{"id":282683,"date":"2023-04-02T04:36:23","date_gmt":"2023-04-02T04:36:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=282683"},"modified":"2023-04-02T15:59:43","modified_gmt":"2023-04-02T15:59:43","slug":"tigers-gave-up-as-grim-55-year-record-reached","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=282683","title":{"rendered":"Tigers 'gave up' as grim 55-year record reached"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rugby league Immortal Andrew Johns<\/a> is at a loss to explain how bad the Wests Tigers<\/a> are after the team sunk to a 0-5 start to the season for a second consecutive year.<\/p>\n

The Concord club is the first to achieve that since \ufeffNewtown in 1968 – a 55-year first to signify the magnitude of the job in front of head coach Tim Sheens<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A 46-12 thumping at the hands of Brisbane on Saturday had Sheens joking with media, "I hope we beat the bye in a couple of weeks"<\/a>.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Sheens takes dig at own team as Tigers woes worsen\ufeff<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> 'Shock' as rugby league icon rushed to hospital<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\ufeffLIVE UPDATES:<\/strong> Latest news and results from Australian Grand Prix<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Johns is struggling to understand how a professional team can be so disorganised, particularly given the experience of Sheens, and the credentials of his assistants Benji Marshall and Robbie Farah.<\/p>\n

"\ufeffIt's hard to put into words. They looked like last night they gave up," Johns told Nine's Sunday Footy Show<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\"Assistant<\/p>\n

"For whatever reason the combinations just aren't working. I don't know who to point the finger at.<\/p>\n

"The easy one to point it at is the coaches, but you look at the coaches – especially Tim Sheens, his record over the years, he knows the game better than anyone.<\/p>\n

"I wouldn't be pointing the finger at the coaches."<\/p>\n

Stream the NRL premiership 2023 live and free on<\/strong> 9Now<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Fellow NRL great Billy Slater, however, is more convinced of where the blame lies for the dismal performances.<\/p>\n

"Something needs to change… the biggest thing that has to change is the players' attitudes," Slater said.<\/p>\n

"If that doesn't change it doesn't matter what number you're wearing on your back.<\/p>\n

\"NRL<\/p>\n

"They need to have a shift in their mindset and play some tough footy.\ufeff"<\/p>\n

The Tigers have not played NRL finals since Sheens was last coach of the club, in 2011.<\/p>\n

He was sacked the following year and since then the coaching reins have cycled through Mick Potter, Jason Taylor, Ivan Cleary, and Michael Maguire – none of whose tenures ended harmoniously.<\/p>\n

\ufeffThe return of Sheens, coupled with the additions of 2005 premiership legends Marshall and Farah, was meant to bring a change of fortunes for the embattled team.<\/p>\n

Slater believes they spent too much time in pre-season focusing on attack and not enough on defence.<\/p>\n

Brad Fittler says neither part of their game is going well.<\/p>\n

"The first set of six they gave a penalty to Brisbane coming out of trouble. The second set of six coming out of trouble they gave them a penalty," Fittler told the Sunday Footy Show<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\"Sheens<\/p>\n

"Their first kick down in the attacking zone Brisbane got the ball back. Then their next set of six down on the line they kicked the ball dead.<\/p>\n

"Defensively they can't keep up with teams – they gave two penalties to Brisbane which took all the pressure off – and when they got down their end they can't execute and put pressure on teams.<\/p>\n

"On both sides of the court they are failing.<\/p>\n

"They can't execute, and they don't have either the fitness or the discipline to be able to put pressure on the other team.\ufeff"<\/p>\n

The Tigers next face \ufeffthe Eels on Easter Monday, then are guaranteed two points when they have the round seven bye.<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/strong><\/em> clicking here<\/strong><\/em><\/a>!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rugby league Immortal Andrew Johns is at a loss to explain how bad the Wests Tigers are after the team sunk to a 0-5 start […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282683"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=282683"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282683\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":282685,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282683\/revisions\/282685"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=282683"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=282683"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=282683"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}