NRL 2021: Wests Tigers Season Review

The 2021 NRL season was another of disappointment for the Wests Tigers. So bad that Michael Maguire almost lost his job. However, Madge will return for one last crack at getting the most out of a playing group that has shown some signs of potential.

Here’s your Wests Tigers Season Review for 2021:

• The Season In Brief: Stats and Summary
• Takeaways From 2021
  • Things I Liked: Luke Brooks, Stefano Utoikamanu
  • 3-2-1: Adam Doueihi, Daine Laurie, Michael Maguire
  • Summer Notepad: Jackson Hastings
• Preseason Prediction Throwback
• Way Too Early Thoughts On 2022

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The Season In Brief

We’re summing up the NRL season in a few words before getting into the nitty-gritty and breaking down some of the key moments in 2021.

By The Numbers

Wests Tigers always have points in them and found 20.8 per game to finish in the middle of the pack in attack for 2021. In defence, on the other hand, few teams provided less resistance as Michael Maguire’s side gave up a whopping 29.8 points per game (15th). Struggles in yardage (1,565m per game – 13th) made it difficult to build pressure. From there, poor periods which allowed the opposition to pile up points put the Tigers on the back foot and they didn’t have the experience or composure to bounce back.

Bar Chart
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The Season In 200 Words

Just when it felt like it couldn’t get any worse than another 9th-place finish for the Wests Tigers, they found themselves in 13th position by season’s end. To top it all off, we had unprecedented access to it all through FoxSports’ Wild Wests: Tales from Tigertown docu-series.

We got all the usual Tigers’ rhetoric in 2021.

There was plenty of commentary about the future of coach Michael Maguire and his training philosophies, as well as the all too familiar debate around Luke Brooks, his form and the price of his playing contract. It all came to a head in Round 25 with a horror 0-38 loss to the last-placed Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs. Oh, to be a Tigers fan.

There is genuine optimism, however, in the form of Stefano Utoikamanu, Daine Laurie and Adam Doueihi who were revelations in their respective positions. Wests were every chance of finishing higher on the ladder had Doueihi and Laurie, in particular, lasted the season. Throw in the continued development of Alex Twal, Luciano Leilua, Luke Garner, Tommy Talau and Shaun Blore and the Tigers have plenty of talent they can build around moving forward if they can start to put in on the defensive end.

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Takeaways From 2021

Things I Liked

Jason picks out a few moments, matches or players that he liked most throughout the 2021 NRL season.

Luke Brooks

*whispers* I’m a Luke Brooks believer…

*ducks for cover*

Luke Brooks is one of the most interesting players to talk about in rugby league.

He was never good enough to win the Dally M Halfback of the Year award he did in 2018. However, he wasn’t as bad as most will make out he was in 2020 when jumping between the halves (they even tried the put-in-at-6-and-see-if-that-works trick at one stage) and bench.

Playing all 24 games in his preferred #7 jersey in 2021, Brooks played well.

Unlike seasons past in which staff and media have talked about “unleashing” him and hyping up the possibility of finally living up to the expectations others had set for him far too early in his career, Brooks actioned the things he talked about throughout the preseason.

Subtlety. Deception. Breaking down defences.

Brooks is 26-years-old. He’s only just entering what are typically the prime years of a half’s career and the actions he displayed with the ball in 2021 are signs of growth and development. Unlike previous years in which he has produced empty numbers to give the perception of decent attacking play, Brooks’ 16 try assists in 2021 are an accurate reflection of how he went about manufacturing tries.

I broke down a particularly impressive performance in Round 22 in which he finished up with two try assists but did so much more than simply send teammates over the line here.

The signs of a performance like that in Round 22 were evident earlier in the season. This try here in Round 5 is a great example of how he changes the tempo of his run to hold up the middle defence, looks long to send Tom Dearden wide before hitting Stefano Utoikamanu short to score.

Forget “running the ball more”, swapping his jersey number or giving him the captaincy in a desperate attempt to inspire better performances. It’s those little things above that are good to see: Identifying opportunities, using players around him to manipulate the defensive line, and putting others in positions to dominate.

The arrival of Jackson Hastings may take some of the sting out of the typical Brooks preseason hype. This will be a year I think it’s justified, though. I’m all in on Brooks in 2022.

Stefano Utoikamanu

Stefano Utoikamanu is exactly the sort of signing and the player Wests Tigers need at the moment. Poaching him from the Parramatta Eels and providing him with the opportunity for regular first grade football, Utoikamanu took his chance with both hands. From Round 18 onward, in particular.

He played well enough to start the year without jumping out as a potential top tier prop in the game. However, given a starting spot against the Broncos in Round 18, Utoikamanu has since made it his jersey to lose following an excellent finish to the season.

He’s huge. Massive. At 191 cm and 115 kg, he’s one of the biggest players on the field every time he walks out of the sheds. The 21-year-old is learning how to make the most of his big rig, too.

We saw him take two or three steps forward in his development before our eyes throughout 2021.

In typical Tigers fashion, Utoikamanu is active in attack. He pushes up around the ball which is one effort area that separates the good middle forwards from the average. If the Tigers can add some more ball playing in the middle of the field (Tyrone Peachey is a promising signing), Utoikamanu will be provided with more opportunities to run at isolated defenders.

As Viliame Kikau now knows, Utoikamanu is a tough ball carrier to contain.

It’s a couple of years away from being regularly effective, but there is potential for a passing game. I highlighted his growing intent to move the ball back in Round 22 and it’s something to monitor moving forward. Everything about this pass is poor but the intent to throw it is a promising start.

So many young props are flying under the radar due to the freak of nature in Brisbane. Expect Utoikamanu to generate some buzz next year, though.

~ Jason

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3-2-1

True rugby league fans will know there’s nothing more legitimate than the Dally M’s 3-2-1 voting system…With that in mind, Oscar picks out three elements from the 2021 season that deserve a mention.

3- Adam Doueihi

Michael Maguire’s baffling decision to move Adam Doueihi from five-eighth to centre in Round 10 hampered what was a career season for the playmaker before busting his ACL in Round 23. 

Particularly when you consider the Tigers came out publicly just two weeks earlier to announce Doueihi had been given the keys to the team’s attack. He’s been shuffled across the backline in his 70 NRL appearances to date but Doueihi’s form in the #6 jumper should see him walk straight back into that role on return from injury. 

For me, the most impressive element of Doueihi’s first ‘full’ season in the halves was how comfortable he immediately looked as Wests’ leading playmaker. 

They didn’t get the win on this occasion, but Round 9 against the Gold Coast Titans was when it all started to come together for Doueihi as Wests’ dominant half:

“Doueihi’s receipts per game are more or less the same as they were to begin the season, but what has changed significantly is the timing of those receipts. Doueihi is getting his hands on the ball more often in key moments – on fifth tackle or in set attacking plays – and Wests are looking all the better for it.” – Take the Two: Round 9

Instead of Luke Brooks throwing the final pass in backline shifts it was Doueihi in the box seat and making the plays. His ballplaying is still developing but he has wonderful vision and game awareness that caught out an injured Brian Kelly late in that game. 

Doueihi gives the defence no indication he is going to link with David Nofoaluma here right until he lets the pass go. He digs deep into the line with the ball out in front and looks every chance of playing short which drags Corey Thompson in and leaves Kelly exposed. A lovely spiral pass over the top of them all gets Nofoaluma on the outside of Kelly and the Tigers are in. 

The other reason this action works so well is because Doueihi is such a dangerous runner of the ball himself. At 191cm and 95kgs he is one of the bigger halves going around but he’s light on his feet and has a killer right foot step that exposed the Titans not once but twice in this game. 

Doueihi took possession down that right edge and broke Tannah Boyd’s ankles twice inside 60 seconds with that right foot to find space back on the inside. A first-class coat hanger denies him in the first action but with David Fifita in the bin, Doueihi had more luck the second time around. This isn’t what you’d usually call repeatable attacking actions but Doueihi’s ability to create situations for that right foot step impressed, and I’m praying that ACL heals up properly so we can enjoy a few more. 

2 – Daine Laurie

Daine Laurie was the forgotten man in Buy of the Season conversations after he went down in Round 20. The young fullback was consistently one of the Tigers’ best from the word go with a quality beyond his years both on and off the ball. 

The positional play and clean up work at fullback seems to come naturally to Laurie. Sure, there’s been some coaching along the way but players like Laurie simply know where and when to be on the footy field. In defence he cleaned up loose ball on his own line confidently and in attack he was a reliable support player and target for attacking shifts. 

If you take out the one minute he played in Round 20 before breaking his leg, Laurie averaged 3.9 tackle busts and 150 running metres in his debut season as a first-choice, first-grade fullback. Statistically speaking, that ranks him around premiership winning fullback Dylan Edwards (172m, 4 tackle busts) and Origin representative Valentine Holmes (154m, 3 tackle busts) – not bad for a rookie in a predominantly losing team. 

Laurie burst onto the scene primarily as a ball-running threat, but as the season went on the Tigers found ways to work Laurie into playmaking situations in their attack. This action against the Dragons in Round 12 is a good example. 

Jacob Liddle does a good job to hold up the defence here as he crabs across-field before passing to Luke Brooks on the edge. James Roberts has swooped around as an inside-ball option for Laurie who takes possession out the back of shape, but the timing is a little off and Laurie goes himself instead. He easily burns Ben Hunt for speed on the outside before ducking back inside to take the tackle and find his front.

Not to be dissuaded, Laurie went back there again just one tackle later. 

Laurie skips towards Hunt again which gets the attention of Gerard Beale at centre before throwing a lovely face ball to put Tommy Talau over untouched. Not only was this a skilful bit of ballplaying from Laurie but what impressed most was his developing ability to construct situations in attack for him to be effective. He identified an opportunity here with Hunt no match for his speed from the inside and he designed an action to expose that opportunity. Again, not bad for a rookie. 

A broken leg in the last month of the competition was a cruel way to end what was a stellar year for Laurie and barring further injury he’ll be one of Wests’ best again in 2022. 

1 – Michael Maguire

It’s without a doubt the biggest narrative of Wests’ 2021 season and it was all the more heavily scrutinised thanks to the Tales from Tigertown series (which for the record I was a sucker for) airing midyear. We rode the highs and the lows of a largely disappointing season from the passenger seat as head coach Michael Maguire screamed to no avail through the windshield. 

Maguire’s tenure as head coach was confirmed in bizarre circumstances once the Tigers’ season was over but it didn’t go far to allay the concerns of fans and neutral observers alike. 

I’m a big ‘Madge’ guy. He delivered Souths their historic premiership in 2014 and I’ve been in the Maguire camp ever since, but in three seasons at Wests it must be admitted that he hasn’t got them trending in the right direction. 

Contrary to what the media would have you believe, Maguire’s take-no-prisoners, intense coaching style is not the problem. The problem is that Maguire’s current squad does not lend itself to the style of play he is renowned for. The pack isn’t filled with tough, hard-nosed forward leaders who love to get in the grind and he hasn’t had consistent strike attacking players in the backline that can perform under pressure. The recent signing of Tyrone Peachey is the latest example of a player you wouldn’t usually associate with Maguire and his ‘type’ of player, and it remains to be seen whether ‘Madge’ will change things up in 2022. 

If he doesn’t and if the Tigers’ form doesn’t change either, it won’t be long before Maguire’s position is under fire again. 

~ Oscar

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Summer Notepad

The NRL Notepad is a feature that has run all season. With the 2021 campaign wrapped up, we’re starting to think about what we’d like to see between now and March next year.

Jackson Hastings

The Jackson Hastings signing is an interesting one.

Did the Tigers not see Adam Doueihi as the long-term fit at #6?

Did they think Luke Brooks may have left by now?

Did they really sign him with the intention of playing in the #13 jersey?

How he is talked about and the spots he fills on the field throughout preseason training is going to be one of the most interesting angles of the summer. Sorry, Tigers fans. Expect a lot more speculative articles on one of your players all off-season.