New assistant coach and Tigers legend Benji Marshall has said the long-term club revival of the club will see the team rise up from their first-ever wooden spoon under the joint venture name.
โIt's been a tough ten or so years from a club point of view,โ Marshall said to Justin Pascoe, Tigers CEO, in a club video.
โWe are doing everything we can at training from a team perspective to make sure we change that. But good things are coming from us.โ
The Tigers have certainly bolstered their squad for the upcoming season investing in young talent and making a number of top-quality signings.
Youngster Justin Matamua is the latest player to have been promoted from their development list and has signed until 2025, with their 2022 Rookie of the Year Fonua Pole is also locked in until the end of 2025.
Returning from his Melbourne Storm loan is ninth all-time Tigers appearance maker David Nofoaluma, in addition to signing NRL champions Apisai Koroisau and Charlie Staines, 2021 Second Rower of the Year Isaiah Papali'i, Knights star David Klemmer and former Waratah Triston Reilly.
The squad has lost Luke Garner and Tyrone Peachey to the Panthers, Jacob Liddle and Zane Musgrove to the Dragons, Kelma Tuilagi to the Sea Eagles, James Tamou to the Cowboys, Oliver Gildart to the Dolphins and Jackson Hastings to the Knights.
The bookies have the Tigers as one of the more likely sides to be in contention for the wooden spoon. However, Marshall sees it much differently.
โWe want success now, there's no doubt. We're not going into next year saying we want to have an average year. We want to win, and we'll be saying that to the players,โ he said.
โBut you've got to think about the future to and we've got a lot of kids coming through that are really talented and we've managed to hold on to them.
โThe plan we have made is coming into action now. Seeing some of those kids come into first grade and train their first pre-season, we have a bright future coming through.โ
Marshall even claimed incoming head coach and former direct of football Tim Sheens believes the young talent in the current squad is better than Tiger legends.
โTalking to Tim, he thinks some of those kids are better than the likes of myself, Robbie Farah, Liam Fulton and Bryce Gibbs, when we were coming through at that age," Marshall said.
โOne thing that I want everyone to understand at this club is when you put on the Wests Tigers jumper, you are representing a lot of people.
โYou are playing for the guy next to you and all everyone wants to see is their players play with passion, with pride and put in their best performance week in and week out.โ
The new-look Tigers play their first game of next season against the Titans on March 5 next year.
