It was one other season to overlook for Wests Tigers followers, with the joint merger membership choosing up a second straight picket spoon.
Their five-year-plan, which was met with combined response in the beginning of the season, has already fallen by the wayside, with coach Tim Sheens changed by assistant Benji Marshall a season sooner than anticipated.
It’s not a stretch to recommend that at occasions they had been the league’s laughing inventory, coping with a myriad of points which culminated in Sheens’ departure.
With Marshall’s appointment, Tigers followers will probably be hoping for a recent begin from 2024, with the silver lining being that the one course they will head is up.
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Read on for the Wests Tigers’ 2023 season evaluate.
Manly launch 45 second raid on Tigers | 00:32
2023 Record: 4 wins, 20 losses – seventeenth place
What went proper: For all their shortcomings this season, the Tigers have struck gold with thrilling fullback Jahream Bula.
Sheens earmarked Bula in the beginning of the season, saying the 21-year-old will “be a kid who comes out of nowhere”.
The outgoing coach was appropriate, with Bula’s addition to the facet as a debutant for the Round 8 facet considerably of a shock. However, Bula shortly confirmed he belonged within the NRL and hasn’t appeared again and there’s little doubt he’s a participant you may construct a workforce round.
“He’s just a pure athlete, it doesn’t matter what sport you’d put him in he would do well in it,” Tigers skipper Api Koroisau stated of Bula earlier this yr.
“We needed a spark and the coaches called on him and he has just delivered since.”
Speaking of Koroisau, he was additionally a shining gentle for the Tigers. He confirmed off his versatility over the ultimate rounds when shifting into halfback, however there’s little doubt he’s at his finest when within the dummy-half function.
He’s artful, tough-as-teak, and is a participant that leads by instance.
The former Panther and Sea Eagle has been round profitable organisations and even in what’s a darkish time for the membership, his expertise and management will probably be leant upon.
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His penalty aim from the sideline to beat the Dolphins in Round 25 was one of many highlights of the 2023 marketing campaign.
Emerging ahead Stefano Utoikamanu’s robust play resulted in a Blues jersey for State of Origin Game II, though he solely performed 11 minutes.
In addition to the late win over the Dolphins, there have been a few different outcomes all through the season which might have given Tigers followers lots to smile about.
A gritty 12-8 win towards a principally full-strength Panthers facet in Round 9 ended a 273-day run with no win. Bula and outgoing half Luke Brooks starred that evening.
The arrival of the Fainu brothers from 2024 is a tip of the hat to the Tigers’ recruiting workforce, contemplating how extremely they’re regarded.
Latu is an thrilling playmaker who starred for the beneath 19’s NSW facet this season, together with his older brother Samuela additionally that includes in that win over Queensland.
Expect to see each characteristic in first grade subsequent season.
Some glimpses in a principally darkish yr.
What went fallacious: We will begin with the teaching kerfuffle.
There had been combined reactions round Tim Sheens’ appointment, contemplating he hadn’t coached within the NRL since 2012 when he was sacked by the Tigers.
It was meant to be Sheens’ workforce for 2 seasons with Benji Marshall to be introduced alongside as an assistant in that point earlier than being promoted, nonetheless Marshall finds himself within the place a full season earlier regardless of having no head teaching expertise on the CV.
Sheens’ departure was labelled a “circus act” by Fox League’s James Hooper.
“The five-year plan that was devised… has now been slashed to four years,” Hooper stated on NRL 360.
“It comes off the back of Sheens having some concerns about how much longer he could remain in that role as the Wests Tigers front person and head coach.
“His agent called (Tigers chairman) Lee Hagipantelis last week to outline the fact that Tim felt he was no longer in the right state to remain as head coach of the club so bang, Benji Marshall has been saloon passaged straight in.”
There had been experiences of a rift between Sheens, Marshall and recruitment supervisor Scott Fulton, who was employed mid-season and with out the coaches realizing.
Fulton’s godfather Peter Peters threw gasoline on the hearth when he prompt Marshall needed to signal sure gamers that had been represented by a administration firm that Benji had a share in. That brought about the Tigers’ brass to enter harm management.
The function of CEO Justin Pascoe has additionally been closely scrutinised.
There had been his weird actions throughout a house loss to the Broncos in Round 5. Since, he has hardly been heard from, with Hagipantelis fronting the media to reply the exhausting questions for the remainder of the yr.
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Raging Roosters maul Tigers | 01:59
Pascoe has been CEO at Tiger Town since 2015, with the membership but to make the finals in his time on the helm.
The Daily Telegraph’s Brent Read believes Pascoe deserves to be beneath “immense pressure.”
“The calls for his head are pretty constant. For the eight or nine years that he has been (at the Tigers), the club has never made the finals,” Read stated on Triple M.
On the sector, the Tigers misplaced their first seven video games of the season, with their season basically over earlier than the tip of April.
While it didn’t make or break their season, the devastating harm to Adam Doueihi was an unlucky side of 2023. Doueihi suffered his third ACL tear in his left knee within the Easter Monday loss to the Eels and isn’t prone to be again on the sector till late 2024.
It was one other blow to a well-liked member of the Tigers, with Sheens labelling it a “nightmare.”
In phrases of on-field outcomes, it’s exhausting to pinpoint a worse efficiency from any membership all season than what the Tigers dished out in a 74-0 loss to the Cowboys – the worst shedding margin since 1935.
A 54-12 flogging by the hands of Manly in Round 27 put the nail within the coffin of what was actually a horrific season.
What they want: It sounds obviously apparent, however what this membership and fan base wants greater than something is a few hope.
Will they play finals subsequent yr? Probably not, however it is a workforce that has received simply eight from 48 over the past two seasons.
If they will decide up a minimum of seven or eight wins subsequent season beneath rookie coach Marshall, will probably be an indication that they’re on an upward spiral.
The bar’s so low now, I feel Tigers followers will simply be blissful for the workforce to indicate some form of enchancment.
After a season like this, it’s exhausting to pinpoint a place the Tigers want probably the most assist in.
They’ve signed veteran halfback Aidan Sezer to a one yr deal, a transfer which reportedly wasn’t one the entire membership had been eager on, however he’s merely a stopgap till a greater possibility is discovered for 2025.
So, discovering that long-term answer within the halves is one other focus for Marshall and the Tigers shifting ahead, with the hope Fainu can develop into that function if given the time to develop.
The Tigers had been the bottom scoring workforce in 2023 and lacked strike energy within the backline.
Their lack of depth at centre and on the wing had been evident because the season wore down which will probably be exasperated by the departure of Tommy Talau, who’s off to Manly subsequent season.
Going: Luke Brooks (Sea Eagles), Tommy Talau (Sea Eagles), Daine Laurie (Panthers)
Coming: Aidan Sezer (Super League), Latu Fainu (Sea Eagles), Samuela Fainu (Sea Eagles), Jayden Sullivan (Dragons)
Source web site: www.foxsports.com.au
