Robbie Farah, John Skandalis, Dene Halatau, Pat Richards, Mark O’Neill, Brett Hodgson, Chris Heighington, Paul Whatuira, Shane Elford, Galea, Ray Cashmere, Bronson Harrison, John Wilson and Liam Fulton, just to name a few, will be there. Scott Prince and Anthony Laffranchi have work commitments, while Bryce Gibbs has a wedding.
Marshall will be in the coaches box, as will Hodgson and Heighington, but will no doubt join in the celebrations afterwards. So too will Todd Payten, the former Tigers front-rower now coaching the Cowboys.
Scott Prince celebrates with the NRL trophy in 2005.Credit: Brendan Esposito
When we contacted several of the premiership winners this week, they did their best to explain why the club’s wait for more glory had been so long. They also spoke about why this year was the first time in a long time the club had given fans something to be genuinely excited about.
Richards, a winger with an almighty right boot and the scorer of the try from Marshall’s flick pass, said a shoulder injury to the mercurial No.6 cruelled any hopes of going back-to-back in 2006. He said had Prince not left the club at the end of that season, more premierships may have followed.
“Had Princey stayed with Benji and Robbie, I think a few more comps could have been won, for sure,” says Richards, who works as a Tigers ambassador, and helps coach the juniors.
Wests Tigers celebrate with coach Tim Sheens in 2005.Credit: Craig Golding
There have been signs of hope along the way.
In 2009, the Tigers won six in a row heading into the finals, only to be stopped in their tracks by a red-hot Jarryd Hayne and Parramatta.
The end of the following year really hurt. The 2010 finals campaign started with a golden-point qualifying final loss to the Sydney Roosters – that game remains one of the classics of the modern era – and was followed by a Jamie Soward field goal that sealed victory for St George Illawarra in the preliminary final.
Even in 2011, the Tigers reached another preliminary final, and were cruising to victory until Krisnan Inu scored the ugliest of tries for the New Zealand Warriors. The look on Sheens’ face when the TV cameras cut to him sitting on the sidelines said it all.
The same look has been permanently etched on to the faces of every Tigers fan since.
The only other time there was some sort of hope was when the “Big Four” – James Tedesco, Mitchell Moses, Luke Brooks and Aaron Woods – were on the payroll, only for the local juniors to go their separate ways.
If it makes Tigers fans feel any better, the Eels have been waiting nearly 40 years for another premiership, South Sydney have one to their name in nearly 55 years, Cronulla have only won one, the Warriors and Titans have never won one, while the Broncos, a powerhouse with all the money and all of Brisbane to cherry-pick juniors from, last held the trophy aloft in 2006, one year after the Tigers.
Which brings us to today. The Tigers will not play finals again this year, but they are chasing a third straight win, something they have not done in seven seasons.
They have cut back the attacking flair the club had become known for – which is surprising given Marshall’s flashiness so many years – and instead embraced a reputation for getting in the face of the opposition.
As co-captain Api Koroisau told this masthead: “For us, it’s about making it ugly. We know it’s not going to be perfect, we know it’s not going to be vintage football, but it’s about digging in deep. We have a bunch of dogs in the team, and we want to play that style of footy. We want to grind it out.”
Wests Tigers co-captain Apisai Koroisau.Credit: Getty Images
They bullied the Bulldogs. They then dominated Manly’s depleted pack.
A lot of the old boys love what Jarome Luai has brought to the club.
Skandalis, who works in the Tigers’ front office, said of Luai: “He’s a winner, he’s a competitor – he’s been worth every penny.”
Halatau recalled Marshall speaking at the club’s pre-season launch, and how the players had completed a gruelling pre-season in the hope of toughening them up, especially mentally.
It’s been a lean run between premierships for Benji Marshall and the Tigers.Credit: Getty Images
“In the last five to 10 years, there has been a real lack of edge to the Tigers,” Halatau says. “There were games they should have won, and even some soft performances. I was there for a part of it towards the end of my career.
“I think they felt like they needed to harden up a bit. Benji was an attacking player and someone everyone expected to have flair in the teams [he has coached], but he made sure he toughened them up and had that hard edge.
“The obvious thing this year has been their competitiveness. Jarome brings a lot of that. Jarome and Api have been a part of that Penrith system and their standards are rubbing off on the others.
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“The Fainu brothers [Latui, Samuela and Sione] have been great, Jahream Bula has been a handful when he’s played, and the one who has been the story of the year at the Tigers is Adam Doueihi. We can call him a veteran because he’s been around so long, but he’s led from the front, and he seems like a guy the rest of the team gets around.”
Tigers chief executive Shane Richardson has tasted premiership success with Hull in England, as well as at Penrith and Souths, and said of the feeling in Tiger Town: “I’ve got more optimism here than I’ve ever had anywhere else where I’ve won premierships. I can see more than green shoots. The next step is finals, and from there, who knows.
“As I’ve told Benji, we’re locked in for the journey, and we’ll see how far we can go.”
Tigers fans who gather at the inner-western Sydney ground known as “the Eighth Wonder” on Sunday will just be happy for a win, to continue the momentum they have built in recent weeks.
They are a passionate and patient bunch. Another premiership will happen.
“I think there are really good things coming at the Tigers,” Richards says. “I just hope we’re not waiting another 20 years.”
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