Brent Read: Wests Tigers can go from wooden spooners to finalists in 2023 NRL season
Talent and culture win premierships and the Wests Tigers are finally beginning to sharpen up in both departments. See why they can go from wooden spooners to finalists.
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I toured the Wests Tigers on Monday and took a swig of the Kool-aid. Watched them train for an hour or so and decided I am buying what the Wests Tigers are selling.
The merged entity has been more basket case than benchmark for the past decade but it feels like things are changing. The wheel is turning. It only took an hour or so to turn this columnist into a believer.
It started with a walk through the Tigers’ freshly-minted Centre of Excellence. What was once a dilapidated grandstand and archaic training venue has been turned into a cutting-edge facility the equal of any of their NRL rivals.
It was hard not to be impressed given the amenities at their disposal. Granted, centres of excellence are a dime a dozen these days, Seen one, seen them all.
The Tigers have done their best to separate themselves from the pack by installing a barber’s chair in the building, photos of a hirsute Kevin Hardwick and shaven-headed Tim Brasher adorning the walls.
Apparently a barber comes in one day a week to make sure the boys are trimmed and looking sharp. Cute gimmick but truth be told, this columnist couldn’t give two hoots about a barber’s chair.
Half fades and mullets don’t win premierships. Talent and culture does and the Tigers are beginning to sharpen up in both departments. There’s the distinct waft air of optimism drifting through the joint.
Some of that has to do with the arrival of Api Koroisau, Isaiah Papali’i, David Klemmer and John Bateman – the Englishman is waiting on his visa but has been in regular contact with the Tigers as he trains on his own.
More than that, it’s the overhaul of the coaching staff that has placed the club back in the hands of Tim Sheens, working alongside club legends Benji Marshall and Robbie Farah.
Sheens, the mastermind of the 2005 premiership, spent much of Monday’s training session on the halfway line watching Marshall and Farah put the side through their paces.
Marshall jumped in at times and filled in as the playmaker. Benji, once a media darling, is still prolific on social media but has declined interview requests and thrown himself into his new career.
Tigers insiders like what they see. If there were any doubts, they are now gone. Farah did what Robbie does. He was economical with his words but when he felt like something needed to be said, he made sure his message hit the mark.
Chris Heighington, another ’05 star, did his bit. Not to forget David Furner, who may be one of the club’s canniest signings given Marshall and Farah are still leaning their craft,
The players spoke afterwards about a change in mentality. The new regime have given them freedom The Tigers will play with structure but have carte blanche to dispose of that structure when their instincts take over.
It will be exciting. If the Tigers go down, they will go down swinging. If halfback Luke Brooks sees something, Marshall has given him the confidence to take it.
Adam Doueihi, playing for his future at the Tigers, has savoured a pre-season where wrestling sessions have become an afterthought.
It’s not a criticism of the previous regime, just a nod to the new brigade and their plans to turn the Tigers around.
It’s a significant task. This is a club that has languished for a decade. If you need a reminder of the hard times, you only have to wander through that Centre of Excellence.
Sure, there are reminders of the Wests Tigers’ glory years littered through the venue. The walls are a shrine to sepia-toned days of success. The trophy cabinet may be bare in recent years but the journalists who toured the facility this week were greeted by plenty of silverware.
Perhaps it was the Tigers’ way of reminding the fourth estate that the merger hasn’t been a total failure. There have been some good days.
In the gym, the Wi-Fi password is “2005”, the year of their one and only premiership. Everywhere you look, there are motivational sayings and images of their former stars.
There’s also a timeline of the Tigers’ existence, which lays bare the absence of success in recent years. The timeline abruptly ends at 2014.
Since then, there has been nothing to crow about. Take the tip – that may be about to change. I’m not sure who drops out of the top eight from last year, but don’t be surprised if the Tigers force their way in.
STORM CLOUDED AS BELLAMY PREPARES TO MAKE CALL
It wouldn’t be an NRL pre-season without a guessing game over the future of Melbourne Storm coach Craig Bellamy.
Bellamy has until March to inform the Storm of his plans for next season and the smart money is on the three-time premiership winner finally calling time on his head coaching career.
If shapes as arguably the most significant moment in the club’s history. Listen to his colleagues and Bellamy is still the best coach in the game by some margin.
The Storm boss pulled in two thirds of the votes in News Corp’s coaches poll and Melbourne will once again start the season among the favourites to win the premiership, in large parts thanks to the bloke who has the clipboard in his hand.
Speak to those close to the Storm an
d they insist Bellamy has lost none of his drive or intensity. He continues to set the standard in Melbourne. He doesn’t look or act like a man on the verge of retirement.
The Storm won’t rush or pressure him for a decision. But they need to make contingency plans and there are some obvious ones. Billy Slater would be atop the Storm wishlist but there is no indication he wants to be an NRL coach.
That leaves assistant Marc Brentnall and former assistant Jason Ryles as the leading contenders, Both know Melbourne and have served high-quality apprenticeships. Both will have Bellamy to lean on for advice.
It doesn’t guarantee ongoing success, but it sure as hell helps.
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