On Saturday night we were all got an eye-opener into the devastating underlying issues the West Tigers are experiencing, as put by club captain James Tamou.

The Tigers don’t have the personnel to not only win games, but to make the top eight. If it goes how we all think it will, this season marks the 10 years since the Tigers made the finals, and fans all across the NRL are sick of the organisation's poor retention and recruitment over the last 10 years.

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The Main Culprits

The Tigers as a franchise have only held the players accountable for not making the finals over the last 10 years, however there have been no major changes to the board for the last five years or so.

At the end of the day, they are the people responsible for putting together the roster. This is the same group of people that lost local juniors like James Tedesco, Mitchell Moses, Aaron Woods, Ryan Papenhyzen, Josh Addo-Carr and many more who dreamt of winning grand finals with the club.

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - JULY 09: Josh Addo-Carr of the Tigers catches the ball during the round 18 NRL match between the Canterbury Bulldogs and the Wests Tigers at ANZ Stadium on July 9, 2016 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Jason McCawley/Getty Images)

As a result, the club tried to replace them with Josh Reynolds, Russell Packer, Ben Matalino and Moses Mbye (all on big-money deals). And following that, in the last two seasons, signed Joey Leilua on 700k and extended Luke Brooks for five years on almost $1 million-a-year.

Since 2017, the club has gone after and missed out on big-name players like Aj Brimson, Jai Arrow, Josh Addo-Carr and Latrell Mitchell. This yet again proves that the club doesn’t appeal to many big-name players, mainly because of how poorly the club's run.

However, I do believe the additions of Tim Sheens (Head of Football) and Brett Kirmoley (Head of Junior Development) will help the recruitment and retention drive more changes need to follow.

Honestly, for real change to happen they have to change the governing body of the Joint Venture club, starting with CEO Justin Pascoe. Pascoe and Cleary are responsible for screwing the club over, particularly in the last six years.

TOWNSVILLE, AUSTRALIA - APRIL 08: West Tigers coach, Ivan Cleary and Aaron Woods of the Tigers speak with the media following the round six NRL match between the North Queensland Cowboys and the Wests Tigers at 1300SMILES Stadium on April 8, 2017 in Townsville, Australia. (Photo by Brendon Thorne/Getty Images)

If the club didn’t rush James Tedesco and Aaron Woods to re-sign, they probably could’ve kept the pair. Along with paying more attention to the needs of Josh Addo-Carr, Mitchell Moses and Ryan Papenhyzen, the club could be a real powerhouse challenging those of the Melbourne Storm and Penrith Panthers.

Cleary jumping off the bus in late 2018 was a good thing, but Pascoe needs to be shown the door as well.

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1 COMMENT

  1. I have to disagree with a lot of this. Getting rid of Brooks would be a big mistake. He has without a doubt been one of Wests top 3 players this season. He had a bad season last year – so what? Everyone has a dip in form. Remember just 2 years ago he was named Dally M halfback of the year. Back when Tedesco and Moses were in the team he was playing out of his skin. All he needs is decent players around him and he’ll fire. You don’t improve a team by getting rid of quality players in a shit team.

    As with the paying overs on Mbye, Packer and Leilua, 3 people don’t make a team. Yes, we all know they’re crap and don’t deserve 1/10 of what they’re getting paid, but it’s not like the whole salary cap has gone into those 3 players.

    Signing Pearce and Johnson would be a bigger mistake than shafting Brooks. The Tigers are renowned for buying old players past their use-buy date on massive deals. They don’t need 2 old halves who only have another 1 or 2 years in them. That would hugely screw up their roster for years to come.

    Jackson Hastings was signed to be a half. To replace Mbye. Not to be a lock. Wests don’t need any more forwards, for the time being, other than possibly Finucane.

    Also, I’m not quite sure what you mean when you say the Tigers lack strength when going forward. You have named Luciano Leilua, Alex Twal and Alex Seyfarth. What happened to Blore, Mikaele, Utoikamanu and Ofahengaue

    Yes, there are massive problems at Wests. Too many to even write about. But most of this wrong regarding the issues at the club.

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