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Things went from bad to worse for the Wests Tigers all season and they eventually collected their first wooden spoon in club history.
The sacking of Michael Maguire ahead of Round 14 did little to stem the flow of losses, with the Tigers dropping 11 of 12 games following his departure.
They copped their worst loss in club history after Maguire left, and conceded 188 points in their final four games.
The Tigers finished with the worst attack and second-worst defence in the NRL, scoring 14.6 points per game and conceding 28.3 points per game.
Needless to say, their finals drought extended to 11th season and incoming coach Tim Sheens has a mountain of work in front of him.
Read on for the Wests Tigers’ 2022 season review.
WESTS TIGERS SEASON REVIEW
2022 Record: W4 L20 16.6% win rate
Season grade: F
What went right: Not much. There were very few moments to celebrate on the field this season, but the Tigers did enjoy some success off it.
The club opened its $78 million Centre of Excellence in Concord in August which Tigers officials spruiked as the best rugby league training facility in the world.
The Tigers also locked in their long-term coaching plan after years of headlines focused on the fate of Michael Maguire.
After three and a half seasons at the helm at a 36 per cent win record, Maguire was finally shown the door in what was a death by a thousand cuts.
Tim Sheens – the man who coached the Tigers to their only premiership in 2005 and arrived at Concord this season to help Maguire – denied wanting to coach the clubs for months.
But Maguire was punted and a failed bid to secure Penrith assistant Cameron Ciraldo on a five-year deal saw Sheens make a stunning return to the job he was sacked from in 2012.
Sheens, 71, was appointed coach from next season and former star players Benji Marshall and Robbie Farah were named his assistants.
Marshall was the five-eighth and Farah the hooker when Sheens delivered the club’s only premiership in 2005.
The trio have been handed back the reins for the next two seasons, before Marshall takes the top job in 2015.
The succession plan has its doubters but it at least gives the club’s long-suffering fans some form of stability moving forward.
“This is about having Wests Tigers DNA surging through the club, and it’s about putting together a rock-solid coaching plan for the next five years,” Tigers CEO Justin Pascoe said.
“This is a very clear path forward for this club and we are delighted to have Tim, Benji and Robbie reunited for the next phase of our club’s growth.
“Benji and Robbie are two of the most talented players this club has seen, and Tim’s coaching record speaks for itself.
“These three have achieved just about everything there is to achieve in the game and this partnership I know will be really, really powerful for our club.
“It also demonstrates that we are putting pathways in place not just for our players, but for our coaches as well.
“It’s a great day for our club.”
The Tigers playing group will likely be overhauled this summer but one of the few shining lights on the field in 2022 was Adam Doueihi.
Doueihi returned from a knee injury in Round 15 and was one of the only Tigers to finish the season playing with some level of consistency.
The 24-year-old is the club’s best player but he’s off contract at the end of next season which means rival clubs can table offers from November 1.
The club must prioritise signing Doueihi – a future captain of the club – before he hits the open market in seven weeks.
What went wrong: Where do we begin? The Tigers appeared doomed the moment the board gave coach Michael Maguire a stay of execution at the end of last season.
The club looked certain to part ways with the premiership-winning coach after finishing 9th and then 11th and then 13th in his first three seasons.
But Maguire fronted the board and earned an 11th hour reprieve to continue coaching into 2022.
They opened the season with five straight losses before an Easter Monday miracle saw them topple the Eels 21-20 thanks to a 79th minute field goal from Jackson Hastings.
They then beat the Rabbitohs – another title contender – in almost identical fashion and this time it was Luke Brooks’ boot which won the game 23-22.
Maguire earned one more win – over the Bulldogs in Round 11 – but it would prove his last with a 44-18 spanking from Souths the following week sealing his fate.
The Maguire axing was supposed to spark change and the club went hard after Panthers assistant Cameron Ciraldo, tabling a five-year deal.
But Ciraldo knocked them back and the club was left with few options outside interim coach Brett Kimmorley, who wasn’t delivering wins.
So the Tigers went back to the winning well and announced they were getting the band back together with Sheens, Marshall and Farah all appointed.
Kimmorley secured just one win – against an out of sorts Broncos side – in his 12 games at the helm.
The Tigers were beaten 72-6 by the Roosters in Round 23, their biggest loss in club history, and footage emerged of Tigers players being abused by their own fans.
“Abuse of any kind by spectators towards players or officials in sport is unacceptable whether at the ground or online and should not be tolerated,” the Wests Tigers said in a statement to foxsports.com.au.
“We understand that fans are passionate but there is a line that should not be crossed, and that applies to any sport, any team, any individual regardless of the result of a match.”
The Tigers finished their season at home with a 56-10 loss to the Raiders on Sunday.
“Diabolic, for their last home game, I mean the fans have turned up, they have turned up to watch a bit of a performance and 42-0 at half time is absolutely pathetic,” Corey Parker said on Fox League.
“It is embarrassing, 72-6 only a couple of weeks ago, last game at home and they turn up and let everyone down in that jersey.”
The Leichhardt Oval crowd booed their players – and not for the first time this season – as they left the field at halftime and Kimmorley called the performance embarrassing.
The club was also ridiculed for naming five co-captains at the start of the season in James Tamou, Adam Doueihi, Luke Brooks, Ken Maumalo and Tyrone Peachey.
Tamou was captaining the side in Round 23 when he was sent off and suspended for calling referee Ben Cummins “f***ing incompetent”.
What they need: Some ticker. All any supporter wants to see is their side showing some fight and there were games this season when the Tigers unquestionably gave up.
They’ve been linked to English superstar backrower John Bateman and the former Raiders enforcer is exactly the type of player the club needs.
Bateman was named in the 2019 Dally M Team of the Year and would take some convincing – or a stack of cash – to join the cellar dwellers.
But NRL 360 host Paul Kent believes the problems run much deeper than making a few roster changes.
“They need to change everything, they need to change the way they play and it’s going to take years to turn over that roster,” Kent said.
“They’re already telling fans to just wait because they have a good crop of kids coming through. Those kids are five years away from doing anything significant in the NRL.
“Benji’s coaching career could well and truly be over by the time those kids, who they’re banking on, are ready to do some damage in the NRL.
“In the meantime they need to try and find a way to fast track their way to success.
“Big picture the game has really got to sit down and look at a draft because to sit down and try and develop their way out of this hole that they are in, which is the only solution for this mob, they are not smart enough to go out and cherry pick some signings.
“They’re spruiking around town that they’ve already got a couple of backrowers from England but nobody can attach a name to them. I think that’s basically a hope for Tigers’ fans.
“Honestly they have got so much work to do.”
COMING: Isaiaih Papalii (Eels), Api Koroisau (Panthers)
GOING: Luciano Leilua (Cowboys), Luke Garner (Panthers), James Tamou (TBC)
LOANED OUT IN 2022: David Nofoaluma (Storm), Oliver Gildart (Roosters)
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