After snatching defeat from the jaws of victory against the Raiders yesterday at Leichhardt Oval, Wests Tigers fans could be forgiven for asking if Robbie Farah’s men also pinched their visitors’ nickname, the Canberra Faders.
In an ironic twist, their next opponents, the Bulldogs, were the beneficiaries of the Wests Tigers fading in round 4 of the NRL.
In that match, played just four weeks out from this Friday’s return encounter, saw the young Tigers run rings around the big Bulldogs forwards as they raced to a 24-6 lead in the second half.
But just as Luke Brooks, Mitchell Moses and James Tedesco looked like leading the team to a cricket score, Wests fell in a heap.
The Bulldogs took full advantage, scoring three converted tries to level the scores before kicking the winning drop goal.
Only the field goal was missing from the repeat performance the Tigers put on yesterday before just over 13,000 fans at the spiritual home of the joint venture.
The black and golds raced to a 22-0 lead, scoring almost a point a minute, and again it looked like their young playmakers would lead the team to a massive win.
The visitors, playing into a stiff breeze, scored two unexpected tries before half time and in the second half went on to score all the points to win 30-22.
Meaning that the Tigers didn’t score any points for almost an hour of the match; that’s how long their fade out lasted.
Not that coach Jason Taylor was using the F word during the media conference after the disappointing end to the match.
Nor was he using the C word – well, he was, but it wasn’t complacency, which is what some fans were arguing has been happening to the Wests Tigers this season in some of their matches.
Fading away, complacency, either way you’d need a psychologist to explain it all and Taylor certainly wasn’t calling for such professional help.
“What we’re aiming for is consistency and obviously we’re not there yet,’’ Taylor said.
“Games go for 80 minutes and we’re not consistent for 80 minutes, so we paid the price today,’’ Taylor said.
Whatever it is that ails the Tigers it needs to be rectified asap, because the Bulldogs match this Friday night at ANZ Stadium is a round eight fixture, meaning one third of the 20125 season is almost gone.
The pity of it for the Tigers will be if nothing comes of this season it will be a great shame because at their best they are the absolute best in the NRL.
What’s even scarier for other teams is that Tedesco, Brooks and Moses seem to get better every week.
During those first 20 minutes yesterday at Leichhardt those three and Curtis Sironen were unstoppable.
This was attacking rugby league at its best and would have warmed the heart of every Wests Tigers fan that these kids will be doing this for the next 10 years.
But unfortunately, unless the team gets its act together and plays consistently – as the coach says – for 80 minutes, it can forget any end of season honours.
Especially galling for Taylor will be that they have now conceded 30 or more points two weeks in a row – they lost 32-22 to the Warriors last week.
In any case, 80 minutes of consistency will need to start from this Friday night against the Bulldogs. And a win and the two premiership points would also be handy, too, for Jason Taylor and the Wests Tigers.
