Speaker 1: West Tiger's Podcast, episode number four hundred and twenty three Eddie,
Speaker 1: Steve and Gary on a Wednesday night previewing the game
Speaker 1: against the Bulldogs on Sunday at Combak Stadium. Steve, I
Speaker 1: feel like we haven't been on a podcast together for
Speaker 1: a few weeks. You is there something wrong with me
Speaker 1: or all?
Speaker 2: Good?
Speaker 3: No, mate, I'm around. I've had my hand up. You
Speaker 3: just mayveen off doing cricket stuff and birthday celebrations. I
Speaker 3: never seen anyone celebrate a birthday for a week and
Speaker 3: a half before, but you managed to do it, so
Speaker 3: good luck. Do you happy birthday?
Speaker 4: By the way, he's NY five big, yeah, forty.
Speaker 1: It's a little bit and wasn't looking forward to it,
Speaker 1: but it was a nice weekend away. Gary. You guys,
Speaker 1: both of you guys are actually out at the micd
Speaker 1: Up Studios in Parramatta for another collab podcast on Sunday
Speaker 1: night with Rob and Joel in the hosting chair. I
Speaker 1: had to look at it on YouTube. It looked to
Speaker 1: be a good hours discussion.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was a good chat. It's a bit different
Speaker 2: coming back to zoom and doing one after being in
Speaker 2: the studio. I kind of missed my fancy seat and
Speaker 2: my camera in my face.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Gary's Gary's actually sitting here nude on zoom at
Speaker 1: the moment, no one can see it, luckily, But it's
Speaker 1: a bit different, Steve being I know when I was
Speaker 1: on the first week. It's a bit intimidating when you
Speaker 1: put those headphones on and the lights the first out
Speaker 1: of ten minutes. A bit different to being sitting here
Speaker 1: in your kitchen or wherever you are.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'll admit to being nervous for the first ten
Speaker 3: to fifteen minutes. Once we got into the flow from
Speaker 3: my perspective, I just forgot about everything else and it
Speaker 3: just became a normal podcast conversation. But yeah, that first
Speaker 3: fifteen minutes I was a bit starry. But I've got
Speaker 3: to say, just on the point of Gary sitting there naked,
Speaker 3: if that was the case, this has been a monologue monologue,
Speaker 3: not a podcast, let.
Speaker 1: Me tell you, all right, to put that visual out
Speaker 1: to viewers, but it's actually not the case, I can
Speaker 1: assure you. But boys, we're going to talk about Jerome
Speaker 1: lew White tonight, some of his comments that he made
Speaker 1: at Concord Today. We're going to talk about the implications
Speaker 1: of coming up against Locke Galvin this week and the
Speaker 1: Bulldogs and we'll of course do the quiz. But firstly, Gary,
Speaker 1: just reflecting on Sunday. I don't know if you've listened
Speaker 1: to the Monday Night podcast, but I bought in a
Speaker 1: new segment called Monday Eddie, and I bought a few
Speaker 1: positives to the table. Do you have any more positives
Speaker 1: from how you felt Sunday night? In the micd Up studio.
Speaker 2: We don't have to play Pendrif again this year, so
Speaker 2: that's a little bit of a positive. I'm probably a
Speaker 2: little bit more positive about it the further we get
Speaker 2: away from the game. It was pretty hard. I know,
Speaker 2: I was really disappointed Saturday night, A little bit less Sunday,
Speaker 2: and it's probably getting a little bit less. But it
Speaker 2: wasn't a great performance from us. But Pendrif good.
Speaker 1: Seven wins, twelve losses the five games to go. Ordinarily,
Speaker 1: for an average and a real team, you'd say, well,
Speaker 1: not much on the line here. I feel there's a
Speaker 1: huge amount on the line for us the next five weeks.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I agree, and we don't want the wooden spoon,
Speaker 3: that's for sure. I think that'd be disastrous for us.
Speaker 3: It just gives all those out there that want to
Speaker 3: talk negatively about us another opportunity to do that. We
Speaker 3: don't want to finish fifteenth, sixteenth or seventeenth in my
Speaker 3: opinion either. I think there's a lot of difference between
Speaker 3: fifteenth and seventeenth. We've got a show by where we
Speaker 3: finish on the table that we are on the improver. Interestingly,
Speaker 3: how to listen today? I know it's been up for
Speaker 3: a while, but how to listen today? To Terrell mayin
Speaker 3: Teraruver's podcast, you know, and they were talking about and
Speaker 3: this is off after six losses in a row. They
Speaker 3: were talking about how there's still a lot of belief
Speaker 3: in the team, and I still reckon you can see
Speaker 3: that this team haven't given up, and I think it's
Speaker 3: imant that they still maintain that attitude right through to
Speaker 3: the very end. As I've said numerous times, one of
Speaker 3: the most disappointing things for me if seasons pass, has
Speaker 3: been the fact that we've given up on our season
Speaker 3: so badly and just put in such poor performances the
Speaker 3: last six or eight weeks of the year. We just
Speaker 3: don't want to see that. I don't think we will
Speaker 3: from this team, and whether we get two points on
Speaker 3: not each week. I don't think it is overly important
Speaker 3: a little bit, I suppose, but I just want to
Speaker 3: see that attitude right through the last round.
Speaker 2: That attitude is crucially important, Steve. In my opinion, you're
Speaker 2: right about the way the last couple of seasons finished,
Speaker 2: and we've spoken all year about the change of culture
Speaker 2: in our club, and despite how the year finishes, we
Speaker 2: need to see that fight to at least see that
Speaker 2: that culture has changed. Even if the performances are only
Speaker 2: like the result for the year is only slightly better
Speaker 2: than last year. That culture, I think it's just as important.
Speaker 1: We'll mention before we go on. If you want to
Speaker 1: see that collab podcast, check out the West Tiger's Life
Speaker 1: YouTube page. It's up on there already. Steve, like I said,
Speaker 1: whether you think or not, because I know you thought
Speaker 1: we could push for the eight this year, but I
Speaker 1: think the last five games will determine how the mainstream
Speaker 1: and the media have a stranglehold on this game, determine
Speaker 1: whether this season is a relative success.
Speaker 4: Or a failure.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I agree, because what happens with the mainstream media
Speaker 3: is they don't look very deep. They don't dig into
Speaker 3: the story. They just want to grab a headline and
Speaker 3: make some controversy. So if we finish right down the bottom,
Speaker 3: the story is going to be Tigers haven't changed, all
Speaker 3: the same same rubbish from the Tigers. If you dig
Speaker 3: a little bit deeper, I think you can make an
Speaker 3: argument that that's not the case, that it's a very
Speaker 3: different squad, that there is still a lot of belief
Speaker 3: in that plane squad, that there is a roster on
Speaker 3: the improve. It's not there yet, but it's getting better.
Speaker 3: If we had less injuries, if we had a little
Speaker 3: bit more depth, and if we didn't have the Galvin saga,
Speaker 3: and I really don't think we can underplay the impact
Speaker 3: that had on the season, then our season could have
Speaker 3: looked a lot better. I think. Now that's a lot
Speaker 3: of ifs and butts, and there'll be people out there
Speaker 3: rolling their eyes saying, well, you know, you've just got
Speaker 3: to overcome that stuff and succeed anyway. And I agree
Speaker 3: on the first one to actually say that sort of thing.
Speaker 3: You know, I've said along we needed to make the ape.
Speaker 3: We haven't done it, but I think we're getting there.
Speaker 3: But we need to finish strong, mate. You're right, Otherwise
Speaker 3: we are going to give people the opportunity to bag
Speaker 3: the hell out of us all off season.
Speaker 1: I think every position on the table Gary is important,
Speaker 1: Like I think we can finish as high as twelfth
Speaker 1: or third eight. There's six teams in an absolute dogfight
Speaker 1: at the moment, the Gold Coaster Eels, sows Us, the
Speaker 1: Dragons and Newcastle. So you look at our draw on
Speaker 1: the run home, you'd say winning this week would be
Speaker 1: a real bonus. But the games against Manly at the SFS, Cowboys,
Speaker 1: Alika and Gold Coast in the Gold Coast on the
Speaker 1: Goal Coast in the last round are vital and winnable.
Speaker 2: They're games that if we're genuine about being a better
Speaker 2: team than we were the last three seasons, then these
Speaker 2: are winnable games. And I think really to walk away
Speaker 2: with a real positive feeling about this season, we need
Speaker 2: to get two of those three games, and I think
Speaker 2: it's crucially important. It gets us well away from that
Speaker 2: wooden spoon, and those results in those three games are
Speaker 2: the most critical for the rest of this season.
Speaker 1: You mentioned, Steve the fact that the Galvin saga has
Speaker 1: had a big impact on our year. I don't disagree
Speaker 1: with that. Deklan and I got into a bit of
Speaker 1: an argument on Monday night around spine changes, the amount
Speaker 1: of spine changes had any injuries we've had, and he
Speaker 1: thinks that's also had an impact on our year. What
Speaker 1: do you think about that? Taking out the Galvin sug Oh.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it has absolutely like our spine has been dismantled.
Speaker 3: I saw someone talking about the other day saying that,
Speaker 3: you know, the spine that we originally you know, wanted
Speaker 3: to have, you know, which was well Buller, Galvin, Lewie
Speaker 3: and Happy. You know, when they did play together, we
Speaker 3: won most of those games, right, so we were definitely
Speaker 3: on track. And then the way he left and the
Speaker 3: way he showed such disrespect to the club and turned
Speaker 3: the players against him, and that really rocked us. I
Speaker 3: think it really rocked Benji. I think it was it
Speaker 3: was visible, It was obvious that Benji was really rocked
Speaker 3: by it, and I think it knocked the stuffings out
Speaker 3: of us. It's and then we've had Buller injured, We've
Speaker 3: had rotations around the six and seven trying to get
Speaker 3: it right, Like we haven't been able to get Fanu
Speaker 3: to play any consistent football because of injury, and so
Speaker 3: it's been very difficult to get that harmony in your spine,
Speaker 3: which is so important. We've also had key injuries to
Speaker 3: other players throughout the season, and our depth is we've
Speaker 3: mentioned so many times, is mini school, you know, So
Speaker 3: once we get a couple of injuries, it shows. So,
Speaker 3: you know, if we had had our spine for most
Speaker 3: of the year and had a little bit of luck
Speaker 3: with injuries, a better season, but it wasn't to be.
Speaker 2: It goes a little bit further than that, Steve, than
Speaker 2: just Galvin coming out of it. I listened to that
Speaker 2: conversation this afternoon, Eddie, and I did have one question
Speaker 2: for you regarding that conversation. What do you regard as
Speaker 2: our best spine right now?
Speaker 1: It's the four guys that are playing this week, and
Speaker 1: I know they haven't played together yet.
Speaker 2: Literally have never played a game together. So I think
Speaker 2: that's quite telling the fact that when fain U eventually
Speaker 2: he did get over his hamstring issues the first week
Speaker 2: he moved into that halves role, Blue was out and
Speaker 2: that has been quite critical in our season. Now, I'm
Speaker 2: not making excuses for it. Our season is far from
Speaker 2: being good enough, and it's not just you're exactly right
Speaker 2: today when you said our total amount of injuries hasn't
Speaker 2: been that high. When you have a look at other.
Speaker 1: Sides, every player in our squad is available this week,
Speaker 1: every single player. I don't think you'd have a club
Speaker 1: in the game that this late in the year. I
Speaker 1: want to give a rap to that Peter Meuser and
Speaker 1: their staff because I think they've done.
Speaker 4: A really good job this year.
Speaker 1: I know there's luck involved with injuries, but not a
Speaker 1: lot of soft tissue injuries like souse of a million.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so I agree with that part of it with you, Eddie.
Speaker 2: But the fact that our key players around our spine,
Speaker 2: especially when you have some young players in that spine,
Speaker 2: they just haven't got the time together since Gavin came out.
Speaker 2: We had a number of times where we had our
Speaker 2: our first choice spine playing at the start of the
Speaker 2: year when when Garvin was at the club, But since
Speaker 2: Garvin's left, at no point have we had what would
Speaker 2: call our first choice.
Speaker 1: Were five form eight with bullet Galvin who I appy.
Speaker 2: Steve.
Speaker 1: I took the forward pack apart a little bit in
Speaker 1: terms of asking Decklan how many of them would start
Speaker 1: or get on the bench for the other clubs, But like,
Speaker 1: I know they're doing their best, but I think it's
Speaker 1: it's clearly as the season's gone on, even though we've
Speaker 1: brought in Terrell May and he's been excellent, our pack
Speaker 1: is still weak.
Speaker 2: It is.
Speaker 3: It's not up to scrape, that's for sure. We talked
Speaker 3: about this on Sunday night in the Club podcast, you know,
Speaker 3: and Gary mentioned then, and we've all mentioned this that
Speaker 3: we need another front row and Rob was actually saying
Speaker 3: if we needed two middles, you know, to really be
Speaker 3: where we need to be. You know, if you just
Speaker 3: look at you know, look at Cannaby this weekend, Like
Speaker 3: out on the Hedge, they've got kick Out and Preston
Speaker 3: right as this second rowers, we're going to have Faynu
Speaker 3: and Piss Paul. You know, that's an improvement. It's still
Speaker 3: not what I would say two strike second rowers. It's
Speaker 3: better than what we've got, but I still think that's building.
Speaker 3: We're still short of lock. We're definitely short a front rower,
Speaker 3: and we're short depth in the four pact for when
Speaker 3: those guys are injured. You know, Pole is inconsistent, Hunt
Speaker 3: has been inconsistent. It's the only Feinn who he's knocking
Speaker 3: it out of the park. He's having a great year. Suka,
Speaker 3: who's on the benches were I don't think he's you
Speaker 3: know what you call consistent first grade at this stage.
Speaker 3: So yeah, absolutely we're way by. And I'm worried about
Speaker 3: Hooker as well. Mate, Like I like, Happy can't play.
Speaker 3: He's going to play a hi minutes this week. I
Speaker 3: don't think that's the way to go with him, and
Speaker 3: I don't think Hope as our fourteen is the way
Speaker 3: to go. That concerns me greatly, to be honest.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think we need to look at look for
Speaker 2: a backup hooker for next season. I know we've just
Speaker 2: reached someone Hope, but I think we need someone of
Speaker 2: higher quality than that, because in my opinion, they need
Speaker 2: to be playing at least twenty minutes a week and
Speaker 2: actually contributing. Hope for me, all he gives you is
Speaker 2: arrest for Appy, and I think we need more than that.
Speaker 2: And in regards to other positions in our forward pack,
Speaker 2: we spoke at the start of the year that second
Speaker 2: row was one of our weaknesses, and we spoke if
Speaker 2: we get injuries in that position, it was dire. Well,
Speaker 2: we've got injuries to our best second rower who is
Speaker 2: only a young guy who is still a developing footballer himself.
Speaker 2: But when you're going into games and you have the
Speaker 2: likes of Suker and sayfar starting in the second row,
Speaker 2: there's just no impact on the edge at all. There's
Speaker 2: no threat on the edge at all. They don't get
Speaker 2: you meters, they don't they don't run a line and
Speaker 2: hit a gap, they don't draw defenses. They literally really
Speaker 2: don't contribute to your attacking shape or you're an attacking
Speaker 2: style at all. And that's why it's important that we
Speaker 2: needed to Now I'm not sold on ky Peace Paul yet.
Speaker 2: I think we'll learn more when he gets to the
Speaker 2: club and he's playing in a side that's not well
Speaker 2: we are fairly left hand dominant as Newcastle is, but
Speaker 2: hopefully he'll get a little bit more opportunities to show
Speaker 2: what he can do when he gets acrossing next year.
Speaker 2: But that middle four that can damage the line, that
Speaker 2: middle front rower prop that is crucial for us going
Speaker 2: in the next season and we need to get that sorted.
Speaker 3: Yeah, can I just mention I know it's a bit
Speaker 3: off topic, Eddie, but just just to go he was
Speaker 3: saying there to follow on front with Kypece ball. I
Speaker 3: think that's really important when we look at our attacking
Speaker 3: structure next year. Like we're all we all saw the
Speaker 3: brilliance of May down that left side, and all of
Speaker 3: a sudden we're thinking, oh, we're going to about a
Speaker 3: shift left all the time, especially with Buller came around
Speaker 3: as well. But we need to not ignore the right
Speaker 3: side attack. Like I was watching the Heights of Canterbury
Speaker 3: in prep for tonight's pod, and I just saw how
Speaker 3: how beautifully they shift the ball, but they do it
Speaker 3: left and right. You know, they shifted just as smoothly,
Speaker 3: just as dangerously to both edges. And you know, we're
Speaker 3: going to have a developing weapon in Pierce Paul from
Speaker 3: what I've seen of him at Newcastle, and we've got
Speaker 3: Tower who has shown that he can be absolutely dynamic
Speaker 3: if he's got a little bit of space. So we've
Speaker 3: got to make sure that we don't forget that right
Speaker 3: side and that we are attacking left and right as
Speaker 3: we develop our structure in the next year.
Speaker 2: To be fair, Steve at our right hand side was
Speaker 2: probably early in the season our dominant side. Yeah, Mariuva
Speaker 2: was scoring a lot of tries. Told was scoring a
Speaker 2: lot of tries, making a lot of breaks. And I
Speaker 2: really do believe, and I said it on Sunday night
Speaker 2: as well, that the breakdown on that side has come
Speaker 2: from the Buller injury.
Speaker 4: It was Lucky outvit as well though playing right.
Speaker 2: It was Lucky Galvin playing right as well, but he
Speaker 2: also switched both sides, and I think Lucky Galvin's best
Speaker 2: football was played on the left as well. So I
Speaker 2: think the best we look on the right pretty much
Speaker 2: so far this season is when both our halves go
Speaker 2: to the left and give Buller the space on the
Speaker 2: right and let him control that right hand side a
Speaker 2: little bit. To me, that's when that right hand side
Speaker 2: has looked the best and look the most dangerous. And
Speaker 2: the fact that I think Towers drop in form over
Speaker 2: the past couple of months, especially in attack. I'm not
Speaker 2: going to defend his defend his defense, but in attack
Speaker 2: he's dropping form as coincided with Buller being missing.
Speaker 1: Simple yes, no question boys. They asked Decklan this on
Speaker 1: Monday night. It's a little bit different because Samuel is
Speaker 1: back starting and Royce Hunts back on the bench, but
Speaker 1: Steve would most of these players in our starting pack.
Speaker 1: This week make most NRL sides Terra May yes, Happy
Speaker 1: Corossou yes, Alex Twi no, Sam Well, I find it
Speaker 1: fifty to fifty not yet say half. No, Adam Dewey
Speaker 1: no Gary the bench? Would these guys make the bench
Speaker 1: at most.
Speaker 4: In RL clubs?
Speaker 1: Royce Hunt no, Tony Suka No for Neopole yes see
Speaker 1: only find it.
Speaker 2: Yes and I will add to that. I think anyone
Speaker 2: who should be starting for.
Speaker 4: Us quick one on the signings.
Speaker 1: I know it was a bit of a low key signing,
Speaker 1: but this guy, Javonn Andrews played in the halves for
Speaker 1: the Queensland on the nineteenes origin side. Gary He I
Speaker 1: think has been contracted to the Titans. What do you
Speaker 1: think his role will be next year? Uh?
Speaker 2: Back up half? Probably still young enough to play Jersey flag.
Speaker 2: So I'd like to say a bit more of him
Speaker 2: before I make a huge judgment. I don't expect him
Speaker 2: to be pushing for a first grade spot next year.
Speaker 2: It's an interesting signing because we signed Madden last.
Speaker 1: Week means it means do he's going surely?
Speaker 2: I think it has to. But it's also another five
Speaker 2: eight like we keep on signing hard.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: He spent most of his time at six, so it's
Speaker 2: really interesting that we keep signing hards but we keep
Speaker 2: signing six. Is even Madden, I think has traits about
Speaker 2: his game that make him better suited to the being
Speaker 2: a six as well. So yeah, it's an interesting one.
Speaker 2: I think it's really good for DAPT fan. I actually
Speaker 2: do really like that signing.
Speaker 3: Maybe maybe they're six and sevens that are also of
Speaker 3: some utility value which may stop them from getting another
Speaker 3: hooker in the top thirty, which.
Speaker 4: Is a mistake I think Steve, it's good enough to be.
Speaker 3: I'm not saying whether that's right or wrong. I'm just
Speaker 3: saying that's what I think that there may be some
Speaker 3: thinking behind that. I agree from what I've saent just
Speaker 3: no way, But didn't I hear I thought I read
Speaker 3: today that the sign that today signing is going to
Speaker 3: be development development next year for top thirty the year after.
Speaker 4: I think, Okay, I haven't clarified that. Gary knows.
Speaker 2: I think I heard the same thing. But he's also
Speaker 2: a guy that the club should know fairly well because
Speaker 2: he was in our system two years ago so well
Speaker 2: maybe three years ago now, so he has spent time
Speaker 2: at the club before, so he's returning to the club. Yeah,
Speaker 2: a good young player who has shown some good form
Speaker 2: through junior football. It puts a little bit of pressure
Speaker 2: on the guys you have above him and gives you
Speaker 2: a good backup. So I think it's a great signing.
Speaker 1: Just before we move on to Jeron and Steve, I
Speaker 1: wonder what it means for Heath Mason because like he played,
Speaker 1: you know, it was only six weeks ago he was
Speaker 1: starting in the halves, but now you've signed Jock Madden
Speaker 1: and this Juvon Andrews. I wonder whether he's going to
Speaker 1: just become a depth player or backup fullback.
Speaker 3: Yeah, well he's picked at full back this week for
Speaker 3: reserve grade, I'm pretty sure, so it would indicate to
Speaker 3: me that these days in the halves is probably numbered
Speaker 3: and he's going to be the backup.
Speaker 4: Full back up with the second pick.
Speaker 3: Well, that that could very well be the case, that's right.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think if you haven't at the reserve grade
Speaker 2: side for this weekend, Naden's picked in the halves. So
Speaker 2: if they're picking Naden in the halves and putting Mason
Speaker 2: at fullback, I think it's fairly likely that these days
Speaker 2: at in the halves are over.
Speaker 3: What's what's his contract status there?
Speaker 2: I know.
Speaker 3: Next year one more year?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it may be one more year.
Speaker 1: Have a look, Steve, just last one, because I know
Speaker 1: Gary wouldn't have changed his opinion because he said after
Speaker 1: at him, do we had a pretty good game against
Speaker 1: the Titans that he still hadn't seen enough? Would you
Speaker 1: be trying to resign him?
Speaker 3: Yeah? My opinion hasn't changed from when I talked about
Speaker 3: this a couple of weeks ago. I think if he
Speaker 3: is fit enough and he's willing to play thirteen or utility,
Speaker 3: I think he's worth a shot at it. From what
Speaker 3: I've seen over the last few weeks, I think he
Speaker 3: could make a go at thirteen. I think he could
Speaker 3: also make a go at fourteen in the side. And
Speaker 3: so if there's someone better out there, then you go
Speaker 3: for them obviously.
Speaker 4: But I don't think he wants to play well if
Speaker 4: he doesn't know that, But I'm just body.
Speaker 3: That's that's the big question, isn't If he doesn't, then
Speaker 3: I suppose it's goodbye. If he's willing to give it
Speaker 3: a shot, I would be willing to give him a chance.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I still haven't seen enough that you can change.
Speaker 2: I think that offer of a backup role, possible bench
Speaker 2: player at about three hundred and fifty thousand is about
Speaker 2: the limit at the moment, and I don't think he's
Speaker 2: shown enough in that role in the forwards to go
Speaker 2: past that. Though. I did think he did a fairly
Speaker 2: good job on the weekend in yardage. I actually liked
Speaker 2: him running the ball, but his ball playing left a
Speaker 2: little bit to be desired on the weekend.
Speaker 1: Jerome Leuie front of the cameras today at Concord, came
Speaker 1: up with a few quotes that probably music to the
Speaker 1: ears and most of our fans. He said, I'm staying.
Speaker 1: Don't worry for life. He said it in typical Jerome's style,
Speaker 1: bit ad hoc. When things get hard, people are sort
Speaker 1: of expecting you to change. I'm not that type of guy.
Speaker 1: I'm here for the long run and I'm here to
Speaker 1: change his club around. He also mentioned it was good
Speaker 1: to see the skip happy locked in for a few
Speaker 1: more years. I want to play some more football with him.
Speaker 1: Surely Steve has no going back from those quotes.
Speaker 3: I don't think so, but I reckon I know exactly
Speaker 3: where he's coming from. I was having a thing about
Speaker 3: this today. He's not going to remove those clauses from
Speaker 3: his contract because he's got a lot of respect for
Speaker 3: Benji Marshall. He wants Benji I should be the first
Speaker 3: grade coach moving forward. If the club maintain their contract
Speaker 3: with Benji Marshall and keep Benji for extended period as
Speaker 3: his contract states, then Louis will stay. I reckon If
Speaker 3: the club put pressure on Benji, try to force Benji out,
Speaker 3: then Louis will exercise the clause of his contract and
Speaker 3: jump ship. That's why it's there. So I think he's
Speaker 3: been one hundred percent genuine, and I also think it
Speaker 3: makes perfect sense as to why he won't remove it
Speaker 3: because he wants that pressure there, because he wants Benji
Speaker 3: to stay. Just my opinion knowledge.
Speaker 1: I thought of that, Steve, but I agree one thousand
Speaker 1: percent that makes total sense to me.
Speaker 2: Gay Yeah, I agree with it as well. I think
Speaker 2: that cause has to be activated by April next year,
Speaker 2: so yeah, we've got to get through to April. I
Speaker 2: don't see him going anywhere. He always says those right things.
Speaker 2: I love how he speaks in press conferences, but we
Speaker 2: need to consistently show that on the field. We need
Speaker 2: the guy that played in that Titans game, who I
Speaker 2: thought showed that attitude, showed that desire for our club.
Speaker 2: We need him every single week. That I found it funny,
Speaker 2: like we spoke about how he played that game against
Speaker 2: the Titans without headgear, and then last weekend the head
Speaker 2: gear is back on, and I don't think that kind
Speaker 2: of attitude was there. I hope he shows up this
Speaker 2: weekend without the head gear because I think that's a
Speaker 2: little bit of a statement from him, and I want
Speaker 2: to see that extreme attitude that we saw in that
Speaker 2: Titans game form him every week. I know he's holding
Speaker 2: up standards all the time out on the field, but
Speaker 2: I want that guy that played against the Titans.
Speaker 1: We've all given him praise Steve for his leadership and
Speaker 1: improved standards around fans in the club and stuff like that.
Speaker 1: But I had to chat with Deklun just about his football,
Speaker 1: because that's what you get judged on the eighty minutes
Speaker 1: in the field, and I don't think he's playing worse Penroth.
Speaker 1: This is sort of what I saw last year. So
Speaker 1: I don't know if it's been a little bit of
Speaker 1: a mistake or a leap of faith for the clubs
Speaker 1: thinking he could play halfback, but nothing. There were things
Speaker 1: last year that I saw where I know it concerned you.
Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely, I've seen nothing different on the field to
Speaker 3: what I've already seen from him in the past. Now
Speaker 3: he could look electric when he was playing for Penrith.
Speaker 3: He ran the ball a lot with Penrith and found
Speaker 3: space and I think that's mainly because he had clearly
Speaker 3: on one side of him and you know on the
Speaker 3: other side of him. Right, So when you're defending against Penrith,
Speaker 3: there are just so many attacking opportunities. You're looking all
Speaker 3: over the place. You don't know where to go. It's
Speaker 3: easy to break down for Penrith to breakdown opposition defense
Speaker 3: because of the attacking options they've got, So Lui was
Speaker 3: just part of that. We don't have that the Tigers,
Speaker 3: So defensive teams can focus on Luis Moore and shut
Speaker 3: him down a lot quicker, so he hasn't out the
Speaker 3: space all the time. Is year to do that. He
Speaker 3: used to throw a good pass at better hit his
Speaker 3: his center or his back rower running good lines. What
Speaker 3: I haven't seen enough of that. I've questioned the amount
Speaker 3: of repetition they do with training to get that, to
Speaker 3: get that sort of those combinations working perfectly. Maybe the
Speaker 3: change in our spine has led to the haven't had
Speaker 3: the opportunity to do that. I don't know, but I
Speaker 3: would never ever question his effort. I'd never question his
Speaker 3: attitude and his leadership and all that stuff. But I
Speaker 3: do just wonder does he actually have what it takes
Speaker 3: to rip sides apart while playing with the Tigers at
Speaker 3: the moment, and I still haven't seen it.
Speaker 2: I think one of the crucial thing is, and we've
Speaker 2: already spoken about it tonight, is our lack of punch
Speaker 2: through the middle, that big, impactful middle. I think that's
Speaker 2: why our hearts are inconsistent. That's why sometimes our halves
Speaker 2: and our lock are able to straighten the attack, and
Speaker 2: why sometimes they can't. It's really difficult to straighten the
Speaker 2: attack when you're playing off the back of a slow
Speaker 2: play the ball, or you're playing off the back of
Speaker 2: a pack that is getting dominated, and you can't put
Speaker 2: it any other way than the last There's been three games,
Speaker 2: two games out of last three where our pack has
Speaker 2: just been totally outmuscled, and as a half, you can't
Speaker 2: straighten the attack properly. When when the defensive line is
Speaker 2: set and coming up on you, especially with the line
Speaker 2: speed that Panish showed on the weekend, there's no room
Speaker 2: to straighten. So I think it's really crucial that we
Speaker 2: support not just Jerome but La two and whoever's playing
Speaker 2: in that lock role by getting that middle forward who
Speaker 2: can actually create some space and disrupt the defensive line.
Speaker 2: Hopefully we see it in that a little bit this
Speaker 2: weekend when Hunt comes under the field, because I think
Speaker 2: that could be quite telling and show what we've been
Speaker 2: lacking the last last six weeks.
Speaker 3: Well, they've definitely picked the team for it.
Speaker 4: Haven't they have.
Speaker 3: With the bench, It's obvious from the team that's it's
Speaker 3: going to run out there and come off the bench.
Speaker 3: They're going to try to play fast through the middle.
Speaker 3: That's the only chance we've got.
Speaker 2: Really, without jumping too much into our game preview, it's
Speaker 2: still going to be tough this weekend, no matter what
Speaker 2: what pack we have, because we came up yeah, well
Speaker 2: you know what I'm about to say, Steve. We came
Speaker 2: up against the pack that and a defense that just
Speaker 2: strangled us last weekend. If any side's better defensively than
Speaker 2: what panof is.
Speaker 4: When you're looking at the Bulldogs defensive system, Mate, it's.
Speaker 2: Exactly the same. I think arguably the Bulldogs do it
Speaker 2: better than Panriff have been doing it so far this season,
Speaker 2: so I can see some struggles coming up against that
Speaker 2: defense this weekend.
Speaker 1: There was a stat today I saw, I think it
Speaker 1: was against the top four or five this year. Tigers
Speaker 1: are averaging eight points a game. So we haven't played
Speaker 1: the Bulldogs yet, but we played the Storm, we played,
Speaker 1: the Raiders played, the Warriors played the Panthers. Might not
Speaker 1: have included the Warriors, might have included Penrith as one
Speaker 1: of those four, but it wasn't.
Speaker 4: It was pretty bleak reading.
Speaker 1: But Steve, I mean the cynics will say that you know,
Speaker 1: of course he's going to stay because he's not going
Speaker 1: to get that amount of money at any other club Jerome.
Speaker 1: But I actually think he probably would, especially given the
Speaker 1: new club's coming in. I reckon he'd go fine if
Speaker 1: he went to the open market.
Speaker 3: Well, absolutely, especially with I think what you just said then,
Speaker 3: especially with the new teams coming in. It's going to
Speaker 3: open the market right up, isn't it. People are going
Speaker 3: to be making more money. Yeah, he will. I don't
Speaker 3: want people to think that. I don't think he's a
Speaker 3: good football and I don't think he's value to our club.
Speaker 3: I do. I think he's worth the money we're painting him.
Speaker 3: I think we've needed a Jerome Law at this club. Absolutely.
Speaker 3: All I'm saying is we're still yet to see that
Speaker 3: transfer into raw or on the field. As for all
Speaker 3: the reasons we've said, all the reasons we've said, really,
Speaker 3: and I think Gary makes a very good point. You know,
Speaker 3: until we're stronger in the middle, it's really maybe unfair
Speaker 3: to judge judge you know, guys like FANU and Law.
Speaker 1: One of the people on the West Tigers podcast for
Speaker 1: him had to go with me. Gary and I like.
Speaker 2: People, you got the name of the forum right today.
Speaker 1: I did. Apparently I called it. I left out a word,
Speaker 1: which Joel was horrified.
Speaker 4: He didn't.
Speaker 1: He hasn't slept for three days Joel after I did that,
Speaker 1: so big, big sorry about that, Joel. But what was
Speaker 1: I going to say, Gary, I'm talking about this the
Speaker 1: podcast for him, someone abusing you. Yeah, Well, he had
Speaker 1: to go with me because he said that Jerome's been
Speaker 1: worth way more than two wins a year. But my
Speaker 1: I was trying to praise him in two wins a
Speaker 1: year because we have a theory in cricket when we
Speaker 1: play fifteen games a year, if you have an individual
Speaker 1: player that's worth two or three wins for you a year,
Speaker 1: that's a play is that's very, very valuable. So Gary,
Speaker 1: how many wins has he been worth this year? How
Speaker 1: many wins would we have without him?
Speaker 2: I would have lesson last year if we didn't have
Speaker 2: Jerome le playing for us, and.
Speaker 1: You agree with me, we'd have two less wins, maybe.
Speaker 2: Maybe two, maybe three. I haven't gone through. I'd have
Speaker 2: to go through and have a look at the games.
Speaker 2: But he has been fairly dominant in a lot of
Speaker 2: our wins. I know a lot of our wins early
Speaker 2: Galvin was fairly controlling in I thought that the game
Speaker 2: I want to keep seeing from Loui is what I
Speaker 2: spoke about a moment ago that the game against the
Speaker 2: Gold Coast where he showed up ready to play, fired
Speaker 2: up to play, and very nearly there'd be a lot
Speaker 2: more praise for him at the moment if at the
Speaker 2: end of that game he didn't get caught caught two
Speaker 2: meters out from the try line if he had went through,
Speaker 2: scored that try and won the game, I think the
Speaker 2: narrative around him would be a little bit different.
Speaker 4: This week, Let's ask that question a different way.
Speaker 3: So if we replace Louis with some another half, that's
Speaker 3: worth around the same money. So let's say we take
Speaker 3: lay out and put Monster in right, or we take
Speaker 3: Law and put Reynolds in from from the Broncos. Would
Speaker 3: we have won any more games than what we've won?
Speaker 4: Issue?
Speaker 3: What do you reckon?
Speaker 4: I think that's a very good question.
Speaker 2: I think Monster know, yeah, he needs someone like Jeryan Hughes.
Speaker 2: What he adds to.
Speaker 4: Melbourne, Steve, that's a very good question.
Speaker 2: Reynolds is a tough one.
Speaker 1: You write that down, Stave, Sorry to keep interrupting, Gar.
Speaker 1: You write that down and just come up in your head.
Speaker 2: No, I just I'm just full of it, full of
Speaker 2: it or full of them?
Speaker 1: I think that's Gary.
Speaker 3: I just put it the best way I could.
Speaker 2: I think the Adam Reynolds question is quite I'd have
Speaker 2: to have a think about that one because I'd love
Speaker 2: to have Adam Reynolds kicking game at our club.
Speaker 3: Can we mark this down any please? How far in
Speaker 3: the pot are we but Gary, Gary lost for words
Speaker 3: first time in four years.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so back on my point, Gary, about I need
Speaker 1: a bit more hate from the forum. Even Mike. Mike
Speaker 1: was being nice to me. He said he liked positive Eddie.
Speaker 1: I thought, come on, Mike, I want to hear about
Speaker 1: the negatives.
Speaker 2: What about you don't get enough hate from me? Mate,
Speaker 2: Well you're not.
Speaker 4: I don't count you.
Speaker 1: I'm talking about podcast, the fans out there on the podcast,
Speaker 1: the listeners.
Speaker 2: Everyone who is listening. If you don't like Eddie, make
Speaker 2: sure you let him know. He wants to know.
Speaker 3: Is there time on Sunday?
Speaker 1: There is a game and we're going to get to it,
Speaker 1: and the fans are going to hate me more, Steve,
Speaker 1: because I'm going to talk about Galvin for fifteen minutes.
Speaker 1: So if you want to drop off, you can drop
Speaker 1: off now. But before I mentioned Galvin, I'm going to
Speaker 1: mention another person that's hated the Tigers, Ivan Cleary. Now
Speaker 1: I am a coach at a Greek club Rami Petisha.
Speaker 1: I'm not the head coach, I'm an assistant coach. But
Speaker 1: our head coach, who's a Paramatta fan. He gave me
Speaker 1: the book and said, well, this is a learning opportunity
Speaker 1: for you, and I thought, well, I could throw it
Speaker 1: in a bin, but I thought, no, I'm going to
Speaker 1: read it. So I've actually I haven't read it all Gary,
Speaker 1: but it is an interesting book, I've got to say.
Speaker 1: And I went straight to the Tigers section, and that's
Speaker 1: a podcast for another day. But I did read a
Speaker 1: few excerpts from Appy coros Ow on Ivan Cleary. And
Speaker 1: this is around the time that Appy was at Manly
Speaker 1: and Ivan was going back to Penrith, and Appy ended
Speaker 1: up going back to Penrith, and he did say that
Speaker 1: no coach pushed him harder, he said, despite the fact
Speaker 1: that he's a cool, calm guy. He said, he encouraged
Speaker 1: me to get fitter, to work on my passing, work
Speaker 1: on my defense, and my work rate. Now, I have
Speaker 1: no doubt that Benji and Appy have a great cannet
Speaker 1: and respect each other. But I still think, and I
Speaker 1: don't know this because we're outsiders, we're outside the four walls.
Speaker 1: I hope Benji's pushing him as hard as Ivan did.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know why Ivan clear is so hated by
Speaker 2: Tigers fans, Jair.
Speaker 1: It wasn't my question why, Well, because he could have
Speaker 1: turned our club around.
Speaker 2: He is the coach that could have turned our club around.
Speaker 2: He chose to go elsewhere. And I don't know whether
Speaker 2: Benji's driving the standards as hard as Ivan does at
Speaker 2: the club, but I think that's why we bring in
Speaker 2: a guy like Jerome Luai who's from his successful club
Speaker 2: with high standards to help drive those standards. It does
Speaker 2: have to come first from that coaching staff, and I
Speaker 2: hope it is. Everything Benji said over the off season
Speaker 2: was about how he changed how he was approaching this
Speaker 2: season and how he was working with players. You saw
Speaker 2: the players come back overweight and have to front the board.
Speaker 2: So all the talk around it is that those standards
Speaker 2: have improved at the club. What I've heard all along
Speaker 2: about Hunt being in reserve grade is that he wasn't
Speaker 2: meeting KPIs on fitness. And if these things are happening
Speaker 2: at the club, then I think we're going in the
Speaker 2: right direction towards that maybe he has that up the
Speaker 2: ante again going into next season. But I can only
Speaker 2: go on what I've heard, and it seems to me
Speaker 2: that he is at least making attempt to drive higher standards,
Speaker 2: higher fitness levels and drive the players a little bit
Speaker 2: harder than what he did last year at least.
Speaker 3: So I mentioned at the top of the pod that
Speaker 3: I'd listened today to Turol May and Taruva. Now both
Speaker 3: those guys on their pod could not speak highly enough
Speaker 3: of Benji Marshall. Now, I know we can only take
Speaker 3: him at face value, and you know, we just hope
Speaker 3: that they're telling us the truth and that's their true belist.
Speaker 3: But that's all we've got to go on. Now to
Speaker 3: Mays come out of the Rooster system and Taruver's come
Speaker 3: out of the Penrith system. So you would expect that
Speaker 3: both those systems and the coaches have been you know,
Speaker 3: once Clearing obviously and the other being Robinson. You think
Speaker 3: those standards being driven there in those two organizations will
Speaker 3: be pretty high. So for them to have the affection
Speaker 3: for Benji that they do must mean they believe he's
Speaker 3: doing something right. And that's all we've got to go on.
Speaker 2: And we have a history of players coming to our
Speaker 2: club and falling off a cliff and for the majority
Speaker 2: of our signings, I don't think you can really say
Speaker 2: that about the guys this year. You can talk about
Speaker 2: Jerome Lawi's play not being of the standard that we
Speaker 2: need it to be. But Terrell May has come to
Speaker 2: our club, he's a better footballer than he was at
Speaker 2: the Roosters. Taruver's come across to our club. I don't
Speaker 2: think you can say his forms dropped away, and in fact,
Speaker 2: I think he's shown over the past couple of weeks
Speaker 2: he's not just a winger, that he is an adequate
Speaker 2: backup when we need someone to play fullback. So it's
Speaker 2: not like those players have come into our system and
Speaker 2: fallen into what we do at our club and their
Speaker 2: form and their fitness levels have reduced. Even though a
Speaker 2: guy like Hunt, who we've had playing reserve grade due
Speaker 2: to fitness issues, it's not really any difference to what
Speaker 2: you're seeing from him last season at Cronulla. So I
Speaker 2: don't really see the evidence of players fitness levels dropping
Speaker 2: when they've come to our club this year like we
Speaker 2: have in the past, or their form totally dropping off
Speaker 2: a cliff when they've come to our club. So the
Speaker 2: evidence there for me is that there is an improvement
Speaker 2: in how hard they're being pushed at training and how
Speaker 2: hard Benji Marshall has been working them, especially in the
Speaker 2: off season.
Speaker 1: Just playing devil's advocate on that, Steve, because that's my
Speaker 1: job as host. It's also my opinion probably this so.
Speaker 2: So it's not really playing devil's advocate.
Speaker 1: It's a little bit of both. But I don't disagree
Speaker 1: with you, Gary. All those guys are playing good football,
Speaker 1: and that is a definite improvement of senior players we've
Speaker 1: recruited in the past. There's no doubt they like Benji.
Speaker 1: There's no doubt they respect Benji. I just look at
Speaker 1: the characters of those guys, and I love the characters
Speaker 1: of them, especially Taruva and Terrell and Happy. I think
Speaker 1: they are Alarikans, a lot of them jovial characters, loud characters,
Speaker 1: and there's no issue with having that. You need that
Speaker 1: in any team dynamic. But I don't want it to
Speaker 1: become a boys club, Steve. Like, honestly, they've got to
Speaker 1: show it on the field as a team before I
Speaker 1: start to go all in. Because our master is tied
Speaker 1: to Jerome Happy and Benji for the next three or
Speaker 1: four years, it's all in. Like, I agree with you, guys, Like,
Speaker 1: there's no point getting rid of Benji. I think he's
Speaker 1: building something. He's got good recruits, but they've got to
Speaker 1: show it on the field as a team.
Speaker 3: I can't disagree with that, but as we've said, you know,
Speaker 3: a nauseam now really to be a consistently competitive team
Speaker 3: at NRO level, we're still a couple of players, sure,
Speaker 3: at least at least a couple. I'm trying to to
Speaker 3: be positive, like let's say two starters two in our
Speaker 3: seventeen and three or four backups, you know, for when
Speaker 3: we injuries hit, short of a really competitive squad. And
Speaker 3: we've had a lot of change this year, and then
Speaker 3: we've had a lot of disruption, and what we haven't
Speaker 3: seen I think we've seen a team come together in
Speaker 3: effort attitude. We haven't seen a team come together in
Speaker 3: structure on the football field. And that's what's missing now.
Speaker 3: Whether that's reflective of the coaching or whether it's just
Speaker 3: reflective of circumstance, which is part cattle, part disruption, I'm
Speaker 3: really not sure. What we've got to hope I suppose
Speaker 3: I've been hoping for a long time is that we
Speaker 3: do improve the roster again for next year. And that
Speaker 3: last piece of the puzzle, if you want to put
Speaker 3: it that way, where our structure and our execution matches
Speaker 3: our effort and attitude, then we've got a good football site.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Benji Marshall as a coach, I think is doing
Speaker 2: a great job man managing I think he's driving decent
Speaker 2: standards with the help of guys like Appy Terrell and
Speaker 2: Jerome in the club at Taruva as well. But the
Speaker 2: question mark, and the big question mark is still around
Speaker 2: game plans. That there's been games that we've watched this
Speaker 2: year where it's really difficult to see what we're trying
Speaker 2: to do and how we're trying to score points and
Speaker 2: how we're trying to beat the opposition. And it was
Speaker 2: a little bit like that on the weekend again. So
Speaker 2: that's the big question mark around Benji Marshall's coaching still.
Speaker 2: I don't think I don't really think it's around motivation
Speaker 2: and getting the players up and getting a commitment side
Speaker 2: and working the players. I think the big question mark
Speaker 2: for Benji Marshall as a coach is whether he can
Speaker 2: do the ex's and o's that keep that everyone keeps
Speaker 2: raising during this season that he may be lacking. It's
Speaker 2: a big off season for him and we need to
Speaker 2: come back next season as a well structured side that
Speaker 2: is able to run shape and is able to strip numbers,
Speaker 2: and is able to attack in a style that's just
Speaker 2: not shifting the ball left to right, which is what
Speaker 2: we tend to do.
Speaker 4: It's a nice little segue there, Gary and Steve.
Speaker 1: I don't want you to be as hated as I'm
Speaker 1: going to be this week on the podcast for him.
Speaker 1: I mean, you may or may not have asked for
Speaker 1: Ivan clear his book after I finished reading it.
Speaker 4: But that aside.
Speaker 1: The interesting thing that Appy said, The final thing I'll
Speaker 1: go on is he said the biggest strength of Ivan
Speaker 1: Cleary was he surrounded himself with great assistant coaches. He said,
Speaker 1: they did the attack, they did the defense, and I
Speaker 1: haven't ran the mental approach to our game.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Well we've said that before as well, haven't Wen. I
Speaker 3: don't think there's an argument You're not going to get
Speaker 3: an oment from me. I'm concerned that we don't have
Speaker 3: the depth of experience around Benji.
Speaker 5: That we as Todd paytonsicked yet, not that I'm aware of,
Speaker 5: Not that I'm aware, But the bigger concern for me,
Speaker 5: and I've said this before, is that I just think
Speaker 5: Benji has wanted to surround himself with people that he
Speaker 5: knows and he feels comfortable with, because he just didn't
Speaker 5: want to be threatened or challenged or questioned in these
Speaker 5: early stages of coaching, which is a very typical reaction
Speaker 5: for someone begin beginning their leadership career, I suppose.
Speaker 3: But he's got to get over that. He's got to
Speaker 3: get people underneath him that are going to challenge him
Speaker 3: every step of the way, and guys that aren't yes man,
Speaker 3: guys that aren't just going to say yes to Benji
Speaker 3: and agree with him, but are going to say no, mate,
Speaker 3: that's not the way to do it. This is the
Speaker 3: way to do it, and Benji might need to hand
Speaker 3: over well, we don't know if he does this or
Speaker 3: not right. You might need to have a certain part
Speaker 3: of the game plan to his assistant coaches and then
Speaker 3: have Turtle trust in him to come up with the
Speaker 3: formulate the right plan and then execute it with the team.
Speaker 2: The best leaders around themselves were people who make them
Speaker 2: look good, who are able to do things that are
Speaker 2: standard quite often above what the leader can do themselves,
Speaker 2: and I think that's crucial for Benji Marshall moving forward.
Speaker 2: If he wants to be a strong leader. If he
Speaker 2: wants to be a strong coach, he needs the best
Speaker 2: assistance around him.
Speaker 1: All right, boys, Lucky Galvin. This Sunday we play the Bulldogs.
Speaker 1: That's going to be the big talking point going into it,
Speaker 1: I think, And there's no surprise that Leui. I know
Speaker 1: there's this silly whatever it is non disparagement, So no
Speaker 1: one's going to say anything in the press. Galva's not
Speaker 1: going to say anything. Tigers are not going to say anything.
Speaker 1: But I think this is the biggest game of Benji's
Speaker 1: coaching career, Steve, and he doesn't have to win it,
Speaker 1: but he can't. They can't get flogged. I think this
Speaker 1: is personal this week.
Speaker 3: Oh absolutely, it's personal, and it's going to be personal
Speaker 3: for the thirty thousand odd fans that are out there
Speaker 3: as well, Tigers and Bulldog supporters, because the Tigers supporters
Speaker 3: are going to be baying for blood and the Bulldog
Speaker 3: supporters are fairly animated supporter group so that way, so
Speaker 3: they are going to want to defend themselves. So I
Speaker 3: think the atmosphere is going to be fever pitch that
Speaker 3: is going to have an impact on the players who
Speaker 3: are already going to be psyched up for this game,
Speaker 3: and the Tigers are going to go out there wanting
Speaker 3: to make a statement and they're going to want to
Speaker 3: make a statement to Galvin, and they're going to want
Speaker 3: to win the game just to shove it up Galvin.
Speaker 3: There's no getting away from that. The thing is they've
Speaker 3: got to make sure they win the game. That's the
Speaker 3: first things.
Speaker 1: Fine line, Gary, I'm looking at through my coach's lens
Speaker 1: here because it's a little bit different in cricket, Like
Speaker 1: if a player had done that to me halfway through
Speaker 1: the season, I'd be telling our guys at training to
Speaker 1: make it personal this week, although probably wouldn't even have
Speaker 1: to say anything because they know that they showed their
Speaker 1: support for Benji at the time, so he wouldn't even
Speaker 1: have to say anything to them about it. But we
Speaker 1: also saw in that Paramatta game that they played a
Speaker 1: little bit angry and they played a little bit frantic
Speaker 1: and if you just focus on one guy, Canterbury's got
Speaker 1: a very good side across the park, so they can't
Speaker 1: go into the game overly emotional like they did against Paramatta.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a really tough one. The players are going
Speaker 2: to be pumped to really have a rettop crack at him,
Speaker 2: I think, and I would almost be doing the opposite
Speaker 2: with them, is not focusing on him at all. Because
Speaker 2: we're are an ill disciplined club. We have a lot
Speaker 2: of ill disciplined players, and I don't think it would
Speaker 2: take much for a couple of our guys to overstep
Speaker 2: that mark and probably try and overplay it a little
Speaker 2: bit and get into his face too much and try
Speaker 2: too hard. Sometimes when you do that, the emotion gets
Speaker 2: takes you away and you take your mind off playing football.
Speaker 2: And that's probably my biggest concern in regards to that
Speaker 2: this weekend, is that we kind of overdo that side
Speaker 2: of it and look, to be honest, it's probably a
Speaker 2: chance of happening the other way as well. I'm sure
Speaker 2: Galvin's really keen to come out and put on a
Speaker 2: really strong performance this weekend, and he could go the
Speaker 2: other way as well and overplay his hand in that
Speaker 2: and kind of disrupt what the Bulldogs have been doing.
Speaker 2: So I think it's a fine line for both sides
Speaker 2: of the kind of divide to play it.
Speaker 1: I think it's probably an individual choice. Steve. Whether there's
Speaker 1: words out there I always find again, I'm sorry to
Speaker 1: harp on the cricket. But I find there's guys that
Speaker 1: don't like confrontation and there's no point them going out
Speaker 1: of their sort of shell to do that. But guys
Speaker 1: like Jerome and others, I'd be making this ledge just personal,
Speaker 1: be going at him hard because you're not going to
Speaker 1: get a chance to do it in the media. You're
Speaker 1: not going to get a chance to do it after
Speaker 1: the game. The only time you can do it is
Speaker 1: on that field.
Speaker 3: Yeah, the big thing is not to lose control. That's
Speaker 3: what it's all about. So if they want to make
Speaker 3: it personal, if they want to hit him as hard
Speaker 3: as they can hit him, you know, legally and verbally
Speaker 3: as well as physically, if that's what they want to do,
Speaker 3: as long as they don't overstep the mark, you know,
Speaker 3: Canterby will squeeze the life out of you. So, as
Speaker 3: Gary was saying, we're just going to have to we
Speaker 3: have to be so disciplined, we have to be mistake free.
Speaker 3: We have to be playing almost the perfect game, the
Speaker 3: best that we can possibly play to give ourselves a
Speaker 3: chance to beat his side. If we go over the top,
Speaker 3: if we make it all about Galvin, we will get
Speaker 3: penalized out of the game and we will get smashed.
Speaker 3: We've got to go there. The best thing to show
Speaker 3: Galvin what we think of him is to go out
Speaker 3: there and put in an outstanding performance and when the
Speaker 3: two points and dominate them. That's the way to do it. Now,
Speaker 3: that is going to be so difficult to do, and
Speaker 3: even at our best, I'm not sure if we can
Speaker 3: do it. But we've got to give it a red
Speaker 3: hot crack. Calling him names and getting up him from
Speaker 3: the defensive line. Yeah, that might impact him for five
Speaker 3: ten minutes, but it's not going to change the impact
Speaker 3: of the game.
Speaker 2: Yeah, the players can just leave it to Steve. He
Speaker 2: can have used them abusing from over the fence.
Speaker 3: I'm close enough. Absolutely.
Speaker 1: I don't want to go to the game Sunday. I
Speaker 1: don't want to sit with like, thanks thanks Richel. Like
Speaker 1: We've got a home game now against Cannabury. There's going
Speaker 1: to be twenty three thousand Cannary fans of the twenty
Speaker 1: eight thousand out there because I reckon you'll get a
Speaker 1: full house. It'd be a great atmosphere. But you know, Steve,
Speaker 1: no no point playing it cut or anything like that.
Speaker 1: Let's go to Kombank. Let's give away the advantage.
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, I think they're on track. From what I've heard,
Speaker 3: they're on track for high twenties.
Speaker 1: Oh Richard be thrilled.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't know what the makeup.
Speaker 1: Is going to be.
Speaker 3: You know what, if we score the first two tries,
Speaker 3: then we shut the Canterbury supporters up pretty quickly. They
Speaker 3: score the first two tries and they shut us up
Speaker 3: pretty quickly. So it's all in the way the players
Speaker 3: perform out in the field. Get out there, play discipline football,
Speaker 3: you know, attack their weaknesses, play to our strengths and
Speaker 3: try to stick with them to keep the crowd in
Speaker 3: the game. And if we keep the crowd in the game,
Speaker 3: the crowd will give it to Galvin. And there is
Speaker 3: a chance. I think he's immature, he's young. It doesn't
Speaker 3: take the best options at the best of times. Put
Speaker 3: him under a bit of pressure and stress and he
Speaker 3: might just spill his.
Speaker 2: Lollies, especially if he's going into the game Steve with
Speaker 2: a point to prove and he tries overplay his hand,
Speaker 2: which I think I think is a big chance this weekend.
Speaker 1: All right, Well, I mean the old saying is Steve,
Speaker 1: I know I was having a bit of a rant
Speaker 1: there at Richard. But the old saying is it's still
Speaker 1: the same length field and it's the same grass and
Speaker 1: everything like that, isn't it just don't have the fan
Speaker 1: badly for us?
Speaker 3: Yeah? Well, I do think the fans make a difference made.
Speaker 3: The bottom one is that their team is outstanding on
Speaker 3: paper and the way they've been playing. They are so disciplined,
Speaker 3: but they you know, their defense is just brilliant, but
Speaker 3: they can attack you, as you said, from anywhere, so
Speaker 3: we are going to have to play above and beyond
Speaker 3: to even get close.
Speaker 2: I think yes, Then you said we should attack their weaknesses?
Speaker 2: What are their weaknesses?
Speaker 4: Made?
Speaker 1: On a serious note, I think Connor Tracey is a
Speaker 1: big out for them, like that's one thing is going
Speaker 1: to fall back and he's good footballer.
Speaker 4: But I'm not sure who's come on the wing. But
Speaker 4: last week.
Speaker 1: I actually think I've got a positive feeling. I'm not
Speaker 1: going to predict we're going to win. I think it's
Speaker 1: going to be.
Speaker 2: This isn't one of your two, Nat.
Speaker 1: I wanted to do it, but I'm just I'm just
Speaker 1: gun show Gary. I can't come out and guarantee we're
Speaker 1: going to beat Canterbury. I just got a feeling, and
Speaker 1: unfortunately I sort of had the same feeling going into
Speaker 1: the Paramatta game. I thought we were going to fire
Speaker 1: up and win, and I'm hoping that's going to be
Speaker 1: the case this week. I think from a gambling perspective, Gary,
Speaker 1: I know you're not a gambler, but I think eleven
Speaker 1: and a half start I think we can cover that.
Speaker 1: I'll be disappointed if we don't in this game, I
Speaker 1: don't think. I think the baller inclusion is a big one.
Speaker 1: And Samuela if he plays and hunt on the bench,
Speaker 1: I much. I really prefer that that lineup this week.
Speaker 4: Gary.
Speaker 3: The big one for the big one, sorry, the big
Speaker 3: one for me? Yeah, that's all right, Well I've put
Speaker 3: my hand up. The big one for me is our
Speaker 3: defensive line. Now. I watched the highlights of Canterbury their
Speaker 3: game against Many, and they just shift the ball so beautifully.
Speaker 3: It was such precision and quickly. Our defensive line has
Speaker 3: been compressed and compressed and compressed because we haven't been
Speaker 3: winning the forward battle and we just have got so
Speaker 3: many gaps out in our reaches where we've got out,
Speaker 3: especially skeleton. But Taruva has been known to do this
Speaker 3: as well, of coming off their wing, going for the
Speaker 3: big play, leaving the line open and then missing the
Speaker 3: tackle complete and just leaving space. If we defend the
Speaker 3: way we've defended over the last few weeks, they will
Speaker 3: put a cricket score on us. If we can go
Speaker 3: back to defending the way we did at the beginning
Speaker 3: of the season with our top team on the paddic
Speaker 3: which is what we've got this year, which had a
Speaker 3: lot of structure to it, but I had a lot
Speaker 3: of scramble, a lot of effort players in our defense.
Speaker 3: If we can compete at that level defensively and frustrate them,
Speaker 3: then maybe we've got a chance.
Speaker 1: Maybe four forwards on the bench. Scarry, you can love that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think that's a needed this weekend. I don't
Speaker 2: think Appy should be playing eighty minutes every week, but
Speaker 2: this is a game where I'd be picking him to
Speaker 2: play eighty minutes because it's a game where we need
Speaker 2: that extra bench.
Speaker 4: But by after as well.
Speaker 2: Yeah, look, Abby did get very ragged in defense just
Speaker 2: before he came off on the weekend, but Hope came
Speaker 2: on and his defense from the start was just as
Speaker 2: bad as Happy, So I'm quite happy for Happy to
Speaker 2: be playing the eighty minutes this week. Skeleton's defense on
Speaker 2: the wing has been really bad the last couple of weeks.
Speaker 2: I know everyone gets excited by him rushing. They're coming
Speaker 2: after him, Yeah, they're they're really coming for him this weekend.
Speaker 2: I don't want to see him looking for those big hits,
Speaker 2: but too many times he comes in and puts himself
Speaker 2: out of position. Even when he puts them on, his
Speaker 2: winger is unmarked in that situation. I don't want to
Speaker 2: see him doing that this weekend because they're just stripping
Speaker 2: for numbers and yeah, that's bad news. So defensively, you've
Speaker 2: got to be really sound. I am still really worried
Speaker 2: about our attack. Our attack hasn't great against really strong
Speaker 2: defensive sides, even with our full strength side on the Paddy,
Speaker 2: So it's going to be really difficult to score enough
Speaker 2: points to cover that eleven point start. Yeah, yeah, that's
Speaker 2: going to be really tough. So hopefully the inclusion of
Speaker 2: Buller and Sam coming back really strengthens up the left
Speaker 2: hand edge through the second row and also the right
Speaker 2: edge with Buller playing on that edge.
Speaker 1: God, these queerz boys, it's time for it. I've proof
Speaker 1: read it today, so I'm hoping it's a little bit
Speaker 1: more seamless than it was last week.
Speaker 4: Steve.
Speaker 1: Question number one is multiple choice. Which of these special
Speaker 1: edition jerseys have we not worn against the Bulldogs? Is
Speaker 1: it a the Anzac jersey, b our Main Heritage jersey,
Speaker 1: see Indigenous jersey for West Magpies Heritage jersey Gary.
Speaker 4: Which have not we not d.
Speaker 1: See it was d so no West Heritage jersey against
Speaker 1: the Bulldogs. We wore the Anzac jersey in twenty fifteen
Speaker 1: baw Main jersey. I remember this now I'm reading it
Speaker 1: two thousand when we won fifty four to two against
Speaker 1: the Bulldogs, and the Indigenous jersey was in twenty sixteen.
Speaker 1: Question number two, name the three West Tigers players who
Speaker 1: have kicked a field goal against the Bulldogs. Give her
Speaker 1: a little clue. One was in two thousand.
Speaker 2: And five in a famous second round.
Speaker 1: Had thirty seven thirty.
Speaker 2: Six Benji Scott Prince kicked it.
Speaker 1: Yep, it was Scott Prince. The other two were in
Speaker 1: the halves as well. One played a lot of games
Speaker 1: so the West Tigers. One played only a couple of seasons.
Speaker 2: John Morris, Nope, Luke Brooks.
Speaker 1: Luke Brooks in twenty twenty in a twenty nine to
Speaker 1: twenty eight win, and the other one was our half
Speaker 1: back in twenty ten, and even Louis Louis in a
Speaker 1: nineteen twelve victory. Question number three true or false? In
Speaker 1: our thirty seven thirty six win in two thousand and five,
Speaker 1: no player from either side scored multiple tries hint, twelve
Speaker 1: tries were scored in total, both sides scored six. Is
Speaker 1: that true or false?
Speaker 3: That's that true?
Speaker 1: False, it's false. Scott Prince scored a double and brath
Speaker 1: nasked to scored a double as well.
Speaker 3: For you, Steve, I don't know why I hang around
Speaker 3: for this.
Speaker 1: You gets so angry when he gets these multiple choice
Speaker 1: He's got two options tails. He gets it wrong every time.
Speaker 1: Question number four, nearest to the pin out of fifty games,
Speaker 1: coach for the joint venture Terry Lamb had, how many
Speaker 1: wins Gary out of fifty.
Speaker 2: Eighteen Steve.
Speaker 1: Nineteen sixteen sixteen is the correct answer? Steve's just left
Speaker 1: the room. He's thrown the toys out of the cop
Speaker 1: Last question It's called Yolly's story Time This week go
Speaker 1: to sleep Steve.
Speaker 3: Yeah, there's going to be a story to Yadia after
Speaker 3: this Tenia.
Speaker 1: It was around seventeen, two thousand and six. The Premiers
Speaker 1: were hosting the Bulldogs at Olympic Park. Future West Tigers
Speaker 1: wing and Matt Utah was sent off for a high
Speaker 1: tackle on our hookers. Stuart Flanagan Canary led thirty two
Speaker 1: nil after seventy two minutes. Taniela Tuiaki scored our first
Speaker 1: try in the seventy third minute. In the seventy fifth minute,
Speaker 1: the tank Tuaki bustled its way down the touch line,
Speaker 1: was in the clear, no defender in sight, and reached
Speaker 1: the try line and rather than put it down he
Speaker 1: decided to pass it to someone to score. The tray
Speaker 1: shows it was rangy, chase scary. I think a few
Speaker 1: punters might have backed to Aki for the last try
Speaker 1: that day. They would have been horrified.
Speaker 2: Tim Sheens was ropeable about that.
Speaker 4: Yeah, well we got flogged anyway.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he wasn't in that. Players were were just giving
Speaker 2: tries away and doing that.
Speaker 4: All right, boys.
Speaker 1: I thought that was a strong podcast. I'd like to
Speaker 1: see on the podcast for them a little bit of
Speaker 1: hate mail though. I'd like to know what we did
Speaker 1: wrong tonight rather than what we're doing right.
Speaker 2: So you're throwing us all in it now, not just.
Speaker 1: You, you and me because I mentioned Cleary, I spoke
Speaker 1: about his book for five minutes, and then I mentioned
Speaker 1: Galmut although I did say make it personal and sledge him,
Speaker 1: so hopefully that gets me a few points back. But
Speaker 1: it's been good chatting boys, and you're planning on going
Speaker 1: to Steve Yes.
Speaker 3: I was just going to say one thing that we've
Speaker 3: done wrong is not mentioned the ambush.
Speaker 4: Mate, Sorry mate, that you didn't tell me that you start.
Speaker 3: Which is on this The Ambusher holding an event this Sunday.
Speaker 3: It's out of our combat. So the gates open at
Speaker 3: half past twelve and our function is going to kick
Speaker 3: off at around twelve forty five through to one point thirty.
Speaker 3: Give your hips the time ago and get your seats
Speaker 3: before kickoff at two o'clock. The function is in the
Speaker 3: bar adjacent to Gate two, So coming through Gate two
Speaker 3: and just comes straight to the bar there you'll see
Speaker 3: all the Ambush guys. We are going to have a
Speaker 3: guest from West Tigers. We're still finalizing who that is,
Speaker 3: but we know we've got someone which we will promote
Speaker 3: on socials. As soon as we know who it is.
Speaker 3: There will be giveaways. We'll have you on his quiz,
Speaker 3: which will be done as usual. So if you want
Speaker 3: to come and say a load of some Tiger supporters
Speaker 3: and the ambush crew come and say gooday. Before we
Speaker 3: watch the.
Speaker 1: Game, Nick going to turn up to that Gary.
Speaker 4: He likes to turn up, doesn't he ambush?
Speaker 2: Yeah, you gets excited when he's one fan comes and
Speaker 2: says a load wing.
Speaker 1: All right, boys, Well let's hope we get a win Sunday.
Speaker 1: It'll be a memorable one if we do. If not,
Speaker 1: we'll still run up Sunday night. Thank you, cheers, Go boys,