Previously a segment on the weekly SC Report podcast, we’ve decided to bring in a bit of left-field, controversial thinking to our weekly lineup of articles. Who better than a Manly fan to deliver this one! Welcome aboard Matt West for the Unpopular Opinion of the Week. This one’s designed to stoke the fire, so don’t be afraid to fire back!

It’s Time to Call Last Orders on the Tigers

The joint needs a cleanout and so do any Tigers you have in your SuperCoach side

We need to move the Tigers to Perth, ASAP (minus the board).

Now, I’m going to start this by saying I’m not angry with the fact that the Tigers haven’t been a competitive NRL team for years, or that the players who chose to leave would make the best NRL team in history.

It’s not the fact that they were almost involved in the only game in NRL history that DIDN’T include a try last week or the fact that such headlines of “Australia in disbelief after watching worst game of footy ever” was about THAT game.

Nor the fact that if you go to Leichhardt to watch a game you have to explain to your kids that “this is where we live now” when trying to leave because it’s a freaking nightmare to get in or get out.

It’s not even that Luke Brooks requested not one, but TWO transfer requests that were both turned down. Even Mick Ennis is telling him to get the hell out of Dodge! And talking halves, I’m a MASSIVE Jackson Hastings fan. I’ve followed his career watching Super League and on his socials post-Manly and have loved his growth as player and a bloke. But he will be a Dolphin within a year or two.

In some respects you have to feel sorry for them. When they attempt to sign players of a certain stature, the players don’t seem keen.

From 2017, the club has pursued and failed to sign AJ Brimson, Jai Arrow, Josh Addo-Carr and Latrell Mitchell to name but a few. All big names. Names that you can build a club around and attract even more talent. Ask yourself why. To date, all have turned them down. Yet, other underperforming teams seem not to have that issue accruing talent.

The Bulldogs this year signed Brent Naden, Matt Burton, Matt Dufty, TPJ AND the aforementioned Josh Addo-Carr. And have Reed Mahoney and Viliame Kikau on their merry way next season.

As a Tigers fan, you have to ask yourself: what the hell do the Bulldogs have that makes JAC sign for a team with a rookie coach that finished below you on the ladder (in fact got the wooden spoon), rather than sign for another Sydney team with a premiership winning coach. WHAT IS GOING ON??????

And it’s also their crop of current talent that want out.

Kelma Tuilagi is a case in point. The Melbourne prospect was a Madge signing, but turned down a 2 year deal with the Tigers for a long-term deal with Manly. The player had “tears in his eyes” when he told the coach, but tell him he still did. Another one bites the dust. Luciano Leilua, one of their few other bright attacking sparks, is also on the way out.

Even past players seem to have an issue with the club. It stinks when there are a billion headlines of Robbie Farrah apparently giving Madge a spray. He has since denied this, but Robbie had very public beef with Mick Potter and then Gordie Tallis, all Tiger performance related. When Robbie moved to the Rabbitohs he said “I’ve moved on, I’m here now, I’m enjoying my time “. This is a club legend. Any team worth its salt would bring these guys into the fold and point out his professionalism, achievements and passion for the club. But no, he was forced out.

So I don’t feel sorry for them. I feel sorry for the fans, whom the club seem to have little or no regard for. It’s a basketcase of a club that cannot manage its affairs.

The birth of the Dolphins is another nail in the Tigers coffin. The soon-to-become Storm 2.0 have their own issues attracting big names. But they have the biggest name in NRL: Wayne Bennett. So the pool just became even shallower for the Tigs.

And the last thing that gets to me, the biggest kick in the teeth, the thing that grinds my gears, the one thing I cannot accept…

They are dogshit for supercoach.

Good luck all.