The problem with Rob from that podcast is that he has let his hatred of Pascoe colour everything good the club does. Yes the club needs to do better but at this point it’s quite clear we are headed in the right direction but he seems blinded. Sad to see someone who clearly loves the club be so torn up by it. It can’t be a pleasant feeling
@davey-farrell Yes, that was the end for me in regards to listening to their podcast. I’m not into wanting to listen to just one side of the story and they were hell bent on presenting that one side only. I can understand criticism but it needs to be balanced, if it isn’t it can do more harm than good.
It was a difficult year at the end of a difficult decade.
We have all dealt with the pain differently, privately and publicly.
The lack of options for fan/membership to express that pain and seek accountability I think added to the sense of frustration.
I would hope Rob would do things differently if he had that time again and I would hope Lee would do things differently if he had that time again.
The club has made some tough decisions, and hopefully we see the club turnaround. Winning will change everything.
But I still think the club has to find a way to build better relationships with members/fans. I would like to see a member voted board member as a representative of the fan base on the board.
Top 8 2023
It was a difficult year at the end of a difficult decade.
We have all dealt with the pain differently, privately and publicly.
The lack of options for fan/membership to express that pain and seek accountability I think added to the sense of frustration.
I would hope Rob would do things differently if he had that time again and I would hope Lee would do things differently if he had that time again.
The club has made some tough decisions, and hopefully we see the club turnaround. Winning will change everything.
But I still think the club has to find a way to build better relationships with members/fans. I would like to see a member voted board member as a representative of the fan base on the board.
Agreed. Or, alternatively a board that has some football pedigree that can we can have more faith in.
Wests Tigers Podcast - Talking everything Wests Tigers!
@davey-farrell Yes, that was the end for me in regards to listening to their podcast. I’m not into wanting to listen to just one side of the story and they were hell bent on presenting that one side only. I can understand criticism but it needs to be balanced, if it isn’t it can do more harm than good.
I listened the the podcast once a few years (?) ago when they had a former sponsor on, who basically gave a diatribe of what the club did wrong etc. etc. And you find out that this guest was in fact some bit-part sponsor in the days of Grant Meyer, i.e. several years before any of the current management or coach were even involved. And he was banging on about finding deals for Tedesco, who at that stage had barely played 1 year of first grade.
It ended up just sounding like some bitter supporter who tipped some money into the club and expected the club to act on to his feedback, because he had experience managing his Dad's fruit company (or something like that). And I recall the background of that former sponsor was not clearly conveyed, so they were attempting to give it serious weight in the podcast, and the guy had never even worked with Pascoe who didn't join until a few years later.
Overall a very negative, one-sided and sad account of an old past and I decided I would not listen to that podcast again. I haven't heard much positive about them since.
@davey-farrell Yes, that was the end for me in regards to listening to their podcast. I’m not into wanting to listen to just one side of the story and they were hell bent on presenting that one side only. I can understand criticism but it needs to be balanced, if it isn’t it can do more harm than good.
I listened the the podcast once a few years (?) ago when they had a former sponsor on, who basically gave a diatribe of what the club did wrong etc. etc. And you find out that this guest was in fact some bit-part sponsor in the days of Grant Meyer, i.e. several years before any of the current management or coach were even involved. And he was banging on about finding deals for Tedesco, who at that stage had barely played 1 year of first grade.
It ended up just sounding like some bitter supporter who tipped some money into the club and expected the club to act on to his feedback, because he had experience managing his Dad's fruit company (or something like that). And I recall the background of that former sponsor was not clearly conveyed, so they were attempting to give it serious weight in the podcast, and the guy had never even worked with Pascoe who didn't join until a few years later.
Overall a very negative, one-sided and sad account of an old past and I decided I would not listen to that podcast again. I haven't heard much positive about them since.
I remember that podcast well. It was completely ridiculous.
It was a difficult year at the end of a difficult decade.
We have all dealt with the pain differently, privately and publicly.
The lack of options for fan/membership to express that pain and seek accountability I think added to the sense of frustration.
I would hope Rob would do things differently if he had that time again and I would hope Lee would do things differently if he had that time again.
The club has made some tough decisions, and hopefully we see the club turnaround. Winning will change everything.
But I still think the club has to find a way to build better relationships with members/fans. I would like to see a member voted board member as a representative of the fan base on the board.
I think the main problem is some of these folks think that ranting will make a difference.
I have made my peace - Wests Tigers are run by what was formerly called Wests Ashfield, and whether or not they have sufficient football nous or pedigree, I cannot change the operational structure of the club. There is no amount of lobbying or politicking that I could do to shift members off the board, or install someone else, or install myself, or change the amount of feedback a fan can give.
And with due respect to the general fanbase, a lot of fans wouldn't have the first clue about running a rugby league club, so really you don't want to be entertaining their random feedback.
That's the way the club works, and some people just cannot accept that. That is the sign-on cost for following Wests Tigers (and a majority of NRL clubs). It is a shame these folks cannot get over it, because all the bleating and complaining in the world won't get you anywhere, not unless you have a few million that you are willing to tip into the club, in exchange for a say in operations (like Lee H).
I also think the current paradigm affords the same core clubs the ability to stay in the top half, even if they shuffle around every few years. Most top clubs in 2022, even if their management are imperfect, have conditions available that let them maintain their position - e.g. big money to sign prominent coaches, winning cultures beget winning results, advantages in recruitment (in the age of the player self-brand), sponsorship and TPA advantages. So it's as hard as ever to shift from being a losing club to being a winning club, and we continue to see Tigers, Dragons, Warriors, Titans, Knights, Dogs populate the Bottom 8, despite some serious spending at times.
Of course this sucks for clubs like Tigers, and when I was a kid teams were not able to stay at the top for as long as they do now. And many of today's successful clubs were born out of the Super League war and the funds being pumped in to maximise the ability of the "favoured" clubs on each side. But also, my Dad clearly remembers the time when nobody could beat St George, so these things are not unknown within league.
Ultimately I think there's a difference between complaining / being upset about results and constantly ranting on about this or other micro-decision, in some kind of bitter unresolvable whirlpool.
@jirskyr yep that one was just the pits. It really turned me off listening for a while.
How you could allow someone like that loose is just beyond me.
@jirskyr Yes, definitely is harder to break into the top 8 and stay there now if you’ve been struggling for a few years, or more as in our case. Only way seems to be through putting more resources into development of juniors ala Panthers. I think our club has a better opportunity to do this than many other clubs.
@davey-farrell Yes, that was the end for me in regards to listening to their podcast. I’m not into wanting to listen to just one side of the story and they were hell bent on presenting that one side only. I can understand criticism but it needs to be balanced, if it isn’t it can do more harm than good.
I listened the the podcast once a few years (?) ago when they had a former sponsor on, who basically gave a diatribe of what the club did wrong etc. etc. And you find out that this guest was in fact some bit-part sponsor in the days of Grant Meyer, i.e. several years before any of the current management or coach were even involved. And he was banging on about finding deals for Tedesco, who at that stage had barely played 1 year of first grade.
It ended up just sounding like some bitter supporter who tipped some money into the club and expected the club to act on to his feedback, because he had experience managing his Dad's fruit company (or something like that). And I recall the background of that former sponsor was not clearly conveyed, so they were attempting to give it serious weight in the podcast, and the guy had never even worked with Pascoe who didn't join until a few years later.
Overall a very negative, one-sided and sad account of an old past and I decided I would not listen to that podcast again. I haven't heard much positive about them since.
Yes I remember that episode. It was awful and both Josh and Rob built it up like it was some great inside scoop.
It completely destroyed their credibility and, like you, I stopped listening as a result.
Both Josh and Rob, while probably nice blokes, come across as know it alls on the show. Too bitter for me.
@jirskyr Yes, definitely is harder to break into the top 8 and stay there now if you’ve been struggling for a few years, or more as in our case. Only way seems to be through putting more resources into development of juniors ala Panthers. I think our club has a better opportunity to do this than many other clubs.
I know it’s easy to be optimistic in the pre season but the things that give me comfort are:
1) whilst the recruitment has been strong, it’s the players we have moved on that makes me most happy that a culture shift is under way. Liddle/Tamou/musgrove/peachey we’re the exact players I would watch every week thinking “we are garbage” and they identified and moved these guys on, some with existing contracts. In the past under weak coaches we were desperate to hold onto any first graders because only over the hill players or young ones that had fallen out of a better system would consider coming to this club. This preseason we are adding 4 existing rep players and internationals.
2) Benji/Robbie/sheens know what success looks like. They have all experienced it in many different formats and they are all winners. Watching Madge scream and shout about how tigers are “always in a f&)@ing fight” whilst all the young kids buried their heads in their laps was just cringe x a million. Our long term path out of this is through our juniors and you need to have systems and coaches in place that teach and improve those players so that you get value out of them as they develop. You won’t keep them all but hopefully you keep the best ones and maybe some for slightly less than they can command rather than what we usually do which is paying overs. Madge’s sweet spot looks to be revving up players which seems quite well suited for origin or international coaching as the players at that level know what they need to do. He was obviously a great bloke etc etc but after watching Tales from tigertown I wanted him far away from our juniors.
3) Pascoe and Lee are clownish at times but sitting back and looking at t he cumulative changes to the off field stuff (pathways, COE, recruitment, sponsors etc) I think they have objectively done well. People whinge that sheens and co were our second choice and that missing ciraldo was another fail but maybe it was just fait and certainly the club has found a version of its DNA back again quickly. Maybe ciraldo would have brought over lots of panthers talent and culture but I’m happy with the tigers culture of 2005-2011 and I think the panthers culture of 2020+ is crap.
Anyway, onwards and upwards
I wasn't enjoying watching the Tigers over the past couple of years and that flowed onto the NRL in general but for my own sake really and also not to pass on my negativety to my footy mad son I just focused on other things. But i'm feeling refreshed and looking forward to the new season and getting out to as many games as possible.
I wasn't enjoying watching the Tigers over the past couple of years and that flowed onto the NRL in general but for my own sake really and also not to pass on my negativety to my footy mad son I just focused on other things. But i'm feeling refreshed and looking forward to the new season and getting out to as many games as possible.
Good to see you here and feeling a bit of excitement about the team again!
Wests Tigers Podcast - Talking everything Wests Tigers!
@helmesy this I don’t get ? Like it’s such an easy win by adding 2 members who have an administration background/ executive background from a club , or highly intelligent former players / coaches / support staff . I really don’t understand why we have a faded rock star and a bunch of guys who have just worked their way up through the leagues club . At least 2 of them being tapped on the shoulder surely would go a long way to present at the very least a facade of regeneration on the board .
