NRL 2023: St George Illawarra Dragons beat Wests Tigers 18-14 in ‘Spoon Bowl’
The Tigers can’t be accused of not trying in the ‘Spoon Bowl’ against the Dragons, but there’s no points for trying in this league, and a second successive wooden spoon awaits.
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Two successive wooden spoons; seven wins from 42 games over the past two seasons.
That’s a demoralising winning success rate of just 16.6 per cent for the forlorn Wests Tigers.
It is difficult to think a team in the NRL salary cap era, a mechanism implemented to ensure a level competition, could be so inferior.
Wests Tigers had a fair dinkum crack against St George Illawarra on Thursday night in Wollongong. No argument. In an 18-14 loss, goalkicking was the difference.
Sadly, you don’t get competition points for having a crack.
Wests Tigers management may think media criticism is unwarranted and relentless but let’s look at the statistics – they don’t tell fibs.
The Concord-based club has won three from 18 games this season and are now four points last on the competition table with six games remaining.
Unless an unlikely revelation emerges, Wests Tigers will finish last for two straight years.
And this from a club which hasn’t competed in a finals game since 2011.
No team has secured back-to-back spoons since Newcastle claimed three in succession during 2015, 2016 and 2017.
Last year, Wests Tigers won four from 24 games.
Wests Tigers won eight from 24 games to finish 13th in 2021 and seven from 20 to run 11th in 2020.
That’s 22 wins from the club’s past 86 games for a win success rate of 25.5 per cent.
The team above them entering Thursday night’s match was the Dragons.
Over the final six rounds, Wests Tigers play Souths (Tamworth), Canberra (GIO Stadium), Warriors (Hamilton, NZ), Dolphins (CommBank), Sydney Roosters (Allianz) and Manly (4 Pines Park).
It is unlikely the Tigers will start any of the games as favourites.
You’d like to think the worst is behind them. Sadly, I’m not so sure.
Spoon Bowl: Who will win NRL’s battle of the battlers?
– Fatima Kdouh and Brent Read
Wests Tigers coach Tim Sheens was forced to respond to a string of off-field issues plaguing the club on the eve of what is being billed as the battle for the wooden spoon against St George Illawarra on Thursday night.
Sheens knows only a win against the 15th-placed Dragons, who have a two-point buffer on the Tigers, will ‘shut down’ some of the external noise.
But talk of warring factions within the club and uncertainty in the coach’s box won’t go away.
Sheens insisted assistant coach Benji Marshall and new recruitment boss Scott Fulton had worked out their differences after clashing over a number of recruitment targets.
“I don’t think there’s going to be an issue where someone can’t work with someone,” Sheens said.
“We’ve all got to be professional in these sorts of situations and that’s what I would expect from both guys.”
Sheens rejected the suggestion Marshall would be installed as head coach before 2025 but admitted Marshall was taking a greater responsibility in preparation for the role.
“I’m educating them and giving them some rein or some ability to create what they want to create within the group,” Sheens said.
“It’s no different to most clubs. The senior coach does more of a managerial role in many ways. That doesn’t mean I’m not picking the team or not involved in picking the team. I am.
While the Tigers are facing consecutive wooden spoons, a loss for the Dragons puts them on course to a last place finish for the first time in the joint venture’s history.
The importance of a win is not lost on the players.
Interim coach Ryan Carr revealed the squad sacrificed taking some off in last week’s bye round in a bid to take down the Tigers.
“We’re desperate to prove a point to ourselves and our fans … we’ve had a really good week at training. We trained through the bye, they didn’t want the time off, they all wanted to come in and work hard. You can see glimpses of what type of team we can be but we need to see it for a full 80 minutes,” Carr said.
RECRUITMENT
Retention rather than recruitment is the immediate priority for the Dragons as they attempt to convince captain Ben Hunt to reject overtures from interstate.
Hunt’s future has been put on ice for the moment but it seems only a matter of time before the issue explodes again, the club’s best player having made no secret of his desire to head back to southeast Queensland to pursue a premiership in the twilight of his career.
If he leaves, the Dragons will have money to spend and a coach in Shane Flanagan who is ready to spend it as he looks to clear the decks and rid the club of its deadwood.
The Tigers struck a blow in the player market on Wednesday when they landed the highly regarded Fainu brothers – Late and Samuela – for next season.
Latu may not be ready for a full-time first grade gig next season but Samuela is already a regular in the Manly side and will arrive with huge expectations.
The Tigers have had a lash at just about every half on the market and their hopes of securing an experienced playmaker will now rest in the hands of former Canberra half Aidan Sezer, currently plying his trade in England.
COACHING DRAMA
The Dragons have their coaching future well and truly settled with the addition of premiership winner Shane Flanagan.
Flanagan will take over next season although he is working in the background on strengthening the St George Illawarra roster and formalising his coaching staff.
His arrival, after the club missed out on preferred candidate Jason Ryles, means the Dragons will have a proven winner at the helm.
Flanagan knows what it takes to build clubs capable to contending on a consistent basis. The Tigers is a more fluid situation.
Tim Sheens is meant to be in charge next season but the more results suffer, the more likely it seems that the club may look to shake-up its coaching staff.
What won’t change if you believe the comments out of Concord is that assistant Benji Marshall will take over as head coach from Sheens.
When that day comes, don’t be surprised if there are other additions to the coaching staff. Chief executive Justin Pascoe recently arranged a catch-up with former Gold Coast coach Justin Holbrook, only to postpone at the last minute. Holbrook would be ideal for a young coach like Marshall. So too South Sydney assistant John Morris.
THE FUTURE
The immediate future looks bleak for both these sides. The loser on Thursday night will move into pole position for the wooden spoon, a devastating outcome for either club and their suffering supporters.
Beyond this season, it’s hard to work out which club is in the best situation from a longer-term perspective.
The loss of Hunt would set the Dragons back significantly. He has been their shining light in recent season.
At least they have a halfback. That would change if Hunt is given the chance to leave. As it stands, the Tigers don’t have a No. 7 capable to putting into action a plan designed by Marshall and the coaching staff.
Next year will likely be too soon for Latu Fainu and Sezer may answer the call, but he would only be a stopgap.
The big positive for the Tigers is their forward pack, which is capable of taking on the big boys and will be strengthened by the arrival of Samuela Fainu.
HALVES DILEMMA
The Tigers have a gaping hole in their roster when it comes to playmakers, and no first choice halves combination for 2024.
Marshall wants to bring the Leeds Rhinos’ Sezer back to NRL, with the view the spine needs the experience.
Recruitment boss Scott Fulton has his eye on Penrith stopgap Jack Cogger. Fulton also secured Latu Fainu, who will get first crack at five-eighth.
As it stands, Adam Doueihi is no certainty to take the field next year as he recovers from a third ACL injury. Fill-in halfback Brandon Wakeham is unsigned for 2024. While Luke Brooks is walking away from the club to join Manly, and hasn’t played since round 15 because of a hamstring injury. Sheens believes the lack of fluency in the halves this year has had a significant impact on results.
The likes of Jersey Flegg halves Iverson Matai and Michael Tannous are too green for the NRL. As is Lachlan Galvin, who starred in the Schoolboy Cup but is only 17.
The situation is not as dire in Wollongong but it is still uncertain.
Veteran halfback Ben Hunt wants out of the final two years of his deal but Flanagan is digging his heels in.
Jayden Sullivan is out for the season with a hamstring injury but could have played his last game for the club with growing speculation the young playmaker is headed to the Bulldogs.
That leaves Talatau Amone and Hunt as the halves combination to drag the Red V from the doldrums in 2024.
But Amone was demoted to the bench last month before being axed to NSW Cup in round 18. He’s since earned a recall but raises questions about whether he is viewed as the answer in the No. 6 jumper.
KEY MATCH UPS
FULLBACK – Tyrell Sloan v Jahream Bula
Coach Carr has a simple request of Sloan in this match, and that’s to take the game on. Sloan can be electric in open space but can also be guilty waiting for the game to come to him. That hasn’t been an issue for Bull, who cannot only sniff out an opportunity but has given the Tigers’ spine another genuine attacking option.
HOOKER – Api Koroisau v Jacob Liddle
Head in hands at full-time in the sheds last weekend, Koroisau’s face said it all – this is a side devoid of answers. While it might feel like wading water for Koroisau, the premiership winner hooker must be at his best if the Tigers are any chance of avoiding the spoon. Given how easily the Tigers defence can be exposed, Liddle needs to find the confidence to run the ball from dummy half to help put his side on the front foot.
WHO WINS AND WHY – Dragons
Like a car crash, NRL fans won’t be able to take their eyes off this clash. The entertainment value in the ‘best’ worst game of the year is undeniable, and the headlines write themselves.
But for fans of either beleaguered club, it’s the match that will likely deliver a wooden spoon dagger.
On paper, the sides are evenly matched across the park. But the Dragons have the edge in the halves and the key to a victory in veteran halfback Hunt.
There’s no denying Hunt has looked out of sorts since Flanagan put his foot down and refused his contract release request.
But with the Red V staring down the barrel of its first ever wooden spoon, as a joint venture, Hunt must rise to the occasion.
His game management, which is head and shoulders above his opposite of Brandon Wakeham, should give the Dragons the edge.
The Dragons showed some fight in their last start against Canberra and were in the contest right until the death.
Carr’s men will need the same attitude, which should get them over the line against a Tigers outfit that look to have lost their resolve.
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Originally published as NRL 2023: St George Illawarra Dragons beat Wests Tigers 18-14 in ‘Spoon Bowl’
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