There’s no question the Wests Tigers are the feel-good story of 2025 after Super Saturday’s brilliant comeback win over the Dolphins.
Of course it’s only early days but the Tigers of three straight wooden spoons would have found a way to lose from 18-6 down.
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The injection of new recruits Terrell May, Jarome Luai, Sunia Turuva, Jack Bird and Royce Hunt has brought a completely different feel to the Tigers playing style along with the continued development of Lachie Galvin.
If as the reports suggest Galvin’s call about his future is going to hinge around coaching well Benji Marshall is beginning to state a strong case.
With the Wests Tigers trailing 18-6 Marshall made the call to inject young gun hooker Tallyn Da Silva into the game 10 minutes prior to halftime and it proved a masterstroke.
Da Silva’s speed out of dummy-half immediately caused the Dolphins trouble through the middle of the field before the rookie then powered over from close range to make the scoreline 18-12 at halftime.
Running into a breeze blowing across and then directly into the Wests Tigers in the second half, the Tigers went after the game in attack and scrambled hard for each other defensively.
With the game in the balance Marshall quickly made the call to get co-captain Api Korisau back out there 12 minutes into the second half and the Tigers leader immediately began to scheme and weave out of dummy-half.
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Leading 24-18 with ten minutes remaining the Tigers then produced a crafty trick play where it looked like they were setting up for a field goal but in reality it was always going to be Korisau charging at the line out of dummy-half.
With Galvin and Jarome Luai both in position to take a snap at one point the Tigers co-captain shaped to pass then scooped the Steeden up and powered straight through the second-guessing Dolphins defence.
It’s only early days but these are enormously positive signs for a club which has been anchored to the bottom of the NRL for the past three seasons and hasn’t played finals since 2011.
It’s interesting the narrative around Galvin suggesting his next career move decision will be based around coaching.
It’s well known one of Galvin’s agents Isaac Moses is not a fan of Wests Tigers coach Marshall meaning there’s some politics being played in the media.
The way Galvin played on Saturday night was another example of his class.
Super fit and willing to compete on every play, the Tigers five-eighth was playing both sides of the field with the ball and even taking hit-ups through the middle at various stages.
It was ultra-impressive. The last time the Wests Tigers had a five-eighth this exciting was when a teenage Marshall arrived at Concord from Keebra Park High School on the Gold Coast back in 2003.
It goes without saying the Tigers are preparing to make a monster offer to Galvin in a bid to keep the local junior at the club.
And the way Marshall has started coaching this season with an improved roster can only sharpen the Wests Tigers push to try and retain the teenager.
The same goes for another of the club’s local juniors in Da Silva and it’s no surprise these two won an SG Ball premiership for Wests Magpies together in 2022.
The Tigers trying to continue the winning roll will be the greatest selling point of the club to the emerging playmakers.
Last year the Wests Tigers conceded 750 points at an average of 31.25 points per game. Sure there’s only been three rounds of football but from what we’ve seen so far the Tigers are only conceding an average of 11.3 points per game.
That’s a phenomenal turn around in any language and an example of what the Wests Tigers have clearly sharpened up on over what would have been a long summer.
Surely that’s an example of good coaching.
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