Is This The Last Chance For Wests Tigers?

As Wests Tigers’ fans contemplate the end of another disastrous season, they may take solace in the return of Tim Sheens to the position of head coach, with Benji Marshall set to take over. Sheens and Marshall brought a winning culture to the club, which culminated in grand final victory over North Queensland in 2005.

It’s been a long and bitter period of the Tigers since that glorious day. They have now gone a decade without making the finals, and are likely to finish the 2022 season with the wooden spoon.

The first thing the new Tigers’ regime has to look at is the salary cap management. For too long the club has paid overs for players, hoping to attract other stars to the club. It just hasn’t worked. Perhaps their most under-rated forward, Luke Garner, is off to Penrith next year. Garner should be as viewed as say Victor Radley or Liam Martin is now viewed. He almost certainly will be at Penrith.

Luke Brooks won the Dally M halfback of the year award a few years ago, which helped gain a pay increase. It seems like forever that Brooks has been the scapegoat for the woes at the Tigers.

The return of Sheens and Marshall can’t just be seen as a nostalgic attempt to return to the very brief glory days of the Tigers. It is seriously the last chance the ill-fated joint venture club has as being a viable franchise in the NRL.

Salary cap management must be the first point on the agenda. Every team gets the same amount but somehow Wests Tigers seem to fill their roster with journeymen and promising players. It hasn’t worked for ten years.

The Tigers need to start thinking about how they make the finals within three seasons. Re-sign Adam Doueihi, work out what they want to do with Luke Brooks, and go from there. Papali’I and Koroisau is a good start. But it’s only a start.

If The Tigers can’t get it right this time, I fear they may be swallowed up by Penrith. The Panthers’ off-field club network is extensive, and a Western Panthers team spreading from Penrith to Campbelltown would provide a greater catchment area for juniors, while also offsetting any inroads into the sporting market by the GWS Giants of the AFL, and the Western Sydney Warriors and Macarthur FC A-League teams.

A new Excellence Centre at Concord may be well and good for the Tigers, but it may not help them find where their true identity lies. Are they are an inner-city side still? Or are they a true western Sydney franchise that can extend beyond Campbelltown to Bargo and Picton. And pick up fans that would otherwise support Canberra?

If they don’t have success under the ‘back to the future’ Sheens/Marshall regime, the decision may be made for them as the NRL looks for consolidation before future expansion.