Wests Tigers have gone from soft in the middle to tough up the guts

AS the Wests Tigers head to Melbourne chasing seven straight wins, it's worth reflecting on Matty Johns' stoush with Robbie Farah in late March.

Robbie Farah and Benji Marshall

AS the Wests Tigers head to Melbourne tomorrow night chasing seven straight wins, it's worth reflecting on Matty Johns' stoush with Robbie Farah in late March.

That was after the pre-season favourites crashed to their third straight defeat, going down 30-16 to Canberra in round four.

Johns said to Farah two nights later on NRL on Fox: "They were punching straight through the middle of you. That was soft."

Farah fired back: "That's your opinion. I'm sure people have got opinions on you."

While Farah took exception to the criticism, perhaps it was exactly the motivation the Tigers needed.

They lost their next two games - against the South Sydney (17-16) and Brisbane (18-14) - but have since won six straight, while not conceding a single try through the middle.

Sportsdata Statistics show over the five losses from round two to seven, they conceded six tries through the middle. The Tigers were conceding an average of 24.6 points per game during the run of losses, with 123 points scored against.Compare that to the six games they have won where they only conceded 84 points, for an average 14 per game.

Recent history shows teams conceding between 12-14 points per game win premierships. Add in that the Tigers have held two teams to zero during this winning streak - Canberra last weekend and the Panthers in round seven - while four games were won away from home.

So how much is to do with the public kick up the bum Johns' handed out that night?

It is important to factor in this run coincides with the rise and rise of Aaron Woods - while Keith Galloway's return had a massive impact.

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Galloway was injured during the first-round win over Cronulla and didn't return until round six against the Broncos, the last time the Tigers lost. Praising his two props following last week's crushing win over Canberra, coach Tim Sheens scratched an old wound.

"We've been up, we've been down, we've been criticised for being too soft in the forwards earlier in the year by a couple of so-called experts," Sheens said. "But, at the end of the day, we've muscled up and it's been on the back of the two big fellas."

No doubt, Sheens was spot on that the form of Woods and Galloway should get most of the credit - but, again, how much did Johns' criticism motivate a change in attitude?

Only the Tigers know this, but completion rates over the last three games have been above 80 per cent.

Recently, Benji Marshall admitted that he too was trying to pull his head in, play with more control, rather than relying on trick shots.

For the five loses, Marshall was averaging 4.02 on the crucial CVG ratings system - now, during the six wins, that figure has jumped to 6.25.

And during those five losses, the Tigers conceded 12 tries inside their 0-10 metre zone, five tries from dummy half and two tries from over halfway.In the six wins, only eight tries have come inside the 0-10 metre zone, none from dummy half and, importantly, none through the middle.

So soft is now rock solid - and, as always, attitude is everything.

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