Benny's Broadside: Forget the players - Lay blame on Sheens
Former Tigers great Benny Elias has questioned the future of the Wests Tigers coach Tim Sheens at the club after they were all but ruled out of the finals for the third year running.
Barring a miracle, The Tigers will not feature in the finals, meaning they've failed to reah September footy every year since winning the 2005 premiership. Sheens launched a tirade after their disappointing loss to Manly last weekend, telling many players their futures at the club were no longer secure.
However, Elias believes Sheens is culpable for their poor record over the past three years and said the club needed an overhaul if they were to survive and taste success once again.
"Since the Grand Final we haven't made a semi final...it's terrible and disastrous," Elias lamented.
"I think there needs to be a whole broom taken through the place. The great thing about sport is the scoreboard doesn't lie. The scoreboard is a reflection of the balance sheet. In a business, if you're in the red, you're in all sorts of strife. Our balance sheet is the scoreboard and at the moment we're in all sorts of strife.
"Do you change management? Absolutely, in business if some of it is not working you get rid of the personnel because they're the ones who are responsible for the bottom line."
Local juniors have been the focus of the Tigers for many years, but Elias believes Sheens needs to look elsewhere and start rebuilding the side.
"He's been there a long time now so he sifted through all the deadwood from when he first came to the place. Every player at the club today...he has been able to put pen to paper and bought those players," he said.
"I love Tim, I got him to the club, but sometimes you've got to be accountable because you are the bloke who signs the players.
"You have to get the right person or personnel to help you get the best result out of that team. That is the trick of Tim Sheens, to do that, and if you can't do that...well then you've got to ask the question - who is the right bloke for the job?"
Outgoing Tigers CEO Steve Noyce agrees the club's current situation is not acceptable following the success of 2005. The Wests Tigers will review it's recruitment and retention policies at the end of this season to address the problem.
"Clearly if you play professional sport you want to win comps and play finals series and if you're not doing that there are things you need to review right across the board," Noyce offers.
"Recruitment and retention is like painting the bloody Harbour Bridge - you're always looking at it. So I think once the season is finished the guys will sit down and go through this plan we have and if we think we need to readjust or revisit them we'll do that and work hard to make sure we turn things around."
The man responsible for recruitment at the Tigers, Warren McDonnell, supported Sheens' view some players had failed to live up to their potential.
"We're still very happy with our junior strength coming through the ranks, but perhaps a few of them we've been looking to take a bigger leap than they have when they've hit first grade," says McDonnell.
"We're certainly not going to be saying we're not playing local juniors, but we'll look at our structure and maybe we do need to look at bringing more rep players in but that comes at a price. It's a balancing act and getting it right is the magic key."
