Wests Tigers train wreck: Winning stars in front office and club can’t get it right

The Wests Tigers have had another week to forget. Here’s what their front office should learn from an organisation 15,000 kilometres away.

Wests Tigers players show their dejection after a try. Picture: NRL Photos

A word of advice for NRL bosses. And yes, we are talking to you guys at the Wests Tigers. Get yourself on a plane to America, beg for a ticket to the US Masters and sample of a bit of Augusta National.

Experience what it really means to honour tradition, reward loyalty and understand attention to detail. The Tigers have had another week to forget. It’s Groundhog Day. A calamitous decision with their Anzac jersey shone the light on an administration that continues to trip over their own feet.

Poor Luke Brooks has carried the can for the club for as long as anyone can remember. When the Tigers lose, Brooks invariably gets the blame. Winning, though, starts in the front office and the Tigers can’t get it right.

They try damn hard but it feels like a clean-out is coming. They’ve gutted the playing group over the years but results haven’t changed. They’ve sacked coaches and gone back to the future with Tim Sheens and his crew.

All they have left is to put a broom through the office. Contrast the way the Tigers are run with the seamless production that is the US Masters. They can seemingly do no wrong. Or very little anyway.

Wests Tigers players show their dejection after a try. Picture: NRL Photos

The only semblance of criticism this week has been the presence of LIV players at the tournament given the tour run by Greg Norman has been accused of sport-washing, where governments — in this case Saudi Arabia — use sport to clean up their image.

While most of the Masters media steered clear of interrogating Augusta National president Fred Ridley this week, one award-winning journalist hit him right between the eyes with a question about sport-washing.

Ridley responded and everyone moved on. Crisis averted. It was another example of the fluid and efficient way Masters week operates. They have had years to get it right and they have it down to a fine art.

The course is a slice of heaven. The fairways are perfection personified, the greens a delight. Volunteers armed with brooms and leaf blowers are littered throughout the course, ensuring everything is neat and tidy.

It’s hillier than you think but if that’s the only criticism, we really are nitpicking. Talk about first world problems.

The volunteers are courteous and kind. Many of them have been coming for years, working half the day and spectating the other half. They, like everyone else, embrace the tradition.

Patrons walk on to the course prior to the first round of the 2023 US Masters. Picture: Getty Images

The volunteers who work the holes stay on the same hole for years. This columnist bumped into a bloke on the 2nd on Friday morning (AEDT). He and his crew return every year to work as volunteers on the 2nd hole.

They rotate from tee to green over the years, but always on the 2nd hole. This bloke’s father-in-law works on the hole as well. Has done for 12 years. Stuff the other 17 holes. He works the 2nd and that’s where he is staying.

Traditions are the bedrock of the Masters. The tournament begins with a ceremonial drive from three legends — of late Jack Nicklaus, Tom Watson and Gary Player.

The menu for the champion’s dinner is always hand-picked by the previous winner. This year it was Scottie Scheffler and his menu included cheeseburger sliders, firecracker shrimp. black cod, steak and strawberry shortcake.

Caddies are required to wear white overalls. They’re not happy about it, particularly on days when the weather is like it was for the opening round. One caddie could be overheard suggesting some of his counterparts were on the verge of collapse.

Jason Day talks with his caddie Luke Reardon on the 18th hole during the first round of the 2023 Masters. Picture: Getty Images

They do it though because it’s what Augusta demands. Fans are referred to as patrons. They can’t wear their hats backward and they can’t have their mobile phones on the course. Take out your phone and you get thrown out.

Patrons are allowed to bring a chair onto the course and place it in a spot of their choosing. They stake their own piece of grass. Even if they go for a walk, the chair remains where they placed it. There is an unwritten rule that someone else can sit in the chair, but when the owner returns they are required to move.

They do. It’s a time-honoured operation that rarely endures a hitch. Contrast that with the Tigers, an organisation that specialises in hitches. Even in the deep south of America, you couldn’t escape the news that the Tigers had put their foot in it again.

CEO Justin Pascoe and the Wests Tigers could do worse than look to the Masters for an example of how to run things smoothly. Picture: Getty Images

You could forgive them too if they could get things right on the field. Yet the results have been a disaster and there are few signs of light. The Tigers look destined to bumble their way through another season of abject disappointment.

At least this columnist had the chance to escape the Tigers’ train wreck for a week. No place better to do it either. Augusta National is as close as you can get to heaven on earth. So book your ticket, get over here and catch a glimpse of how a sport should be run.

Yes Tigers, we’re talking to you.

Originally published as Wests Tigers train wreck: Winning stars in front office and club can’t get it right