The Wests Tigers are literally always a club in discussion.
Whether in a positive light, or more often a negative one, the club are always brought up when a show needs a discussion point, a journalist needs an article, or someone on social media is looking for interactions.
Truthfully, though, a team that has not played Finals footy since 2011 is always going to be an easy target.
Every year shapes a new dawn in Tiger Town.
New players arrive each season and promise they'll be the ones to return the club to former glory.
Changes at board level were meant to bring a change in fortunes.
A club legend being appointed coach was absolutely going to kickstart a fresh run of Finals campaigns.
Again, if we're being truthful, we're in about year 14 of a three year rebuild.
I'd argue that Tigers fans are having to endure a fourth rebuild, each having promised so much.
I don't want to pepper Tigers fans, who, quite frankly, have become numb to lazily lobbed insults at this point. We all know the struggles.
That said, heading into 2025, it just felt different.
Fans didn't really buy into the Ivan Cleary era. Players seemingly didn't buy into the Michael Maguire era.
The less said about the Tim Sheens era the better!
It's hard to put it into words but with Benji having another full pre-season at the helm, combined with incoming stars Jarome Luai and Terrell May, it just felt like 2025 would be different.
Fast forward to Round 17 and, well ... is it?
Do you agree with the statement: The Wests Tigers have improved in 2025?
— Blank (@suthodan) July 2, 2025
I asked on Twitter if people agreed with the statement "The Wests Tigers have improved in 2025"?
On cold hard facts, you'd have to agree with the majority of answers "yes, a little bit".
Right now, at the completion of Round 17, they sit in 14th spot with five wins, 290 points scored and a differential of -84.
At the same point of the season in 2024, they sat in 17th spot with just four wins, 259 points scored and a -139 differential. They'd go on to win six games all up.
For reference, in 2023 they had three wins, 239 points scored and a -81 differential. A further win came, taking their season total to a dismal four victories.
It's hardly a notable jump in fortune, but the extra win and the 31 extra points scored have to count for something. Right?
I'd argue that the Tigers are right on par with where they were last year.
The arrival of four-time Premiership-winningย Jarome Luai,ย along with fellow Panthers title winnerย Sunia Turuva, had Tigers fans convinced good things were coming.
Luai has played well without smashing any expectations. Of course you have to cut him some slack on his numbers moving from Penrith to the Tigers but his return of six try assists, two line-break assists, zero line-breaks and zero tries is very disappointing.
Royce Hunt arrived with huge hopes but has been reduced to an interchange player in the reserve grade competition. Four games in NSW Cup are yet to net him a game of 100 run metres.
Terrell May, though, has been an absolute monster since donning the orange and black of the Tigers.
His performances should have seen him walk into an Origin jersey if not for this ridiculous notion that he's "trouble". I don't buy that at all, in case you can't tell.
Those four names should have brought with them a sharp rise in fortunes at the club.
May has smashed expectations, Luai has probably approached them, Turuva has been serviceable and Hunt has been hugely underwhelming.
Of course, 2025 isn't just about the results on the field. It's also about building for 2026 and beyond.
For 2026, they have managed to address an area of concern via the purchase of Kai Pearce-Paul.
The Tigers back row stocks have been below par for many years. Alex Seyfarth frustrates fans with his stop/start performances while I think Samuela Fainu is a long-term star.
KPP will surely fill the other side of the field and allow them an offload game they lack right now. Good pick up.
Jayden Sullivan will also return from the Bunnies. Unfortunately a broken leg has ended his season, which had shown some brilliant signs at times.
Unfortunately, though, the Tigers have lost two of their brightest talents in the prior months.
Tallyn Da Silva has been allowed to walk away from a long-term deal after voicing frustration at not being the number one number nine at the club.
In no world could he have thought he would jump Apisai Koroisau in the pecking order but you have to admire a kid backing his talents.
That said, the Tigers allowing him to leave in 2025 made zero sense.
It was too late to free up any cap space for 2025. The June 30 deadline has passed with no additions.
All it does is deplete their already thin stocks in the spine.
This weekend Adam Doueihi is playing at five-eight beside rookie Latu Fainu in the halves. Tristan Hope is playing his second game this weekend at hooker. Sunia Turuva is running out at fullback this weekend.
Heath Mason is literally the next man up at fullback, five-eighth, and halfback.
Of course, the major story this year was the Tigers' very public fallout withย Lachlan Galvin.
I won't dig up old sounds but he went from the star of the show to public enemy number one across the space of a fortnight.
He was released to the Bulldogs in a move designed to ease distractions and prioritise the development of superstar in the making Latu Fainu.
I 100% agree with the decision the Tigers made, they had no choice, but no one in the world can convince me they're a better team right now for the loss.
So to sum up, the Tigers sit one win better than their 2024 selves. They've added four players, two of which have improved the side greatly.
Unfortunately they've lost two of their most promising young stars for zero return other than they won't be in the headlines quite so often.
I suppose they're better in 2025 but almost by default.
I'm not sure that's good enough.
Tigers fans certainly deserve better!
We have heard that Tallin de Silva negotiated his long-term deal on the basis that if Wests offered Api Korisau a new deal, then he would be free to look around.
It’s never been clear (to me, anyway) whether that meant “free, at the end of the 2025 season” or if it meant “free, immediately the ink was dry on the paper”.
I suspect that Wests intended the agreement to be the first case, but perhaps sloppy drafting meant that it was actually the second case.
I’m appalled to hear Royce Hunt is reduced to being a NSW Cup bench player. I had assumed he had some long-term injury and that was why he wasn’t showing up in first-grade every week.
I suspect that the best thing for the player and the club is to shake hands, and part good friends. Bellamy could undoubtedly make something of him.