said, well, you know, hat sales are up three percent and scarf sales are up four percent.
But like, really, rich out, do you really have to put a.
Press release out for that? Because you know, I'm sure you're right, and you know what you're doing money wise. But okay, if those merchandise and membership is up at Coombank Stadium. You know what's not up. Wins. Wins are not up. And those two wins we could have had potentially a like ard over against Paramatta and Penrith, they're out the window and rich. So we're not in the race for the top eight, mate, we're in the race for the spoon again.
And you know what most importantly is not up is the goodwill of the fan base. That's what has got me worried is the good will is diminishing and diminishing, and it's really really hard back, Steve.
Yeah, just on that fan base. I think that's a recent thing. I think the fans have been pretty good with the club most of the year. I think it's just in this last forty eight hours really it's really taken.
It got rocky a couple of weeks ago and it's yeah.
Yeah, yeah, but I think you have been a little bit tough with that one. And I know you said of half a little tongue in cheek, yeah yeah, it is a little bit.
Yes.
I think what you said earlier is probably the most pertinent point when you said you don't think that rich I understood how hard it was going to be to turn this club around. It because he has mentioned that there's a journey to go on. That's that Richard Media, right, We've got to go from bad to port of mediocre whatever. But I think getting out of bad or getting out of poor, he's taking a lot longer than he he originally thought. And maybe he's going to take all he's yes,
but for me, he's not. He's not Pasco Richo, He's Obi one. He's ob one, And because honestly, I believe he's our only hope. We've got to stay behind this guy, and we've got to trust him what he's doing and support him because we've got no one else in the club with the experience that he's got, and we just have to trust that whatever he does works.
There's a very important period coming up for us over the next two months, and it's about setting us up for next year, and it goes pretty much from the end of them from now pretty much until around first in November, and it's about improving this roster. I think it's really crucial time and I know who I'd rather have in control of that at the moment. Over over Pasco or Richardson this next couple of months to set
us up for next season. We need to pick up a few quality players like we did last season, and I think that improves us a lot. It's really important couple of months coming up.
I haven't been on a pod since this news broke, but I didn't want to let this one go past. It was last week. I think it came out last Friday morning. Lee Hadjapentalas saying he regrets taking the job.
As chairman of the West Tigers. We regret it too, Yeah, Lee, I'd just like to say so to we.
The feeling is more than mutual. Last one, guys, the question that I've got is crystal Ball. Does the team's heads drop from here like it was that it was that our Grand final? Or is there still some fight in this team? What is your gut feeling, Eduardo?
This week will be horrible. They'll get absolutely flogged. If you can get the Ruses minus twelve and a half, which you can at the moment, that'll be about eighteen in a few days. Because the sidewik in the name is like Gary said, we've probably got eighteen players available or something there. They'll get absolutely torched. But there are there are about four grand finals for us coming up
before the end of the season. Doel two against the Gold Coast, one against Many at our fifth home ground, Sydney Football Stadium, and one against the Cowboys at like Ard Oval. And if we can win three of those four games, we won't get the spoon and we might finish fourteenth, which is what I predicted the start of the year. So I'm hoping it's going to be two weeks where it really bottoms out here. Not hoping it
bottoms out, but it will. We'll lose to the Rouses and we'll lose to the Warriors, but then Loui back, buller back, Let's have a really good last six weeks, win three or four of the last six, come fourteenth and heading to next season with a bit of momentum. But we are in it a crocodile race for the Wooden Spoon, sadly, and I think the Gold Coase potentially Paramatta our only other challenges for Yeah.
I agree with you, Eddie. I think the next two weeks is going to be really tough. Missing missing Happy next weekend, that's just I don't even want to think about that. Game right now, it's going to be a really tough game. I think there'll be a little bit of a dip in confidence after that. But what I want to see over the remainder of the season is those leaders we have at our club, Happy Dream and Jerome. I think that's time for them to build these guys back up, and I want to see us fighting to
the end of the year. It's really crucial that we don't turn up our tails for the next month and a half two months. It's really crucial that this club comes out and continues to swing. It's really important in recruitment. It's really important and confidence, and it's really important when we see how quickly our fan base, including us, like turn at the moment, it's a really fragile fan base, and it's really important that we see something between now and the end of the season.
I think it's really important for the sake Steve, I don't know if you want to add to this that there's been a lot of hard work that's been put in and if the wheels do do fall off and roll down the road and we do end up God forbid last or maybe a second last, I mean, how do you not lose hope, given a lot of hard work has been put into getting in this in a better position, and then after twelve months of slogging it away, you're in exactly the same spot.
Well, I think we had a similar pub this time last year where we said the exact same words, where the next few months is really important blah blah blah set us up in the next season. So if we finished last it is going to be exceptionally difficult because there has been a lot of work, there has been a lot of hope, and if it all comes to nothing, which is what last year is, it's going to be a monumental shift to turn that around. I don't think that will happen. But I do think this team has
got more to it than that. I agree with what the guy said. I've actually got nothing really to add to that. I think the next two weeks are going to be a killer, but I reckon we can win two or three games after that, and I think we'll once we get Appian Lua back, we will be competitive and putting it in one hundred percent on the field till the end of the season, which has not been
the case in previous seasons. That's what I want to see, you know, and hopefully we can win three and finish somewhere away from seven eighth.
Yeah, I agree. So I think we've got the leaders to get us to that point this year.
Yeah.
I remember Richo talking about the Penrith fans that didn't give up when the hit rock bottom, and then he saw them at the finals, you know, and it was it was great for them. But I think if the West Tigers ever played finals football again, I think that we should all be chaffeur driven out to the game and put in the most salubrious corporate box because I mean, honestly, guys, I'm hanging by a thread.
I am.
I am so weary and so tired of these lows.
Yeah, you know, that's a really important point, Joel. I really think, yes, you are hanging by a thread. But you know what, I know you well, and you'll hang in there. You will hang in there, and we all do. We all get really frustrated. And I think this is what the club need to recognize and need to communicate to their fan base, to their members in particular. And so yet we understand you guys get emotional, We understand you get frustrated. We understand that you're at the end
of your tether, and we empathize with that. I think the club have to recognize that because it's been a long time, but the supporters of this club keep turning around, turning around, turning around, getting behind the club every single time. Every time there's a disaster, every time there's sixty points put on us, every time a player walks out of the club, every time we lose a close match by dropping a ball over line when we should have won
a game. Every single time the fan base gets back on board and supports this club and our club, the people that are responsible and have a voice in our club. I really need to recognize that and thank the membership for doing that, because it would be so easy for this club to have no one's supporting it at the moment after what's happened in the last decade. But that's not the case. So yeah, it's an important.
Point, and it's really I'm not going to say it's really easy, but it is really easy for Rito and the staff. They've been dealing with this for two years. Maybe some staff have been there five years. We're up to fourteen years this season without finals football. That's fourteen years without being in the top half of the competition. Three wooden spoons in a row. I'm not going to predict that that we're getting the wooden spoon this year.
But you've been doing it for two years, We've been doing it for fourteen.
There's also, I mean, not to talk shop, but if you look at relationships, relationships often come to an end where relationships very rarely end in fire. They often end in eyes. And I'm beyond beyond the motion, st just sort of.
Cold about it.
So that's that's where I'm at with it.
And I still love the club and I still see the enormous potential, but in terms of my relationship and my my care, you know, for my own well being, I have to take that step away and not and not ride the waves so much because I've got to try and find the energy because we want to keep doing the pot for example.
But anyway, Anie, I.
Just was going back to the one word submission. Was there one from a guy called Katar Tiger?
Yes, I heard that as well. Was that Steve?
Was that you because you're our new war correspondent on the podcast? Is that you Tiger?
No?
Maybe it was someone having a bit of a laugh. I don't know, but no, it's not.
Maybe we should move to Qatar next year.
Maybe he's maybe he's going to throw a few bombs.
I thought that was your job, Steve, to go over there and get some investors where we could move the team.
I tried Mane and I showed the highlights real and they turned around and walk the way.
Yeah yeah, why would you? Yeah yeah, that's a hard cell.
But I think clearly we've worked out that Steve is in fact a c I a operative over there on Intel. So gathering intel, that's my that's my conspiracy theory.
The gigs, the gigs are.
Exactly Thank you guys, thank you
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