South West Sydney Tigers does have a nice ring to it

No wins, three losses after three rounds, so is it time to panic for the Wests Tigers?

Well, some fans have already started on social media today, barely half a day after the side’s third consecutive loss, a 26-22 defeat to the Bulldogs.

In each of the losses there were some positive signs, but also a nagging feeling that narrow defeats is as good as it gets for the joint venture in 2023.

How can that be though, when the club recruitment drive in the off season was the biggest in its 24 year history.

John Bateman, who made his debut yesterday at Belmore, along with NSW Origin star Api Koroisau, prop forward David Klemmer, fullback Charlie Staines and gun second rower Isaiah Papali’I have turned the Wests Tigers engine room up front into a formidable unit.

The club went all out to ensure the side was competitive in 2023.

It also opened its world class sport centre of excellence at Concord and brought in the gang of 2005 to oversee the first grade side.

Tim Sheens is a very good coach, just a bit below the greats such as Jack Gibson, Craig Bellamy and Wayne Bennett.

Sheens has club greats Benji Marshall and Robbie Farah assisting him, as well as other members of the premiership winning side of ‘05.

So, everything is in place for a very good season for the Wests Tigers.

But it’s obvious after just three rounds that the joint venture will do it tough in 2023.

Indeed, looking at the performances so far, putting to one side the results, it’s very hard to see where any wins will come from.

As a fan, it’s fingers crossed that whatever Sheens is trying to do is just taking a bit longer to work on the field.

The heart says, well, win 10 in a row and we’re back in finals business.

Unfortunately, the head says something completely different.

Here we go again, is what the head says, while pondering why that little bit of extra motivation, desperation to win, call it what you will, is still missing at Wests Tigers.

The absent piece of the puzzle is simple: knowing who you want to win for.

Of course the players want to win for themselves, their friends and family and the club every time they run on to the field.

But they should also want to win for their fan base, their tribe.

And this is where the problem is for the Tigers.

In the past 10 years the club’s nomadic approach to “home’’ grounds has ended up confusing players about who is in this tribe – who they need to work that bit extra for.

With home games at Moore Park, Homebush, Parramatta, NSW country towns and even across the ditch in New Zealand – and just three each at Campbelltown and Leichhardt – who would know.

To me that was the start of the rot, when short term financial issues were put before the Tigers fans in the inner city and South Western Sydney.

There were plans to finally start the process of setting up the side in Campbelltown, with eight games planned for this season, but the women’s football World Cup scuppered that move.

But at least the people who run the club have conceded that having one home ground, and the tribal following that this would produce, is an important factor in on field success.

Arguably as important as throwing money at players to entice them to play for you, and $100 million centres of excellence.

If I was in charge and could make one other decision, it would be changing the name from Wests Tigers to South West Sydney Tigers.

That’s because having your geographical area in the team’s name also helps in that it quickly identifies where the tribe comes from.

It’s also cheaper that paying overs because nobody will come to your club unless you fork out the big dollars.

The club has tried just about everything else to be successful in the past 10 years, so why not give this a go.

Apart from anything else, there’s a nice ring to South West Sydney Tigers, don’t you think?