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another post lost edition of the West Tigers Podcast. We've got lots and lots of experience when it comes to doing these, but I think this is going to be a good podcast. I think it's going to be a bit of fun. Sixteen twelve, the final score against the Raiders at Campbelltown on Friday night. Nick's here, Eddie's here, and Gary's here, and let's start off with one word from there, the three West Tigers Podcast team members. I'm going to start with you first.
Nick.
You're standing, We're sitting in front of the Wayne Pierce Hill on the scoreboard in your background, which is very clever on zoom, and Robbie's sitting there in that famous moment drinking the beer as well, so I love that backdrop. That's very very clever. What's your one word?
Thanks?
Jole's very cold out here too, sitting out here, in.
My words, frustrated.
I was just saying before we started recording that I rewatched the game this afternoon just to freshen up a bit for the pod tonight. But we've just come so close to the last three four weeks, we keep falling short. So the last three games we've lost by four points. We had a lot of chances. Again against the Raiders on Friday night, I actually thought we had the probably run and play the first fifteen minutes or so at Cameltown. I do think we had a few things go against us.
But yeah, I was just extremely frustrated for watching that game, you know, especially there were no points scored the last twenty three minutes.
It was just it was there for the taking.
We couldn't get done.
Frustrated. I think most of us can can certainly relate to that. Hallo, Eddie, You're you vowed that you're going to have the weekend off you. We weren't going to see you. You burnt out, You've done too many podcasts, and you're here. It's good to see.
Well, it's nice not to be hosting because you know, when I'm host, I have to be very professional, so that night, Joel, it might be a bit different. But
it's funny. My first word, I've got two words, and my first word also starts with an F, but I'm not going to use it, so I'll just use the word torture is absolute torture, Like honestly, like it wouldn't really just be typical West Tiger's Joel, if we were to improve out a site and somehow still get the wooden spoon, like we tried to set a world record for the amount of games lost by six points, like, honestly, at least the last three wooden spoons, Joel, it wasn't
really torture. It was just we were just pathetic. Is this year like his torture?
Yeah? I know what you're saying. There's a lot more to talk about in regards to all of that, including a really good post that I'll share. I probably might share all of it, but it came from a person on Facebook, and I just want to share some of his comments. Gary, We've got frustration, We've got these words.
What is your word? I'm just going to go with right edge, I think, with a couple of changes on that right edge, we probably win that game on Friday night. I think both Heath, Mason and Alex Afarth showed on Friday night that they're not the standard we need on that edge. So I'm hoping that's going to be something thats rectified very quickly because I think if we get that right edge right, we can be a lot more
competitive down the back end of the season. So really unhappy with the performance of a couple of guys that I think probably let the rest of the team down on Friday night.
Steve, he's currently in the Middle East. He's very brave to be in the Middle East. His word was accountable and accountable around Sayfath and Mason, saying they shouldn't be picked again next week. My word is physicality. It's got to be. If we don't win the collision, we can't
win football games. So in saying that, in the second half, I thought, led by Latu Feintu defensively, we actually started to win the collision a little bit and we looked at a better team aside from what Latu brought to us in his offense. I've also got I've also got bench because I thought the bench was the use of the
bench was poor. But my word, and I've got to give Snake from the West Tigers podcast for him a little bit of credit for this, because he actually mentioned this word or these two words in another post, but I've stolen them for my one word, and that is killer instinct. And that is I think that this club and maybe certain members of the football team don't have a killer instinct. And I've got a couple of examples
of that. Do we'll go into that now or do you want to continue on with one word, so we'll do the one. We'll do killer instinct then, okay, so just not ruthless enough. So I've got this example here. We're thirty one minutes in now, I think probably we'd all agree that after thirty one minutes the West Tigers have been pretty much bashed up. We were down sixteen nil, the Raiders were winning the forward battle. We were hanging in there, right, So we finally get some ball down
on the Raiders line. Now that they've been bashing us up, they've been you know, lots of little dirty things, head butts and all sorts of things. They're that sort of team. But Corey Hawsber tries to steal the ball from Terrell May. He gets penalized but ends up with the ball on the ground.
Right.
So we're thirty one minutes and we've got nine minutes before halftime. We've finally got the Raiders puffing and panning on their line, putting some pressure on Sorell puts his arm down and he helps Corey Hawsber up off the ground.
Right.
So I know that's only a small thing. But a couple of minutes later, five minutes later, paul A gets across the line. He's held up. He goes back to the ten but he doesn't have the ball. The ball is on the ground over near the try line. Not one raider picks it up, Not one raider kicks it to him. They just ignore the fact that the ball is on the ground. And what does he have to do.
He has to go and walk over and pick up the ball himself, walk back to the ten meter line and play the ball right, Which means both times the raider's got a chance to have a little bit of a breather reset recover. And there was one more example there, and that is around the same time we get a I think we've got a penalty and Leui and Appy come together on the I think it was the twenty meter line and have a little meeting with like four minutes to go in the half, and the Raiders are
puffing and pending. They've done a lot of defense and they just sit and have a little like mother's club meeting to talk about what they're going to do. So I think we lack at different times that killer instinct, that ability to do what needs to be done no matter what. Yeah, does anybody agree that if your competitor is down on the ground and he's this is a guy that's been bashing you, that you shouldn't be helping
him up off the ground. In that situation with nine minutes to go where we've got some ascendency, we're down sixteen nil. I think that killer instincts is missing. And some people would say, well, maybe we don't have that killer instinct off the field as well, Like look at the Lachland Galvin situation where we sort of rolled over and got the money and didn't really get much out
of it. I don't know, Eddie, killer instinct. Do you think it's something that's missing of putting a team to the sword of you know, being bastards and just getting the job done.
Well. There were some interesting points you brought up there, and I can't say I noticed them when I was having my bourbon and cope on Friday night watching the game. But from my cricket coaching perspective, Joel, we have a thing called the spirit of cricket and that's basically judged by the umpires at the end of the year and they give you a rating out of ten for your spirit of the game. You know, walking when you get
out and blah blah blah. I always say to the boys, if we ever win that award, I will not be coaching this team again. So, long story short, you cannot win with a team of nice guys. So I don't know about the whole killer instinct thing, but you need someone with a little bit of mongrel. You need different dynamics. It's like this podcast. You need someone to be a little bit of a prick like me. So I agree with a couple of those things. If Terrell may help
pick him up off the floor, don't do it. Ricky Stewart coach, team certainly wouldn't.
But I can't disagree that at times we do lack a bit of a killer instinct. I don't only think they're massive examples of it, especially Leui and Happy. You're having a little bit of a chat about how they're going about it, Benjim Robbie used to do it all the time. You'd see them getting a little hard after a penalty and kind of plan out the play. So that's not something that's unusual. But I don't think there's any doubt that at the moment we lack that killer
instinct that get us overline. I think Nick mentioned it that there's no points scored in that down the back end of that game, and that the game was there to we won. The game was one hundred percent there to win. But I think we're kind of in a similar spot right now to where the Bulldogs were two years ago, where they had a bad season that first season with Shialdo and they lost a lot of really close games and just didn't know how to get over the line. I think we're stuck in that a little
bit at the moment. Now. Hopefully over the coming months that improves a lot, because you can't deny that we're in the fight in the game, but we're just not getting the job done at the end, and whether that's down to personnel or our players still not knowing what to do to close out that game. I think it's going to be seen over the next month.
I actually think Canberra were playing a bit grubby at times during that game, and I actually wondered at some point, I think it was during the first stulf whether they were going to lose someone to have bin. I actually missed the head butt. I saw it replayed. I think it was after the game. I think I saw a
snippet on X about that, which is grubby play. That example, Joel, that you were talking about with Fania, you know, failed to pick up the ball for that set restart or that played a ball that was actually reefed out in the back by one of the Raiders players it away, Yeah, which was annoying and I was waiting for a penalty for that when it didn't come.
So, yeah, there was a lot of niggle.
Would I help Corey Hawsbro up if he was on the ground, Probably not, But he's heavier and bigger than I'm so I wouldn't be able to pick him up anyway. But I get what you're saying. Very frustrating. Yeah, maybe we needed to play with a bit more mongrel.
It could be right, Yeah, I mean, do they look like a team that's willing to do anything to win?
I can't fold their effort.
I think that ef it's there, but it's that five percent, it's that little bit extra.
Yeah. I don't think reaching your hand out to a guy really changes that a lot. I watch a lot of NFL and pretty much every play as players picking opposition players up off the ground, they have a lot more stoppages. But this was a stoppage in the game. I don't I'm not too concerned about that. What I'm concerned about is our inability in that last fifteen minutes to get the job done on a game that was there. We got closer number of times to getting over line
and taking the lead in that game. But that's where the issue of rises for me was our inability to just f secute in those key moments towards the end of the game to finish off the raid. Aside that wire coming over the.
Top of interesting discussion across the board. Job because I'm a believer that in a lot of sports you play somewhat in the personality of your head coach, and that's not necessarily a bad thing because there are different personalities in different ways. So you can see Ricky Stewart sometimes his team's implode when he goes on those press conference ramps, but there's certainly a grubby team and they're in your
face team for eighty minutes. Benji's got a different style, but obviously it has to translate to some more wins.
What I remember about Benji as a player was that he seemed to be one of those people that wanted to be everybody's friend. Yeah, so you know every time he was having a little chat with your opposition, or he pat someone on the bum or give him a like he didn't. He was flashy and he wanted to win. But he also comes across as being somebody that I think maybe that personality in the team is not quite as hard edged as it need be.
Do you think he's Royce Hunt's friend at the moment, But.
I think Royce Hunt is a situation that is an obvious one, you know, like if Royce Hunt's just not performing, then he's in the right place. I'm not saying in regards to team selections. I'm talking about it in terms of that of that hard edge killer instinct, you know, do do whatever it takes kind of mentality, and yeah, I don't know, it's just worth observing. I think I
think Benji's a great guy. I had. I went to a function long time ago and I was at the same table, and as compared to the other first grade player who I won't name, you know, he was really he really made good conversation and he came across as a really interesting and interested person. And I'm not having a go at him, but you know, maybe maybe with the assistance that he's got, maybe there's just something missing.
We talk a lot about attention to detail. Maybe it's just a little bit of an attitude thing as well. So I don't know, have it think about it. Let's have a look at the one words admissions from the West Tigers podcast forum. Barrow's word was closer closer to a good win, but also closer to a fourth spoon. Mickey b His word was save ath. We'll talk about save Farth and a couple of others. And I'm sure
during this podcast crocodile rollers word was cursed. I asked the crocodile roller if he meant the ground or the team didn't come back so it could be anything, could be any any number of things. Lorenzo fainus was Lorenzo's word, all three look damaging. He says, if Latu plays eighty minutes, we win that game. I tend to agree with that. I thought he was really, really good. Mike's word was happening.
The Luaye and Latu combo works, but he says from that performance on the rich O meet, it was poor, which is not quite at the bottom, but one up from the bottom place Seek and destroy. Who's new to the West Tigers podcast Forum Welcome? Their word was Latu the future, much better than Galvi than ever was Tiger Tragic fifty six.
Help.
Our offense needs help, Our team selections need help, our coach needs help, and not from old boys. And our supporters were They're beyond help.
Agreed, Agree well.
Cambra Tiger his word was moments, some little moments cost us dirty reds inches an inch or two away from winning yet again tiger'sman Latu. We were a better team and attack and defense when he was on the field. Nat Mac seventy eight Challenge, we wasted ours again. They used theirs very well. Tigertown SFS also went for Latu LFC Tiger details. We don't take care of the small details in elite sport. That's the difference and Mac Tiger come back. I'm sick of them. Play the best people
and we will win. I'm going to just ask about Latu faint now, am I? Am I wrong to say that Locke is a more difficult and more taxing position to play than five eight. I think most people would agree with that, Gary.
Yeah, no, one hundred percent. Yeah. And I know where you're going with it is, if you can play sixty minutes at lock, why can't you play eighty minutes in the halves? And I tend to agree with that. I find it interest The defensive workload he got through the other night was quite big. I'm hoping and I'm expecting on Tuesday that we see that he's named in the halves for that game because what he's providing on the
field is fantastic. One thing I was I think watching him play on Friday night kind of showed me what the plan was with the Adam Randoms approach. He is bulked up that there's no doubt that Latu Fenu is a lot bigger than he was earlier. In the preseason. Definitely last year he was a lot bigger and I thought he handled that role in the middle really well. Yeah, so I think it's clear that the club was looking at Adam Rounds to come in and play half back,
with Latu taking on that lock role. So but I agree, if you fully Joel sixty minutes at lock, I think we would have been better just playing him eighty minutes in Mars.
Where's the logic in that, Eddie, I don't I just can't see how you can work that logic out. Even forgetting minutes restrictions. This guy is supposedly, like I think all of us fans are sitting here saying, Wow, this guy can really really play, and he looks to be ready to form a combination with Leui and be one of our harvest moving forward. Why are you flogging him at lock? It makes no sense.
Yeah, but the context, Joel, I mean, who else is there? We just got rid of our other five eighth and you say you get rid of minutes restrictions. But if it's real and they're trying to ease him back from a hamstring, maybe he can't play eighty minutes. So that's all they're left. The fact that Mason was paddling after twenty minutes, they thought, we've got to get him out there. We're going to get both of these boys on the field.
But yeah, I'm struggling to think of another club I could be wrong, just off the top of my head that would throw a nineteen or twenty year old regularly in at Lock, Like, I don't think that's good for your development. Well just on LA two like only small sample sizes, but two things I love in footballers. He looks tough and he's got a high IQ. So I've been super impressed with him the last month. And yeah, I don't want to see him playing Lock for the
rest of the year. But he certainly didn't let us down. In fact, the elevators when he came on.
Yeah, to go on that point about the after twenty minutes, how much Mason was struggling, I think the decision should have been made then to take Mason off and play Lato in the halves for the rest of the game. I found it quite an interesting decision, and I guess that they just stuck with what was the planned pre game to put Lartu in at five eight when maceon and was struggling from the outset of that game, and
we saw him struggling defensively. But that right side attack, that's been probably our strongest part of our game this season. It floundered with him playing in that role on the right edge, and Buller had a really poor game as well. But I think Mason being on that right edge contributed to Buller not being what we usually see from him on that right edge as well. So I think the decision should have been made after twenty minutes to take Mason off and put Latu onto that edge. But he
made a real goal of that lock role. He was making yards with the ball in hitting the ball up defensively, he was incredibly sound in the middle of the field. So I thought he was excellent in that lock role, and I can see why the club would be looking at him as an option for that. The thing is, I think I think he's best what for us right now is in the halves, and and I've said earlier I want to see him picked in the halves on Tuesday for Friday night.
Is it good for him? No? Long term Gary locks are running around in the competition, No.
There's not. And right now it's the hardest place to play on the field because you've got to have that ball skills, but you've all got also got to be a threat running the ball. The best locks, that best ball playing locks are so good as a ball playing option because they are a danger of running the ball. They are a danger if you don't commit two three defenders to them, that they're going to drive straight through
the middle of you. That's what you see with a guy like Asia let you go, and that's what we're seeing from Latu on on Friday night. He was a threat running the ball as a ball hit ups and I don't agree with it, but I can see why they're thinking it, and I could see why that would work if you had a guy like Reynolds in the side. But for me, we've got to get him into the halves.
I think it's better for his long term development, and it's easier on his body, on a body that has already shown that he is a little bit injury prone.
If you if you're running him on to strengthen the team in defense. Positionally in defense, then we weren't getting busted up the middle. We were getting beaten out on our right edge. So I don't I don't understand the logic. I don't understand why you can't make an agile decision on the run and say Mason and save Farthur's struggling save Farthurd got caught with. I think it was an elbow in the eye. We've got it. We've got to strengthen that position.
Like I just I don't get it, Nick, I was just going to say, I was going to touch on Lato. Eddie said he's got high IQ and he's tough, which he is. But and Gary, you touched on his running game. He's so quick and explosive. Like in the second half you made that that breakout of nowhere where we were throwing the bullet aut the back of a bit of second phase play and he saw an opportunity to run and he nearly got through. He just needed I think you had Polly off his inside hip. It just wasn't
close enough. He couldn't get a pass to him. But that was a very close opportunity where we went to score, which would have got us level and probably in front. But yeah, I just love the way he plays. He's only really starting out with this, but similar to his predecessor, very smart IQ, good footy brain, really good running game, but does it with a bit more speed and explosiveness, which I really like.
Yeah, it's really that acceleration.
Nick.
He'll get the ball standing quite flat footed, shape the play outside and then just take off. And for a guy that carries the size that he's carrying, especially now that he has really good acceleration, and for me, that's probably his strongest point, that he's strongest attribute at this point is that he can just accelerate so quickly and take advantage of tiring defenses. I thought he was fantastic the other night, and I really can see big ups
to the Louis Latu combination in the halves. I think it's got potential to be something that's that's great for a number of years into the future.
Yeah, well, I've written here in my notes, so we looked a different team with Latu at five eight, and the combination with Loui was very promising. Eddie, I'm gonna I'm not sure you said you've got something that you want to have a little round about, but I'm not sure if this is it or not, but I'm going to go fishing just to touch. I'm going to have a little round about the and maybe this come back comes back to killer instinct. How little pressure we placed
on the debutante winger. Yeah, he's the coach's son, but he's been running around in your South Wales Cup for three years. He got a rails run the whole game with no real pressure placed on him at all.
It's interesting because I mean it's probably that sort of thing leads us into a debate that we've been sort of having, or a discussion we've been having on the podcast a lot this year, which is the strength of the weaknesses of Benji Marshall. And I think one of his, perhaps he's weaknesses at the moment, is the tactical side or the game plan things like and I'm not a football coach, you know, like I watched the game as
a fan. But the thing that's interested me a few times when I've heard the opposition coach when we're playing them interviewed pre game is they've described the side as unorthodox. To me, is that a paraphrase for talented but disorganized? Like That's that's sort of what I think it is. It's a strength to come from behind every week and play start playing ad lib footy and offload the ball and all of a sudden, you know we're losing these
games by four points. But interestingly, of all these these last four games, we never led once against Canberra, against sous and against there was another one in there. I think Penrith was the only Penrith was the only game where we led for about twenty minutes. I'm not going to say it's easy to play when you're behind, but it's because the pressure is off. The other team switches off a little bit. You know, they're sixteen to eight and in front. Whatever, we get a couple of tries
and all of a sudden we're back in it. But that shouldn't cloud the fact that our starts are poor. We do look disorganized. We had If I went through all the team stats for this game, you're like, how on earth did we lose? We had eight more sets and can We had fifty five percent possession run meters over four hundred run meters. So we're actually lots of lots of effort and lots of good things, but the Polish is not there at the moment.
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I think it comes down to a couple of things that I think one of it's game planning. I think we're spoken about a lot this year. I've spoken on my opinion about our shape, and I don't think our shape was real. I think it went backwards on Friday
Night to what we're seeing earlier in the season. But there's a comment in the State of Origin game by one of the commentators I can't actually remember who said it, when they were speaking about Lui, and they said that New South Wal's attack looked a lot more frantic this game than it did before. And I think that's part of it. I think Loui is a guy who who who likes to try his hand, and things seem a
little bit more frantic and rushed when he's playing. And it worked really well at Pendrick because they'll play they have such a strong structure around that he's breaking out of that structure and that frantic gives them the point of difference to that side. At the moment, I think our side has has that all over it. And I'm not blaming Luai for that. I just don't think we're the structure around that so he can make best use
of that. And to me, and I'm not going to sit here and say we need to move on from Benji Marshall, that's a last thing thought in my head. But I don't think we put the repetition into those sort of what plays and those shape plays that a lot of other sides do that in the off season. That then allows Lui to play out of that structure, and that's where you get your attacking difference. And we may never do that, and Benji may be able to get away to get this work. And at times our
shape looks really good. It's just not consistent enough. And I think that comes down to repetition, repetition, repetition.
Garry Jerome is very different.
He plays differently to you know, Brandon Wakem, Lukebrooks, whoever else we've had at six and seven over the years since Benji. Benji was the last one that played with that sort of if you want to call it frantic or ad lib attacking style.
When Appy came.
To the club, it took the boys a year to figure out how to play with that be or the best part of.
A full season.
Remember, we'd run out of dummy half, you know, at speed, and it took everyone forever to figure out that they had to keep up with him and run off his hip because he was going to create these opportunities. I just wonder whether we need someone like Latsu to settle into the halves alongside Jerome. And I know you're talking about structure, and I think you're right, but maybe we just need a little bit more time for the team to figure out how to play with Jerome and how to play with his style.
I think that's definitely part of it, Nick, because if you watch Laui play, what he'll do is he'll go to his left hand side that he loves to do, and when something's not on, he'll come back, so he'll step back in and quite often he'll look for all pass and he did it from your South Wales the other night. He's done it a number of times for us where he froze a little bit of a while
pass back into the center of the field. That's kind of how he plays, and I think at the moment we're getting to a spot where where players aren't quite where he wants them to be when he goes to that left hand side, and I think that's improving. We saw the really nice line that do He ran a really nice line to hit a gap when he passed back inside to twelve, and Sam feyn who ran a really nice line and just about busted through as well.
So I think that is improving. But I do think those connections are going to take a little bit longer, and I think he'll be much better having someone like Latu Feynu playing next to him than definitely than Heith Mason. And I think I think Latu Feynu is going to suit how Lui plays a lot better than Galvin does, because I think Latu the thing is, whatever number you want to put on Droon's back, he best football is when he's a little wide over the ruck. He's best
football on Friday night. And I thought he played really well on Friday night was when Latu was in that thirteen role and was pushing both our halves a little bit wired so that I got Louis a little bit wider, so you can play half back and play wider. Pandrith do it all the time. Nathan Cleary plays quite wide all the time because they've got a guy like you know, playing in that link role. And I think that's what they're trying to do with lat that night, and I
think it worked really well for Jerome. So I think that combination will work really well. And you are but that's that's what your structure. That's the structure he needs around him to allow him to break out of that.
No, I was just going to say, I thought he had a bloody good game Wednesday and like a great effort to come back with Perth and back up and really busy. And I know it's not all about Trisis, but I think he had two or three in the Origin game Wednesday, and then he had at least one on Friday night.
So how good is his short kicking game?
It's so down because it goes so deep into the line and then he just rolls it in just you know, we used to even the great Benji that used to hit the back fence sometimes when he did those those short kicks. But I think the whole Lewi discussed and is a percentage Louie and a percentage our coach is working it out.
Agreed, And Leui almost scored his first try for the club. Almost just happened to plant it down on the opposition.
Leg honestly, like, that's how many times does this happen? And even not ranting about bull this year because he's been excellent on the whole bit, man, like did that ball touch the line? It would have been a double movement? Can Like can you just wave to the referee and say, hey, yeah, I might have actually scored the try here, Guys, don't just get up and play the ball with tone.
Yeah, that's exactly what I'm talking about, exactly what I'm talking about.
The hard thing is we had the we had camera shot on that next play, like like you get up and slow the play down. They get to set their line. If he doesn't think he really made it or he's worried about the double movement, we should have scored off that next play because camera was shot out on that left hand side. I think we ended up throwing a
forward pass and going over. I think Sam went over off a forward pass, so I think getting that fast pay the ball was really important because it created the space we had out wide. We just executed it poorly once we got it to that left edge.
Lack of urgency is a word that comes to mind when it comes to that killer instinct. That there was an incident late in the first half where Stafford and Baulla they just was so lacks a days are going and planning up a ball that it could have been another Canberra try. They were just asleep. Yeah, so that had me worried. I'm going to get to this letter in a second. I just want to make one more point, and that is I think, and it's an old point that we've made many many times on the podcast, we
are missing a forward leader. There is a golf in the forward pack in terms of leadership. Now that's not to say that there aren't other deficiencies in the forward pack, but I think no disrespected to real May, but it's just not his personality. I just don't think it's his personality, and I think it's something that we're missing.
Gary Well, I think we I don't know if i'd call the forward leader. I think Therell's doing a fair good job of leading those young guys from what o't hear that he's in their training on days off and they're coming along with him. So I think he's got that part of it down fairly well. But someone with a little bit more impact in that opening twenty minutes
is definitely needed for this side. Someone can who can play decent minutes but cause a little bit of damage and who has a little bit more impact than Torell has in the first twenty minutes. I've said a number of times that Torell just does not have that impact in that opening twenty minutes. In saying that, I thought Cioni fan who's starting on Friday Night, was excellent, probably the best I've seen him play, and for the remainder
of the season he has that starting role. For me, I really like Poule coming off the bench on Friday Night, and I thought Zioni did a really good job in that opening twenty minutes, and I thought that's why I think he was a big reason why we actually dominated that first fifteen minutes field field, position wise and probably possession wise, and I think she only played a really big role in that On Friday Night, I thought he was an excellent one.
Where is this version of she only come from the last six months, three or four months, whatever it is.
But I think he's got to that age where he's got a little bit of experience and it doesn't happen in that part of the field. To year twenty three, twenty four, Yeah, he's broken out. He's having a cracking season. Yeah, and Samuela had a fantastic game too. The combination with Lui gives you plenty of reason to hope. We're still at least in that team that ran out Eddie on Friday night, we're still three players short. I know Kyle Piers Paul's coming in, but there's probably two or three.
And he's been a great workhorse and he's he's bled for the club. But Alex twel eight minutes to go one on one strip when we're on the attack, I mean, that's almost unforgivable in my es, Like I think, if you're going to have guys like twelve and save Up and Mason as starters and do we in offense. Strangely, the world's turned around, Gary was turned around, but we're talking about him being a good defender in the centers,
but his offense is he's just not fast enough. I think I think there are three or four deficiencies there ready.
No, you're right, and like you said, two good players already been signed. Obviously there's question marks on Tailor and just how he comes back, but looking forward to hopefully seeing him in first grade back half of the year. But yeah, idea in the ideal world, John, Yeah, Alex Twell is perhaps a squad player or a bench player.
I think he's had a pretty good season, probably a seven out of ten seasons, seven and a half maybe, And yeah, it's a strange one because for one of those players that's seen is very reliable and he makes good tackles, he does tend to have him like the odd Howler every game or just a really cheap sort of turnover or dumb play. So yeah, we're eight minutes ago. We were absolutely all over him and couldn't finish them all.
I think, you know, if I was the table, a quote on you know, off the top of my head about rugby league or sport in general, the team sport teams with the ordinary players, teams that tend to be ordinary teams, and you know there's a yes, seven out of ten, but I think that's on the West Tigers scale. I don't know how that rates across.
College ordinary player though, Like he said, I don't want to call him a plotter.
That's sort of that one dimensional is the word eddie?
Yeah, yeah, we're in plot of territory.
Yeah, Nick, just talking about do you before? I just wanted to say, you know, yes, he lacks speed. I also think he lacks IQ.
You know.
An example is when he made that break down the left side and he had Skelton outside of him, and he decided to take on the inside Buller outside.
It was Bullert and Skelton on the left hand side.
Yeah, And you know I saw it during the game, but when I rewatched it, I freeze it and put it back and watched it again.
I could not believe what he was doing.
Like he knew Scotland was outside of him, but he made that decision to go inside. He made a few other silly decisions I thought in that game as well. But you need smart players. You're talking about learning how to play with LUI and that sort of ad lib structure. You need smart players to be able to read what's going on and pick the whole pick a gap in the defensive line and put yourself in positions to make a break or run that right line, and I.
Don't think he's the player to do that.
Well. Unfortunately, I'm going to have to come to his defense a little bit here, and I know he's employed that horrendous manager of his Hopefully I don't sound like him. But this is actually not my point, so I won't claim it. Because I was reading the West Tigers for when I thought someone made an excellent point said defensively this year he has shut down quite a few of oppositions really dangerous sweet plays like really good reading and
just jamming in and I can't I reckon it. Definitely happened once or twice in this Canberra game, but I think like that on that side of the ball, he's actually made some really high IQ players this year.
Gary, He's defending in a way I didn't think he could this season. I think he's making really good decisions when to come in and when to stay out, and when he does come in, he's hitting quite hard and rattling the man he's coming in on. So I think he's doing a really good job job of that. I don't think we're getting enough out of him in attack at this point in time. And I think the world thinks of me as Adam Doy's harshest critic, But there
has been an improvement in his game. I don't think it's got to the point where i'd really resign him for next year. But he's done a job out in the centers. He's just struggling a little bit defensively, and as the decision making I have the most problem with is there will be times where we're inside the opposition twenty and he'll take a run from dummyhalf and run across field and try and set up a player that way. That's not his goal. I want him to stop doing
that immediately. I think he did it again at one point on Friday Night. But defensively, it's a vastly different player to what we've ever seen from Adam Douey before, and and credit where credits due, he deserves to be commended for that.
We need the Shredder sound effect. I want to start firing up the Shredder. We need the Shredder.
You know, Midweek it's been a while since we did an official segment the Shredder.
It's been I think it's been out for service at Concord, but it's back and the blades have been sharpened. It needs to go to work in the next couple of months.
I think Galvin went through it, didn't he Galvin?
Yeah, yeah, yeah yeah. Royce hunt Is it's going to have to be a big shredder. But we'll talk about Royce in a moment.
Talon de Silver might be going for it this week.
Talon's putting himself through it.
Yeah.
Brad Hancock on Facebook, Guys, I wanted to it's it's a little bit lengthy, so I don't know if I might. I might cut a little bit short. But Brad Hancock on Facebook, one of the Facebook groups West Tigers groups, he said, I really liked it. He says, honestly, I'm done with the sugar coating.
Yeah.
There've been a few glimpses this year, but let's not kid ourselves. The same problems are still there, just stressed up differently. Benji is a club legend, respect, but being a good bloke and having heart doesn't make you a tactician. No one at Concord is calling out the issues because it's a massive echo chamber. All mates, no pressure, no honesty. We don't look structured, we look predictable. And the only time we actually look like we're playing decent footy is
when we go completely off the cuff. Here's what's driving me nuts. Firstly, we're flat footed. Ninety percent of the time we pass standing still, no one runs onto the ball twelve moment sums it up. Adam breaks the line one of the only times all game. And what do we do pass it to twelve when we had two unmarked backs that were screaming on the left, no awareness, no composure, line speed, shocking in both attack and defense. We're always the slower team. We never win the rucket,
never set the tone our playbook. One up, runs for four tackles, then go wide and bomb. That's literally it every set, every week. What do they do at training tactics? What tactics? We are not a well drilled side. There's no deception, no shape, no movement. Our best football is broken play. That's not coaching, that's chaos. Let's talk coaching. Benji is a motivator, fair enough, but he's out of his depth tactically, and he's only hiring ex players and
mates who won't challenge him. There's no one pushing back. We need a senior assistant with proper experience, someone who could add structure and pull us into the modern game. Right now, it's all comfort Zone hires, same voices, same old thinking. I'll cut it just short there, because there was the news story that came out this afternoon Sunday afternoon that Benji is apparently safe even if we end
up with the Wooden Spoon. We're not going to be making any coaching changes, and I'm not advocating for coaching changes, but surely Nick the assistance is something that we have to look at as as Brad said there on Facebook, we need some people that bring some different ideas and challenge Benji and maybe up Benji's skills in this next season twenty twenty six. Yeah, one hundred percent?
Was it Steve?
During the last week, I think it was.
Steve said the thing with Benji employing his mates to be his assistance is there's no one really to challenge him externally. And I know Benji's a very private man and he only trusts a certain few people, and I guess he's employing those people or putting guys into those positions that he does trust, and maybe that's how he wants to operate. But I kind of agree. I don't think it's the best way to operate. And I remember it was probably towards the end of last year or
during the preseason. Perhaps we're talking about Brad Arthur and whether you potentially look at bringing him in, and I know, Eddie, you were a bit of an advocate at the time.
I don't know. Yeah, I can turn on about assistance.
I don't know if you'd come to be assistant anyway, but whether it's spread after or would you think about someone like Todd Payton. I know they've played together as well, so there's probably a relationship there that benjikin Leverridge and Peyton's had enough experience as a head coach. I think he'd probably be worthwhile considering as an assistant to Benji.
Well, he's about to get fired type Peyton. Let's be realistic. No other people have Seed one hundred points in two weeks. He won't be there at the end of the season, so I think he will actually end up back in Sydney, and I don't think he's done enough to command a head coaching position elsewhere. If I look around the landscape of the NFL, so for me would be the perfect blend because, like you said, Nick, Benji likes to employ people that you trust and that you know, which is
not uncommon in coaching. Not necessarily a bad thing, but there is. When I watch this play, I refer to that, saying again that we are an unorthodox team, and I think we need to get a little bit more organized. Gary's talked about set plays, and I believe it's all about set plays, But I think someone like Todd Payton could be a great asset if he had a specific role when he gets fired by the Cowboys.
Yeah, I've spoken a number of times about not wanting Benjie to employ any more mates in the roles. I think I said on the Midwek pod this week that Todd Payden's the exception to the rule. He's a guy with plenty of experience. He would not be getting that job because he's a made of Benji Marshall. He would get that job on merit. So I've got no issue if we bring a guy like Todd Payden in, a guy who I think is very good at developing attacking structures.
I think he'd be really strong in that role, and I'd have him gladly as our attacking coach moving forward. I'd have him tomorrow. If he got sacked tomorrow, I'll be on the phone to him tomorrow offering him a job as an assistant coach at the West Tigers. That the concern I do have is I agree with Eddie. I don't think he's done enough to pick up a head coaching role, but I think there's a few positions
of that become available. I think Seabold isn't long for the world at Manly, and I think O'Brien has been on the nose at Newcastle for quite a while now. I think those positions are going to come up, and I can see one of those.
It's not getting one of them's not going to go with though. They're going to go with either the hot shot no one's heard of that's the trendy thing to do. They're not going to recycle coaches. I think that's a trend that's going out of fashion. Like for instance, if des has lower to get maired, he's never.
Getting imagine the same at Brisbane because things aren't going too well for him up there either. I hope he doesn't get picked up anywhere else because I think we're the perfect fit for him to kind of rebuild his career and potentially, like there's if things don't go well with Benji down there's opportunities down the track at the club for him as well. So I do think Todd Payton would be an excellent addition to our coaching staff, despite the fact that I don't want any more, mate, big.
Big shout out to Todd Payton. By the way, Joel, we've already fired him.
On him, welcome aboard, full support of the board. One thing I will say about Todd Payton as coach. I don't know if what the year was, maybe twenty nineteen, twenty twenty, he was interim coach at the Warriors. We played them at the SCG on a Saturday night. It still remains one of the most disappointing nights of football in my entire West Tigers Be Tigers, following you over
four decades, it was really, really, really awful game. But they he out coached us, and he a number of times has out coached and come up with exactly the right game plan to beat the West Tigers. Even when we started as red hot favorites like we did that night, they were just all over us. So I think he's got some ability, may not get another head coach job, and I'd love to see him back at the club. Yes, Saidie.
No, I was just going to are you going to continue on with this rant or post from the Facebook poster because it was a very lengthy post. I did have a look at it.
Yeah, yeah, let me just go on with it.
There's something that he wants to talk about that you haven't mentioned yet, Joe.
Yeah, yeah, okay, Well let's TDS. He's got Galvin syndrome, wants to be the guy but hasn't kicked on since twenty twenty two. I'd let him go to Newcastle, happy to see for two more years. Anyway, It's time to move forward.
I agree.
Development it's a shambles. Half our top thirty are kids who aren't ready, not physically, not mentally, not positionally. Look at other clubs when they bring in young players, they're ready to go. Ours are being rushed out of position and thrown into the deep end. Our development pathways aren't developing anyone. And don't even get me started on the recruitment spin. So Bragg talks about the two or three players he's worried about Stafford Tower being in the shop
front and getting a deal elsewhere. He said, that's what it kind of looks like. In the sort of summary, he says, we've seen this movie before. We talk about change, culture, patience, progress, blah blah, but it's the same cycle on repeat. The bluster fades, the excuses roll out, and nothing actually changes. We need first graders, not development projects. We need people with standards, not nostalgia. Yes, we can blame the ref there were bad calls, but we still had chances to win.
We didn't finish, we didn't adjust. The only positive la tu yep. Final word. We've been saying all this for years. We're not asking for a premiership tomorrow. We're asking for direction, for accountability, for real change. Until we get proper coaching support, fix our development system and signed players ready to lift standards,
not just fil jerseys. We're going nowhere. This is a professional club, but it's still being run like a backyard barbecue where everyone mates and no one wants to have the hard chats. We're tired, we're loyal, but we're not blind. I just think that sums up so many ways that I feel about the club.
Well, Joel, anyone who takes the time to write something like that is obviously a very passionate West Tigers fan, and I agree with his summation about Benji Marshall and the need for an experience assistant as we talked about. I also agree with his point about the referees. We need to really stop blaming referees. I mean, we had six six agains on the weekend and our fans are talking about some challenge or something that went against us in a seventy eighth minute. I mean, come on, that's
not it. But but this is where I turned nasty. I thought his posts contained a lot of bluster, to be honest, like I actually thought he said at one point we need first graders, not development projects. Well what a Leuye Skelton to River in May. They'refore really good first graders, They're not development projects. He also said we need to direction and accountability. Well, what's Shane Richardson. We've got Shane Richardson twelve to eight eight months ago. That's direction.
Benji Marshall, I know he hasn't got the results on the board at the moment, but I think there is a path that we're following at the moment, and unfortunately it's still not turning into results. But I don't know. Like I said, I don't want to disrespect the post because it was a lot of stuff in there, and some of it probably written an hour or two after the game. But I thought he was harsh on a few areas that we are actually improving on. It's just hard in the heat of the moment and.
It's going to take time at you. I think it's a very valid point about us playing too many young guys. Well, we're playing so many young guys because our NRL squad for the last decade hasn't been up to scratch. That's the biggest issue is where we're coming from a spot where we're still got three players at least in our first grade squad aren't an RL standard, and we're putting
in young guys before they're ready. We're also had young guys playing New Southold's cut before they're ready, and that's affected all the way down in our pathway system. And I'm not making excuses for that. We're in a position where our squad last year was horrible. It was a horrible, horrible squad, and we made five key signings over the off season. We need to make at least another two on top of what we've already done for next season. I think the signing of kyps Paul is a really
good signing in an area of weakness. But we need to look at getting a lock. We need to look at getting another PROP, as I said earlier, and depending on what happens with tailor May over the next couple of months, we're still shorter center. So these are all things that need to be improved in our club and what that does. If we can improve that NRL squad, we can approve the ability at that of those players at that level. It pushes guys we've got playing NRL
down into depth positions. That's what we need to be doing. We talk about how poor our depth is all the time. Our depth is poor because we've got guys playing who should be our dept players. You fix that and push those depth players down, then it fixes up the dept at the same time. So it's really important that we focus on improving that NRL squad and getting those two of the three more signings we need for next season.
Over the line, just a quick one, Gary, you said that we probably need another PROP, which I agree. I did hear von Sampson on Channel nine the other night, say Channel nine, Kox on Fox, sorry, say that Josh Papolee is no longer required beyond the end of his season at camera?
Would you consider someone like him? He's a work use.
On the on the right contract. He's right at the end of his career. So yeah, yeah, I don't know who that prop's going to be at this moment. I really haven't thought about it. I trust Rito to get that sort of stuff done. I think that he's right. He's a great acquisition, and I think he's done a really good job for the most part of signing players
that have strengthened areas of weakness. I think we've done really well with that going in from last season to this season, and the two signings that we've made for next season, I think they have those saying things about them. So you've got to remember a lot of those five signings came really late after the season had finished last year. So I expect us to get another two to three players. We got the spots in the RUSS we've got the salary cap to do that, and I'm very confident we'll
target players that in areas of need, which before. I think with recruitment at our club, before we targeted names, we went out and signed whoever big name was off contract.
Which means that the pendulum swung and we're a recruitment club again.
Well, I wouldn't I wouldn't necessarily say that we've got Macasini coming through who we're looking at the doing later in the season. We've got young Haywood coming through as a hooker, who I think is why they're okay, we're kind of letting talent goes because there's another young guy coming through who'll be ready around the time that that happy you's looking to hang up his boots. So I don't think to do it right. I don't think there can be anything any such thing as a development club
or a recruitment club. You've got to do both. You got to have young guys coming through.
We do. We alternate year to year.
We alternate, but you've got to You've got to supplement what you've got coming through and recruit in the area of weaknesses. And I think that's what we've been really poor at is kind of getting that balance right you.
I'm trying to read your mind. I think you like development club makes us sound soft, but it's not wrong. But like I think you just want us to be a rootless club like Cannabury, like Canaby are developing their players, but they're also recruiting tom play. You've got to be both and you've got You've talked about soft underbelly. I don't want to go down that rabbit hole. But just frustrating, like mid season we give up a player, we don't
sign a player. Now the silver looks like, okay, you want to leave, all right, fair enough, mate, go next week like it just honestly.
Look if he goes next week and we get Coypeas Paul though this season, I'm okay with that because if if we've got issues with him anyway, and we can pick up Peers Paul this season, who will make a difference to our squad this year, who is in an area of weakness in our squad this year, then mate, I'll drive him up to Newcastle. I'll drive co Peas fall back.
Can I ask the question what did Tony Suker do to lose his position after that Penrith performance and have Safar grab that spot and not even make a bench spot.
I'll be picking him next weekend the start in the second row.
He played, Yeah, he played in the New South Wales Cup, thirty one tackles, played eighty minutes, only five runs for forty five meters. But still I don't understand the logic of why he lost his position based on that performance and to move Safar back And if it was KPP I'd understand. But that had me scratching my head. Eddie. You mentioned Royce Hunt's name. So the New South Wales Cup team surrendered thirty eight to eighteen against the Dragons.
I'm in a bad mood about all this weekend. I really am Royce Hunt, one of the four or five quality players that we were just from outside one run for seven meters. He played twenty one minutes, made an error, He made ten tackles but missed six tackles. Now there are some reports that he has a rib injury. But if what is going on there, Eddie?
Well, you mentioned being in a bad mood. Johlet's two of us. I think if you haven't done well tonight, I'm in a bad mood. But I mean, yeah, Royce Hunt. I think me and Gary maybe talked about it the last podcast, or might have been Steve. I don't think he's in for a quick return. I just get bad vibes about Royce Hunt. I wasn't overly please when we signed him. Torell May signing made it look like, okay, he could go to the bench, but like, yeah, I didn't say. I can't say I watched the new South
Wales Cup or even they'll playing this weekend. But one run for ten meters doesn't sound too.
Seven meters seven meters.
Mating his stats there, But I don't want to go through the same rant I had last week. But those sort of players, I really don't know how valuable they are, Guys that currently played twenty minutes football.
But there's going to be something seriously wrong with him because you don't attitude someone attitude well, it would have to be because you don't send someone that's played every game of NURL throughout the season, whether it's off the bench or not, back to the Cup with specific things to work on. And you know, Benji would have said, you've got to get your minutes up. I want to
see better impact or you know whatever, more productivity. But you don't see someone go back to Cup and then fail miserably and go completely backwards.
So maybe it his attitude.
Maybe he's gone back and he's got the shits and he doesn't want to be in Cup and he's and that's coming out. But I'll tell you what, that's going to be a very quick exit to out of the club, isn't it. If that's his attitude, he won't be around for long.
From what I've heard is he's failed some benchmarks and fitness benchmarks and that resulted in him being dropped and I'm guessing that hasn't gone down too well.
It's a shame because he's the only guy that I saw actually stand up to an opposition player this year and that was in Round one against Newcastle if you remember, I think it was Heatherington's face he got into, you know, like we had such high hopes and he started out so well and it's a real shame. But maybe there's was something more to that whole. Considering retirement at the end of last year from the Sharks, maybe that killer instinct is not quite.
There Gary, And the sad thing for me is we could really use that impact that he does provide. I know Eddie's not a big fan on someone who's playing twenty minutes, but if we can get twenty five to thirty minutes out of him at high impact, I'm okay with that. But the problems for me seemed to start when we moved him into that starting role and that doesn't suit what he was what he was doing and he defans got really ragged in that game. But I am missing what he was providing when he was coming
on with fifteen minutes ago in that first half. I think that's something that is missing in this side at the moment.
When it comes to West Tigers forwards coming through the ranks over the last few years, guys like Madame Mouer come to mind. Kitler Lily is in that same bracket. But we did have hopes that kit was about to push his way through. I didn't see the game. I can only go off the stats, but he played nearly forty minutes, so two stints, he played fifteen minutes and
twenty five minutes, two runs for twenty meters. It's really really disappointed because I thought, Gary, you know, we're talking about kit maybe pushing through for NRL, coming back into the NRL team at some stage, but those stats in New South Wales Cup aren't filling with a lot of confidence.
Yeah, I didn't see the game this weekend. I was a little bit busy, but I watched the game two weeks ago and I thought he was really good in that. So it's a little bit of a tough one because I think I think for the most part the games I've watched for New South Falest couple this year, he's been really good. But those stats don't make great reading from yesterday, so I'm not sure what was going on there.
I mean, save Half is getting to that point though, where it's sort of like he deserves to be next one dropped. Like coaches tend to always have one favorite, I generally think Benji over the past two years, it's been pretty good with selection. If someone's not performing, he will drop them. Not so much you know they need to change bench. That's probably a little bit different. Maybe he hasn't been a strong there, but save Half hasn't
been doing it for me for a while. I had hopes for him, not necessarily as a starter, but as a top seventeen player, but he's definitely not earning that spot on the right side of the second row. I can see Gary smiling because he's he feels like he's been vindicated.
Tell me what say Fath brings. What's the strength of his game?
He well, I suppose it's it's possibly stuff we don't see in the eighty minutes. John, it's probably around the training padding and stuff like that. But coaches have players like that. You know. I actually thought he was all right off the bench, but I don't think he start to come off the bench once this year. And I'm sorry, but two runs miss tackles still got the odd bit of poor discipline doesn't dominate any collisions. So now it's time for him to be demoted.
Just just to defend save Farth a little bit. I won't defit him completely. And I know Steve. You know, Steve's word was accountability, and he did highlights say Forth and Heath Mason in that line. But I did think Alex was a lit a bit let down on a couple of occasions with Heath running up out of the line, Gary shaking your head.
But the Raiders.
It might have been the Raiders first try where Mason did run up a lot quicker and sort of left. Mason left so fast, sort of you know, a couple of steps back he came up out of the line and created a bit of a hole and that was a pretty poor read and he did stand there shaking his head when he did it. What what does say fast bring? I think he's a workhorse. I don't think he stops trying. You'll never lack him for effort. And
he knows how to find a try line. That's something I don't think Alex Tele knows how to do.
It's funny. Yeah, well we know that.
It's not his job.
Well prop slash lock right, he plays you know that number thirteen roller to start.
The game a second roller. One of your roles is to be, especially on the try line, is to hit that gap and find the try line. I think it's a little bit hard, Like I'm not an alex Ple fan over. I think it's a little bit harsh on him to say he's not a try score when that's that's quite obvious in the type of footballer he is for me. Save Haf made a really poor defensive read on that first try. He came in far too far
and supported the player that was depending inside him. I can't remember who it was now, and it was say aast Man that actually went through the whole to score that try in the lead up to the second try, he was the one that missed the tackle on about thirty meters out from the break break. And I can't disagree with you, Nick that he's a wholehearted guy who puts in a lot of effort and he's getting the most out of his ability that he was given. I
have no doubt about that. But that ability isn't enough for an NRL player. His lack of impact and his lack of ability to win the contact in both attack and defense is a massive problem and has been a massive problem in his entire career. You'll see quite often we'll get a decent player the ball, Alex will take that next hit up and he gets bent backwards and ends up on his back and gets a slow play
the ball. The same thing happens in defense. He'll get to the player and the player ends up going over the top of him, which results in a quick play the ball. That that poor contact in defense and attack is a real problem. He did score a nice try he chased. He also threw a really nice ball the one the other try we scored out on that right hand side. I thought he threw a really nice ball for that try. Yep, it's just not enough. He's a nice guy, he's a hard worker, but you need to be.
More than that in the and we know he's a nice guy.
I don't know I'm giving him something else, give him a massive whack exactly.
I'll just say they quickly when that try that's or that break that camera made where save Farth missed the tackle. If you watch that back, Tower was outside of him and that camera play, I can't remember who it was was going from Tyra as well, and Tower should have made an effort to try and shut that down with say Farth, he left it to him and he was only a meter or so away. So I'll just back up save Futh a little bit there. I think he should have had a bit more assistance from his outside men.
We're trending down. Is all lost for season twenty twenty five? Is it time to say season over?
It depends what you're looking for, Like, if you're exacting what that was what I was looking for. Yeah, if you're looking for ape spot. I don't think they're going to make the top eight do. I think we'll get a few more wins and have more wins than the last couple of years out, I actually think we'll win on Friday Night as long as we picked the right squad. There's some pauzes in that game on Friday Night, but the effort has been there all season. I'm really happy
with that. I think there were some promising things in attack once we got Lar two into the side and Lart two out on the field playing. I think if we fix up, I think there's two selection changes that we can make that make a massive difference to what we're going to see over the last couple couple of months of this season. So selections on Tuesday is really important for me, and I think if we make the right selections, then I'm not like Eddie and Nick. I'm
not keeping my one eye on the wooden spoon. I'll worry about that if we get to three weeks out and we're still in a fight for it. Right now, I'm just looking at the next game and whether we can win that. And I think we can win the next game. I think we can get a couple more wins in the next month, but selections on Tuesday are really important to go to get to that point where we are winning games.
I noticed Gary just casually just watering down expectations a bit there with his first few lines, you know, we might win a few more games this year, and just casually throwing it out there the stuff I've been saying with you. But anyway, I.
Think we can still get four or five wins this season in the back half of the season. I'm not, as I said, I'm not sitting looking.
For a serious on a serious note, like I won't call it Eddie's gambling gel, I'll call it Eddie's analytics this time. And like last year we won six games and there wasn't a single loss where we could have won for me, this year we've won five games. It's
probably I think we've lost six games. So like time spent playing together learning how to win, we don't want to get in the habit of honorable losses, but those sort of statistics if we end the year with eight losses by six points or less, generally the trend is if that side stays together and gets strong with a couple of signings, that will not flip on its head, but at least revert to some sort of meme next year where you're actually winning four of those eight games
decided by four points or less. So there are really good signs there. It's just torture. Like I said at the start of the pod.
Look, any I think that's a really good point you raised, and I do think I do think that matches what the Bulldogs did a couple of years ago, where they had a season where everyone wanted Geraldo sack, but it was a building year for them. Man, I'm guessing this
year is a little bit of that as well. Of course, like I want us to make the EPE, but even when I predicted as finishing an eight spot at the start of the year, I said a lot of things would have to go our way for that to happen, and I didn't ultimately really believe it deep down in my heart. But I am happy with the progress we've made this year. I would like a few more wins, but I am happy with the progress we've made so far, and I do think where we are on an upward trend. As a clab on a.
Hole, I actually agree with you, Gary. I actually do think we can beat Manly. I don't think they're playing great footy at the moment. I just want to and I know we'll preview that game during the week. But Luke Brooks is due for a good game, isn't he And that type of game that you'd expect Brooks to actually come out and never blind up.
But he's been drew for a good game for about ten years.
I don't know where I heard it, and it's not the most optimistic way of finishing the pod, but I'm not going to be here on Wednesday night for the midweek pod. Just find it out there, guys. But I heard somewhere. It may have been West Tiger's Life. Maybe it may have read it on one of the forums. I'm not exactly sure, but the person said that their fear is that losing it's in the walls at West Tigers. Yeah,
it's just just so much part of the club. An exterminator. Yeah, well, where do we get one of those?
It is? It is in the walls at the moment, Jold. But I think they think they're doing their utmost to change it. I just I don't think it is you know, boys club as everyone goes home happy. I do think it's just super frustrating at the moment. There is progress, but it's it's sort of painful progress at the moment because we're just losing those close games.
Well, let's hope those bench selections are better than this week's bench selections, Garret, because I don't think we got them right this week, so let's hope we get them right next week.
You got first, Garrett.
Yeah, I'm more concerned about who we're picking at five eight and who we're picking on that right edge the bench elections. I think, Look, I haven't been that happy for our bench selections the last few weeks, but we're finishing over the top of things. To me, that's got to say something about your use of the bench and
and how you're performing. If you're coming back at teams in the back end of the games, which has been our trend for the last couple of months, then I think fitness wise and an amount of time you've got players spending on the field, you're probably doing a fairly good job.
Of You know what that tells me about coming over the top of teams the last couple weeks. For me, he's the difference, and it was very noticeable when he was on the field. We looked a hell of a lot more dangerous when we're.
Doing it before him as well. Though we came over the top of South late in the game, and Latu fan wasn't playing in that game. So it's been a trend that's been there for a little while now. Even earlier in the season, we really came over the top of the Dolphins. So I think fitness wise and the ability to still physically be in a game at the end of the game is a lot better than it's been in past season. So I at least think we
got that part of our off season pretty good. I think, yeah, I don't think we got too much wrong in that fitness wise.
Sorry, Joel, I was meant to say something, wasn't I What I was going to say to finish is, you know, if I come back in another lifetime in a few thousand years, obviously rugby legue will still be going head
knocks and that's not a problem at all. But you know, if I come back as some sort of and people are visiting the earth and they say, all I want is a nice, quiet life, But I like sports scary and I just want to follow a certain team or something, I would just advise them, you know, follow the Melbourne Storm on or follow cricket or something like that. But the one team you must never follow a lifetime of torture is the Wet Tigers.
Knowing you Eddie, though I think you'ld more prefer the Tom will follow the West Tigers, just because I think you'd get a kick out of seeing them suffer.
Gary, I'll be coming back in a few thousand years and I'm going to advise you to support the West Tigers.
Well, I think we can probably pretty much be assured that if you do come back in a thousand years any you're not going to see another Rugby League merger because if you take two two week teams, you only end up with one week team because.
You're finishing with.
Fitz Gerald says High that's who it was said.
That wasn't so that would have been a takeover, that wouldn't have been a merger, But there would never be another merger where you've got two teams that are in that exclusion zone that are struggling, because you just end up with one team that's struggling.
So that's a real whack to finish off.
We're the last merger in history. Thank you, guys. We'll look forward to the midwik Pod. Thank you boys, boy.
Cross and Crocks