I hope we have learnt our lesson

[BrotherJim05]

Since 2012 it seems like the Wests Tigers have always been "building something special". We have all heard the "boast the best young talent", "future looks bright", "can play some entertaining football" quotes enough times to make us sick of hearing it. Woods leaving the Tigers, and potentially Teddy leaving as well, marks the final nail in the coffin that we made for ourselves with this ridiculous strategy on leaving the team in the hands of over paid and over hyped kids. We legitimately had the opportunity to develop these kids into superstars but instead of building a team of first graders in which these kids could develop from, we threw them all together and told them to just expected them to be superstars straight away.

I'm not going to point out all the details of what got us here. We all know what happened and those responsible (and those that actually weren't) have all be fired over the past 5 years. We well and truly have a clean slate, but I just hope we have learnt some valuable lessons. These are my thoughts on what these lessons are:

Don't bother developing young talent - the NRL offer ZERO incentives for developing young talent so why the f**k do we even bother? Seriously. We spend all this time and money doing so and salary cap rorting teams just poach them from us. Kids these days are not the same as 10 years ago. They don't like staying in the same job for more than 2-4 years and will want to move even if it is actually better to stay. The grass is greener mentality will always win and clubs that don't have kids coming through the ranks will always seem like more professionally run clubs they can graduate into.

The hype has to end - Wests Tigers does not boast the hottest young talent. We boast nothing. We are a shithouse team pure and simple. We are at our 4th coach since 2012 and still not made finals. Cleary's statement about the star player is the team (or whatever it was) is the first time i've heard some sense come out of this club. The team is what we need to develop, not individual players. Luke Brooks is not the next Joey Johns. He very well could have been if all the geniuss at the club had stopped hyping him up and shot his confidence to pieces. If he starts performing well, no, he still isn't the next Joey Johns, shut the f**k up already

Stop feeding the media - all players should be given training on how to answer questions from reporters. Its not about saying nothing, its about giving boring answers. If you give nothing but borning answers the media will not bother with us and just dig up another story somewhere else. The media seem to light a match and these kids accidentally throw petrol on it.

If your not on the bus, you can f**k off - Cleary is fast becoming my favourite human being because he hit the nail on the head. If you are in two minds about staying, okay, speak to the necessary people and make an informed decision. If you leave, fine, that is your decision and the best of luck to you, but when you drag that decision out longer then it needs to be then just please f**k off. Apart from Teddy though, he is a 1 in a million so can take as long as he wants. Thats the rule right now, if you are as good as Teddy then you get to take as long as you want to get on the bus...everyone else can f**k off

 

[Tiger05]

I disagree with some of this. We should continue to develop young talent. It's our retention that is screwed but I think this mostly comes down to identifying the wrong talent to retain and overpaying so called stars. We've done this so many times and we let go quality players to retain the so called stars. Unless these guys are great players it's just dumb. Farah and Woods being overpaid has screwed this club over. Maybe this is also the case with Lawrence but I think to a much lesser degree.

We don't go out and call Brooks the next Andrew Johns.

These guys need media training and the club needs to handle it better but the media are dogs. They just make stuff up and focus on any sensationalist crap that they can.

I completely agree with the Bus comment. Teddy is a great player. He can have some leeway. I think that possibly the club handled this well though. I think they took money off what was offered to Brooks. We took the offer away from Moses. We took money off what was offered to Woods. We have offered a tonne of money to Tedesco. So we've done everything we can.

 

[Clifferd]

At the start of the year I was gutted to lose Woods, Moses, Tedesco.

Now I'm very pleased we've resigned Brooks, a few new players and a new coach.

I'd be extremely gutted still to lose Tedesco, but at the same time I could never hate him for chasing success. He always busted his ass for us so can never fault him for that

 

[macnaz]

I hate the whole pathetic soft attitude of chasing success , Success is earnt !
I understand Teddy has always given 100% to WT's and probably deserves better but in my eyes true champions challenge adversity and work with their team mates to change and overcome it.
Did Johnathon Thurston walk away to the successful clubs or did he stick around during the lean years busting his arse inspiring those around him until the good days finally came ?
Paul Gallen is another who stuck at it his whole career and could have taken the easy option to swap to a premiership club , but instead took the tough hard option without any guarantee of success and eventually it happened.
Nathan Hindmarsh will always be remembered as a champion for his efforts at Parramatta who never found a premiership but regardless will always be held in the highest regard by fans as a legend up their with the likes of the Prices and Sterlings.
Any success achieved via chasing a high ranking club seems very hollow to me , you haven't earnt it but have merely been picked and placed in it .
Yes you have to be good to get picked i suppose but what about the people around you that helped you become good .. where is their share of what you are now part off ?

 

[Tiger05]

Macnaz - you have it completely correct. I want Tedesco to re-sign with us but if he doesn't I think it just shows that he wasn't the right fir for us.

I just hope the club continues in the direction it is currently going. Try and develop juniors, buy the right players strategically and extremely rarely pay overs. I think our biggest issues has been paying overs for our juniors.

 

[Clifferd]

I hate the whole pathetic soft attitude of chasing success , Success is earnt !
I understand Teddy has always given 100% to WT's and probably deserves better but in my eyes true champions challenge adversity and work with their team mates to change and overcome it.
Did Johnathon Thurston walk away to the successful clubs or did he stick around during the lean years busting his arse inspiring those around him until the good days finally came ?
Paul Gallen is another who stuck at it his whole career and could have taken the easy option to swap to a premiership club , but instead took the tough hard option without any guarantee of success and eventually it happened.
Nathan Hindmarsh will always be remembered as a champion for his efforts at Parramatta who never found a premiership but regardless will always be held in the highest regard by fans as a legend up their with the likes of the Prices and Sterlings.
Any success achieved via chasing a high ranking club seems very hollow to me , you haven't earnt it but have merely been picked and placed in it .
Yes you have to be good to get picked i suppose but what about the people around you that helped you become good .. where is their share of what you are now part off ?

Tbh I agree with you 100% macnaz but I doubt these numb as nuts for brains players would understand

All they chase is instant success and $$$$. Hard work is foreign to them

 

[benched tiger]

I also cant blame TED if he leaves,he bust his arse every week while others drop their heads and hide when the sh#t hits the fan,at least if he does leave the WT will have to come up with a new form of attack to score points,because ATM Teds our only option which is very predictable.

 

[macnaz]

So what you are saying we can nor will ever have a good side ?
Because in essence that is the result of supporting players who go to the best clubs..
You cant create a good side without good players putting in , and if the ones who do put in leave .. WE AND OTHER LOWER SIDES WILL ALWAYS BE SHIT SIDES WHILE THE GOOD SIDE STAY GOOD!

 

[Tiger05]

If Teddy leaves I can't hate the guy that much but I hope he stays. If he stays I reckon we can win a comp. If he goes I also reckon we can win a comp.

 

[macnaz]

Sadly 05 i cant see this club or similar clubs like Newcastle ever winning a comp ever again whilst the NRL persist with the current corupt system swayed by Media money and rich club power brokers.
I have many thoughts on this topic but ill save for another time but basically the comp is just the same as it was prior to a salary cap.

 

[Front-Rower]

The game is becoming to much like the English Premier League. Once every now and again a team from the lower ranks will come from the clouds though usually only 5-6 teams are realistically any chance of winning.

 

[Tiger05]

http://www.weststigers.com.au/news/2017/04/20/ballin_s_role_in_mci.html

How good is this story. Good old Matty Ballin doing his best to get one of our best players playing on song for our club.

Seriously - this does my head in. Taylor was such a muppet. He bought Ballin into the club to shaft Robbie and then the club comes out with feel good stories like this crap.

There must though be someone at Tigers headquarters who is the best troll of all time and I think there might be some magic to all of this. Talk Woods up as a great leader and all the rest of it and off load him on the braindead Bulldogs for $1m + per year. That is one club screwed for a long time to come.

We haven't done as good a job to Parra with young cry baby Moses but we've probably stitched them up good as well.

 

[The Charlatan]

Just issued by WT:

Wests Tigers Members Statement

Wests Tigers would like to provide Members with an update on the current playing contract situation of Aaron Woods and James Tedesco.

The club met with Aaron Woods and James Tedesco's manager on Tuesday.

During this meeting Wests Tigers informed the players’ Manager that the club is imposing a deadline of Friday 21 April for a decision on whether they will accept the contract offers currently with them.

Wests Tigers have made very competitive, long-term, contract offers to both players

The club understands it is a difficult decision given their standing and familiarity with the club and understands that Woods and Tedesco must make the decision that is best for them and their families.

As soon as Woods and Tedesco make give their decision to the club we will inform the playing group and then the public. Certainty is key to moving forward and performing on the field, and we are looking forward to having that.

 

[sensesmaybenumbed]

That's a strong lead from the club. Let's hope it continues in this vein.

 

[Clifferd]

Basically telling those two players we can move on without you two holding us back like a joke. I like it

 

[Old Time Tiger]

That's a strong lead from the club. Let's hope it continues in this vein.

Basically telling those two players we can move on without you two holding us back like a joke. I like it

Yes guys, some leadership, some direction and some balls, no doubt led by the guy who has been there for what is it now? 3 weeks? and now that we appear to have it, these guys want out so let them off the bus before the next stop, please..

 

[Tiger05]

Yes guys, some leadership, some direction and some balls, no doubt led by the guy who has been there for what is it now? 3 weeks? and now that we appear to have it, these guys want out so let them off the bus before the next stop, please..

I reckon this has a lot to do with the board. My take is that the players have been prima-donnas and the board has said this shit has to stop. Clearly has been given the role of completely turning this club around but he has a lot of backing.

The board to me looks good. It was just that the club stuffed up signing Taylor and building a squad on the back of players who have no loyalty or affinity for the club. I can accept that a mistake was made in hindsight and we just have to deal with the situation as it is now.

 

[muzby]

Sign Jake Marketo

 

[madunit]

The game is becoming to much like the English Premier League. Once every now and again a team from the lower ranks will come from the clouds though usually only 5-6 teams are realistically any chance of winning.

I don't think it is.

In the 19 seasons Since 1998 we've had 12 different premiers.

Its not like the English Superleague where they have had 5 different premiers in the 21 seasons since 1996

The English Premier League has had 5 different Premiers since the 1995/96 season

 

[Parramatta1947]

Eels fan here but wanted to applaud Cleary for the ultimatum. I can't see either player staying but the club is showing it is serious