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The Tigers are finally free of the wooden spoon. Where do they go from here?

The Age

7 hours ago

The Age

The Tigers are finally free of the wooden spoon. Where do they go from here?

Regardless of whether the Tigers win another game this year, they're already playing with house money. Most would agree that nine victories is better than a break-even outcome, given their starting point. It is their best return from any season since 2019. Now the challenge is to finish this campaign in the strongest possible fashion and lay the foundations for a full-scale finals assault next year. The Tigers haven't featured in the play-offs since 2011 – the longest period any NRL team has spent in the post-season wilderness – but now they are daring to dream. 'I think we've got the team to do it, to take it all the way,' Tigers fullback Jahream Bula said. 'We've just got to keep building these combinations for next year … but we've got a job to do this year. We've got three more games left, so we're just going to take it one at a time and hopefully get a win in all of them.' A finals appearance next season would be a realisation of the three-year plan Shane Richardson put in place when he was initially appointed as chief executive of the long-suffering, joint-venture club. 'You've got to stick to the plan … that's the only way you get yourself out of the shit,' Richardson said in a recent interview with ABC radio, before adding: 'People don't realise how hard it is to turn around unsuccessful clubs.' Richardson has been forced to deal with some curveballs, in particular the soap opera that culminated in the release of playmaking tyro Lachlan Galvin to Canterbury. The Galvin saga received saturation media coverage for weeks, and it did not augur well when the Tigers slumped to four consecutive losses after his departure. But they have overcome that distraction and regrouped to win four of their past six games. 'We've moved on from that,' Bula said of Galvin's exit. 'We just focus on what we need to do now.' Their late-season revival has coincided with Adam Doueihi's move into the halves to replace Galvin. Doueihi's form over the past month has been arguably the best of his career, prompting the Tigers to re-sign the injury-plagued 27-year-old for a further two seasons, just as St George Illawarra prepared to swoop. They have also extended the tenure of centre Starford To'a for a further two seasons and were hoping to upgrade former Penrith utility back Taylan May, who joined them on a train-and-trial contract, to a full-time deal. Meanwhile, they have been active in the player market for next season, signing English back-rower Kai Pearce-Paul from Newcastle, Mavrik Geyer (Penrith) and Jock Madden (Brisbane), as well as highly rated rookies Ethan Roberts (Roosters) and Javon Andrews (Titans). Despite all the controversy sparked by the exits of Galvin and young hooker Tallyn Da Silva (to Parramatta), the Tigers have overcome those setbacks to salvage some respect from 2025. And there would seem no reason why they can't continue the upward trend next year, when the roster reinforcements arrive to boost a squad that is already shaping up positively. Loading As coach Benji Marshall said after beating Manly: 'The last couple of weeks we've found what works for us in our style and the way we need to play … we've always had effort, we've had effort and competed on most of our games this year. 'It's about putting together the smarts of our footy, the way we want to play, the weapons that we do have and put it onto the field.' One of those weapons is 23-year-old Bula, for whom wins were few and far between (eight from 39 games) in his first two NRL seasons. 'I experienced two wooden spoons, so it's good to be off the bottom of the ladder … I think we've just improved a lot from the past two years, and I think that's a big step for us,' Bula said. 'We've just got to keep building off of that.'

Sydney Morning Herald

7 hours ago

Sydney Morning Herald

The Tigers are finally free of the wooden spoon. Where do they go from here?

Regardless of whether the Tigers win another game this year, they're already playing with house money. Most would agree that nine victories is better than a break-even outcome, given their starting point. It is their best return from any season since 2019. Now the challenge is to finish this campaign in the strongest possible fashion and lay the foundations for a full-scale finals assault next year. The Tigers haven't featured in the play-offs since 2011 – the longest period any NRL team has spent in the post-season wilderness – but now they are daring to dream. 'I think we've got the team to do it, to take it all the way,' Tigers fullback Jahream Bula said. 'We've just got to keep building these combinations for next year … but we've got a job to do this year. We've got three more games left, so we're just going to take it one at a time and hopefully get a win in all of them.' A finals appearance next season would be a realisation of the three-year plan Shane Richardson put in place when he was initially appointed as chief executive of the long-suffering, joint-venture club. 'You've got to stick to the plan … that's the only way you get yourself out of the shit,' Richardson said in a recent interview with ABC radio, before adding: 'People don't realise how hard it is to turn around unsuccessful clubs.' Richardson has been forced to deal with some curveballs, in particular the soap opera that culminated in the release of playmaking tyro Lachlan Galvin to Canterbury. The Galvin saga received saturation media coverage for weeks, and it did not augur well when the Tigers slumped to four consecutive losses after his departure. But they have overcome that distraction and regrouped to win four of their past six games. 'We've moved on from that,' Bula said of Galvin's exit. 'We just focus on what we need to do now.' Their late-season revival has coincided with Adam Doueihi's move into the halves to replace Galvin. Doueihi's form over the past month has been arguably the best of his career, prompting the Tigers to re-sign the injury-plagued 27-year-old for a further two seasons, just as St George Illawarra prepared to swoop. They have also extended the tenure of centre Starford To'a for a further two seasons and were hoping to upgrade former Penrith utility back Taylan May, who joined them on a train-and-trial contract, to a full-time deal. Meanwhile, they have been active in the player market for next season, signing English back-rower Kai Pearce-Paul from Newcastle, Mavrik Geyer (Penrith) and Jock Madden (Brisbane), as well as highly rated rookies Ethan Roberts (Roosters) and Javon Andrews (Titans). Despite all the controversy sparked by the exits of Galvin and young hooker Tallyn Da Silva (to Parramatta), the Tigers have overcome those setbacks to salvage some respect from 2025. And there would seem no reason why they can't continue the upward trend next year, when the roster reinforcements arrive to boost a squad that is already shaping up positively. Loading As coach Benji Marshall said after beating Manly: 'The last couple of weeks we've found what works for us in our style and the way we need to play … we've always had effort, we've had effort and competed on most of our games this year. 'It's about putting together the smarts of our footy, the way we want to play, the weapons that we do have and put it onto the field.' One of those weapons is 23-year-old Bula, for whom wins were few and far between (eight from 39 games) in his first two NRL seasons. 'I experienced two wooden spoons, so it's good to be off the bottom of the ladder … I think we've just improved a lot from the past two years, and I think that's a big step for us,' Bula said. 'We've just got to keep building off of that.'