Alex Twal was 15 the last time the Tigers made the play-offs. He believes they can this year
By Robert Dillon
August 4, 2025 — 7.30pm
Wests Tigers stalwart Alex Twal has declared there is no time like the present to end the club’s 14-season finals drought.
After an inspiring 28-14 victory over Canterbury at CommBank Stadium on Sunday, Twal was asked if he believed the Tigers could make a breakthrough appearance in the play-offs next year.
“Next year? I think this year is doable,” he replied. “We’ll just worry about this year first.”
With five rounds remaining in the regular season, the Tigers are 12th on the ladder, six points behind the eighth-placed Dolphins, having won eight games. At least 12 victories are usually required to qualify for the post-season.
That means after their bye this weekend, the Tigers would need to win all four of their remaining games – against Manly (home), North Queensland (home), Canberra (away) and Gold Coast (away) – to have any chance.
They would also need to turn around a huge discrepancy in their points differential. Their for and against is -121 points, compared to the Dolphins’ +171. The top 10 teams all have positive differentials.
It’s a tall order – some might say mission impossible – which is why the bookies are offering $34, but Twal is nonetheless daring to dream.
“We’re only looking up at the moment,” he said. “That’s my focus, to look up.
“We can really make a run for the finals now … anything can happen in this competition. We’ll just keep plugging away, week by week.”
The Tigers haven’t featured in the play-offs since 2011, when Twal was a 15-year-old coming up through the junior representative ranks at Parramatta, but they have finished just outside the top eight in ninth on three occasions since then.
TIGERS' REMAINING GAMES
Rd 23 v Bye
Rd 24 v Manly (10th) Allianz
Rd 25 v Cowboys (13th) Leichhardt
Rd 26 v Canberra (1st) GIO
Rd 27 v Gold Coast (17th) CBus Super
Twal, the Tigers’ longest-serving player with 161 NRL games over nine seasons, is hopeful the boilover win against Canterbury – who have been entrenched at the pointy end of the ladder since the season kicked off – would be a springboard to bigger and better things.
“You look at where they sit on the table – they’re a top-four team for a reason,” he said. “We came out here and I think that’s our best 80 minutes [for the year], and we’re really looking to build on it.”
Tigers coach Benji Marshall was more circumspect when asked about his team’s finals prospects.
“It’s the furthest thing from my mind at the moment,” he said. “It’s week in, week out, putting in performances like we did today, and figuring out why we can do it today and why we haven’t for the rest of the year.
“Obviously it helps having Jahream [Bula] and Samuela [Fainu] back and probably our full complement today. But yeah, we’ve got to figure out how we get those performances more often.”
The Tigers’ hopes suffered a setback on Monday when back-rower Alex Seyfarth was charged with a grade-two careless high tackle for a hit on Canterbury forward Harry Hayes that led to a stint in the sin bin.
Seyfarth is facing a three-week ban if he takes the early guilty plea and four weeks if the Tigers unsuccessfully challenge the charge at the judiciary.
Twal, meanwhile, was hopeful the Tigers would re-sign fellow Lebanon international Adam Doueihi, who produced one of the games of his career on Sunday.
The 27-year-old utility is being courted by St George Illawarra.
“He’s a freak, I love him – he’s like a brother to me,” Twal said.
“I was just so proud of him today. He steered the ship. I can’t speak highly enough of him.
“Obviously I’ve been vocal about that [re-signing] and I’d love him to stay at the club. I’m sure the club will do everything they can.”
The club’s longest-serving player is daring to dream of a top-eight breakthrough this season.
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