The 48-4 loss to the Sydney Roosters on Saturday night officially ended the Wests Tigers finals hopes. With the 2014 season now a matter of academics and pride, attention will now turn to the future. Top of that list is undoubtedly the future of Coach Mick Potter. Potter who is off contract at the end of the season faces an extremely doubtful future but one that could still see the club re-sign him at season's end.
Wests need to decide Potter's future based on two key factors. First is the fact that under 2 years with Potter there has been endless speculation over his ability to coach and whether he is the man for the job moving forward. Now some of this speculation has proven false but there's also been an admittance from Potter and the club that there are things that he needs to improve on. So the club must work out whether he is the best man going forward for the job, or if there is someone else available who they feel could do a better job taking the team forward.
The other point of interest that should be taken into account is the performance of the team earlier in the season. Wests played some pretty good football earlier in the season and there's little doubt that injuries and internal strife have both played their parts in a real ordinary past month. Where the club needs to weigh things up though is whether this good patch of form with a stronger side outweighs the dramas Potter and the club have been through this past two seasons. Essentially the club isn't necessarily wrong if it decides a fresh start is in the clubs best interest. A lot of baggage has been collected in the past two seasons.
On field i don't expect a lot to change moving forward. Mitchell Moses should retain the number 6 jersey for the remainder of this season as this is in the clubs best interest for the long term. Doubts over who should play fullback though are concerning. Kurtis Rowe had a disappointing game in tough conditions on Saturday night and for the sake of winning games the idea of moving Moses back to fullback is worth considering.
The good news is that Bodene Thompson will return this week versus the Bulldogs and Pat Richards is hopeful of joining him. It'll be interesting to see whether Jy Hitchcox retains his position in the squad after a solid debut performance in which he was rewarded with a try. Could Hitchcox move to fullback?? So long as he's allowed to remain in the team it could well be worth a shot should Richards and Thompson return.
On the downside though comes news that Aaron Woods picked up a knock to his knee on Saturday night. Whilst it's not considered serious, Woods will be in some doubt for Thursday night's fixture. The loss of Woods would be poorly timed with a match up against the Bulldogs up next.
When all is said and done though, it's now not really a case of results for the club. Pride and accountability are the two things that do matter. The capitulation on Saturday night was one that simply shouldn't be tolerated. Defensively Wests were real poor in the middle of the park. So this is something that must improve in the final 3 matches.
In fact pride and accountability are something the entire club, from players to those officials in key positions should be looking to better themselves at not only in the final 3 matches but in the future too. This club has a long way to go before it's back where it should be.
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