Horrid performances, a sacked coach and a glimmer of hope: 2022 set of six, Wests Tigers

Over the next few weeks Zero Tackle  will be looking at what went right, and what went wrong for every club during 2022.

We start at the bottom of the ladder with the Wests Tigers, and it'd be fair to say not much did go right for the joint venture during what was a miserable campaign.

The Tigers, if you remember all the way back to Round 1, actually commenced their season with a glimmer of hope as they pushed the Melbourne Storm all the way to the finish line in the season-opener.

As it turned out, that was nothing more than false hope.

Michael Maguire's side would fall 26 points to 4 to the Newcastle Knights the following week, with the men from the Hunter turning out to be not that far above the Tigers by the time it was all said and done.

The Tigers would be involved in one of the worst games of all-time against the Titans during Round 4, and didn't get their first win until they stunned the Parramatta Eels on Easter Monday.

They followed it up just five days later with another one-point victory over the South Sydney Rabbitohs, but it was all downhill from there, with the club losing their next three on the hop and winning only one of their next five before ultimately axing Maguire during the bye week.

Things didn't improve under interim coach Brett Kimmorley, with the club winning just a single game out of their final 12 attempts, and finishing the season conceding scores of 72 and 56 in the final three weeks.

Here are the big six points to come out of the season for the joint venture.

The future of Luke Brooks continues to be a talking point

This is the talking point which simply refuses to go away, and won't until Brooks either finds something near his potential on a consistent basis, or the Tigers part ways with the halfback.

Brooks holds the unwanted record of most NRL games of all active players without a single finals appearance, and based on that alone, it makes no sense that the Tigers continue to defend him, and continue to deny any potential of a release.

The Newcastle Knights have been rumoured to be interested, but director of football turned next year's coach Tim Sheens has shut down the idea of Brooks departing time and time again.

They say the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. You could excuse it for a while, but it's becoming beyond a joke to the Tigers and their supporters now.

Brooks is off-contract at the end of 2023, and you'd expect he won't be re-signed, and yet, you couldn't guarantee it with the admission some preliminary discussions had already taken place not so long ago.

Regardless, the Tigers can't afford another season of Brooks sitting in the number seven (or number six) and struggling to perform. He will almost certainly start next season with Sheens being one of his supporters, but he is on thin ice at best.

Tim Sheens and Benji Marshall - a cause for optimism?

The Tigers finally pulled the band-aid off over their bye round during the season, axing Michael Maguire from his role as coach which had been stuttering along for far too long.

He narrowly avoided failing an off-season review leading into the 2022 campaign, and when the club started as poorly as they did, there was plenty of talk that he would be gone sooner rather than later before the back-to-back wins over the Eels and Rabbitohs.

But then more losses came and he would depart.

Brett Kimmorley didn't turn things around in the slightest, making you wonder how much of the form was Maguire's fault, but there was little debate that the joint venture needed a change of direction.

They have that now, with a long-term succession plan as Sheens coaches the next two years before Benji Marshall, who will serve as his assistant, takes over.

The duo have plenty of questions to answer in 2023 around the make up of the side, and contracts moving forward, but it's a chance for a fresh start at the club who haven't played finals football for a decade.

Defence continues to be a problem

The Tigers have often had problems with their defence, which stems from the attitude often on display.

The best clubs in the game - the Panthers and Storm for example - view defence as an attitude with attack only allowed to be played on the back of excellent defensive performances.

It's a mentality which has won premierships for as long as the sport has existed, but one the joint venture club have often struggled to come to grips with, particularly in the last decade during their long spell without finals.

It's only natural that a team sitting last on the table will have a poor defensive record, but the Tigers were blown off the chart when it came to exactly how poor they were in 2022.

The New Zealand Warriors kept them away from the competition's worst defensive record, but conceding over 28 points per game simply isn't good enough and will have you out of the picture when it comes to winning more often than it won't.

This is an attitude Sheens and Marshall must address as they take over the team in 2023. There are plenty of young guns at the club right now, and they must have the right attitude if the Tigers are going to go anywhere.

Speaking of young guns...

Young guns to shape the future of the club

Sheens has spoken previously about the Tigers will need to become a development club moving forward, relying on their excellent academy and junior pathways to build the club from the ground up.

It's something Michael Maguire had been driving during his time at the club, but now must be enforced more than ever.

We have seen exactly how well the pathways model can work over at the Penrith Panthers, and with two sizeable catchment areas, plus new facilities at Concord, the Tigers could be aiming to follow them on that path over the coming decade.

It won't happen overnight, but some of those younger players made their debut at the back end of 2021 and despite playing in a losing team, were impressive.

Justin Matamua has enormous raps on him, while Thomas Freebairn is viewed the same way. Shawn Blore sat out the season with an ACL injury but has been re-signed, while Fonua Pole was also impressive during his opportunities. Fellow forwards Henry O'Kane and Brandon Tumeth are also banging down the door for a debut.

The club have also signed Sione Fainu from the Manly Sea Eagles, with the prop having played junior Origin in 2019 but never getting a go on the Northern Beaches.

In the backline, Junior Pauga, Junior Tupou and William Kei are the future of the club, and will apply pressure to the incumbents for spots in 2023.

Patience will be required, but the future is bright for the joint venture if they get their mentality, and their retention right.

Jackson Hastings makes move to lock

Before his season-ending injury, Jackson Hastings had made what was looking like it would be a successful move to the lock forward position.

Despite the Tigers being unable to win in the weeks which immediately followed his shift out of the halves, they did appear to be a more competitive force, and it was disappointing that a knee injury would end his season before he could fully adapt to the role.

With Luke Brooks still at the club, he is unlikely to shift back into the halves to start next year, which will give him more time in the 13.

The lock forward role has become one in the modern game where ball play and foot work is needed, and Hastings has all that, while also being big enough to defend effectively in the middle third.

He was tipped to play lock by many before his arrival at the club, and it's a role he will need to get right if the Tigers are to move up the ladder in 2023.

How much will Jock Madden's departure hurt the Tigers?

Jock Madden's departure may fly directly in the face of the above two points though.

The Tigers, who want to become a development club, have let maybe their best youngster to walk to the Broncos in a move which effectively has prioritised Brooks to remain at the club.

It is, in many ways, a baffling move to say the least.

It's one which weakens their halves for the future, and also likely means Hastings will be required in the halves at some point during the season, taking away from his ability to take over the number 13 jersey on a permanent basis.

But more than that, it robs the Tigers of a player who should have led the club for the next decade.

Madden himself may have needed the change given the lack of minutes enabling him to hit his potential, and although he probably won't get that behind Adam Reynolds at Red Hill, he will have a different voice to learn from as he hones his craft in the QLD Cup.

It's a move the Tigers could well come to regret at some point in the future, or more immediately.