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Can A Premiership Be Won On the back of Narrative and Yarn?

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Can A Premiership Be Won On the back of Narrative and Yarn?

DYOR Dave

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Three weeks ago, Latrell Mitchell launched his shoulder into the face of Joey Manu, and with it, he launched his off-season campaign a month earlier than Souths fans would have liked. After that, punters and dribblers alike were happy to write the Bunnies off, with popular opinion deciding that a premiership was out of reach for a club missing such a vital part of their spine and having conceded 50 points twice this year. Unbelievably, they now sit just 80 minutes away from a historic premiership, one that would rewrite record books and ultimately prove wrong critics of the club, coach, and players.

In previous years, premierships have been won on the back of a strong season, hard and consistent work on game plans that have paved the way for greatness. While there’s no doubt Souths have toiled as hard as just about any club this season, it would seem the largest point of difference, and the one factor that could see them rise above their opponents and claim an unlikely victory, is narrative. Regardless of next week’s result, it’s an astonishing feat for a club said to be at the end of their premiership window, and as long as the Storm win tonight’s qualifier, it’s fair to say the vast majority of fans will be backing the narrative soaked campaign of the Rabbitohs.

16 years after his heroic flick-pass helped the Tigers to their first premiership, Benji will line up in the big dance once again, and potentially become twice as successful as his DMC predecessor. It would be a fairytale finish for one of the game’s most treasured ornaments, after a career that saw an incredible start lead to years of disappointing performances in subpar teams, and a failed stint in Rugby Union. Universally admired and adored, even the most diehard Storm fan has a soft spot for the inspirational narrative of the 37-year-old kiwi,

Mastermind and ornament to the game
Mastermind and ornament to the game

 

Perhaps less emotionally provocative is their supercoach Wayne Bennett, who is looking to become the only coach to win a premiership with three different teams. While there is a lot of discussion around who the greatest coaches of all time are, a win here for Bennett without his star player would tip the weight of the argument heavily in favour of the old master. At 71 years old, he’s easily the oldest coach in the league, and with his future uncertain, this could be a perfect opportunity to finish his illustrious career with one final mic drop and his signature cheeky smile.

And then there’s Adam Reynolds, Redfern born and bred, a favourite son of every Souths dribbler and one of only three players who won the 2014 title with the club. Fans of the club and even those outside have expressed their outrage and confusion at the decision to release their star halfback, and with his current vein of form, it’s easy to see how Souths could be regretting that decision. Nevertheless, Reynolds has one last shot to once again etch his name into Bunnies folklore, before he spends what will assumably be a fruitless 3 years at the Broncos.

These three colossal narratives are driving the success and hope for the club and their fans, along with supporting acts from Alex Johnston scoring tries for fun and future immortal Mark Nicholls. Whoever lines up against them next week wouldn’t stand a chance if the game was scored on yarn and sentimental narrative alone, and as all Rugby League dribblers know, the game can be won or lost in the narrative game. When the players run onto Suncorp Stadium next week it’s all about footy, but until then, yarns rain supreme, and in those stakes alone, the Bunnies are unstoppable.

Fancy yourself as a bit of a writer? Got some unqualified opinion and unwavering bias you’d like to share with the world? Send it through to dyor@hellosport.com.au to be featured on the site

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A Decade as a Tigers Fan

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A Decade as a Tigers Fan

by DMC Duggs

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To paraphrase Brad Pitt in ‘Moneyball’: “There are rich teams and there are poor teams. Then there’s fifty feet of crap, and then there’s the Wests Tigers.”

I’ve been a passionate Tigers fan all of my life, and like the rest of our passionate fanbase, I’ve struggled long and hard through what is soon to be a 10-year finals drought. To put this into perspective, the last time the Tigers were in a finals series I was entering high school, I now work full-time and have university degree.

So, I thought I’d allow you all to laugh at my pain and shed some light into what the last decade has been like for a Tigers fan.

2011: The last time I would know happiness

I still get hard thinking about those days. ‘Benjimania’ was at an all-time high, Beau Ryan was bringing elite banter to the squad and ‘The Footy Show,’ and Benjy was putting nut right on chest week in week out.

Week two of the finals saw the 4th placed Tigers as heavy favourites, off the back of a 9-game winning streak up against Ivan Cleary’s Warriors. As I was watching a delayed version of the game, blissfully ignorant of the tragedy about to unfold, my mate called me up as the clock ticked down to the last five minutes.

“HAHA!, Tigers lost!” He gloated

Shocked and confused, I replied “No! What do you mean!? We’re winning!”

Almost commentating the try as it unfolded in front of me, he gleefully described Krisnan Inu recovering a kick and planting it down to put the Warriors ahead with barely two minutes to play. After delivering every profanity I knew down the phone line, I turned off in disgust and went to cry in my room.

 

2012 – 2017: ABANDON SHIP

My relationship with the club in the years following can only be described as symptomatic of Stockholm syndrome, as I began to enjoy being brutally tortured by the Tigers board. The red flags were everywhere, as they acted like a clingy girlfriend to any fan favourite player, only to dispose of them once the going got tough.

It started with the ‘Tiger Sharks,’ who brought incredible value to the locker room and after game sessions (Fifita, Gibbs, Heighington, Ryan and Ayshford).

Next on the chopping block was ‘legendary’ coach Tim Sheens and long-time throbber, Benji Marshall, who made way for Mick Potter and Luke Brooks respectively. Jason Taylor was the next recruit, bringing his ‘Ricky Stuart’ like approach of physically fighting players in his team, leading to the departure of the closest thing the tigers have had to a ‘Big 3’ – Tedesco, Woods and Moses.

The lonely highlight of this period was an exciting winger coming up through reserve grade who showed lightning quick speed and knew how to get over the line.

His name was Josh Addo-Carr and much like Marika Koroibete and so many others, he would go on to have a fantastic career… at the Melbourne Storm. 

Among many lowlights, the stand-out bedshit saw my beloved tigers go down 52-10 in a must win game against the Raiders. Not only did this match cement our position in the cursed 9th place, but it also gave birth to the iconic image of Robbie Farah perched on the Leichardt scoreboard, undoubtedly reconsidering every decision he’s made since he decided to join the club.

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2018- 2020: Can we please just stop coming 9th?

Frustration began to build as I realised that it had been 7 long years since the magic of 2011 Benjimania. However I remained optimistic, naively believing that Ivan Cleary would steer the Tigers in the right direction. Lead begins filling my pencil as I hear the news that Benji has returned home. I start reading ‘The Prodigal Son’ in the Bible, and listening to P Diddy’s Coming Home. There was no turning back from this blind optimism.

The season starts and somehow my expectations are being met, with two wins over the Storm and one over the Roosters and Eels, all in the first five rounds. I’m rushed to hospital for serious pinch marks on my arm, as I can’t believe this dream I’m living in. It literally was too good be true, and in true DMC form, the season took a sharp turn downhill from there.

News of Ivan Cleary’s looming departure mixed with a horror run of 2 wins from 10 games forced an unpleasant realisation onto Tigers fans: Ivan was not the chosen one. His two years at the club left nothing but sour memories and an ugly habit of finishing in 9th place. 

Every 9th place meme over the next 3 years felt like a nail being driven into my body. The joke was so unoriginal, yet so powerful, and provoked a deep sense of anger that has lingered to this day.

In 2020 we didn’t finish 9th, we finished 11th, so I’ll take that. Lowlights included seeing James Tedesco, Addo-Carr and Papenhuyzen in career best form, as the team of players that Tigers let go of would make its way across social media. Undeniably, the only highlight of 2020 was watching evil Sith Lord Ivan Cleary lose the Grand Final.

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And so we reach 2021, where our only wins have been against an injury-ravaged Knights side, the other DMC and sweet revenge over Ivan Cleary’s depleted Panthers. This sense of joy and happiness – that included chanting “Cleary’s a wanker” – was short-lived, as the Storm murdered our finals chances by thrashing us 66-16.

Watching that game is like sitting through one of my uncle’s drunken COVID rants; you know it’s going to happen, but you can’t do anything about it and you just feel sorry for those involved. In that moment I remember what my uncle said about the Tigers, and I grew a new sense of envy for Newtown and North Sydney fans. “At least they didn’t have to see their team merged into a club that produced a decade like this.

 

Fancy yourself as a bit of a writer? Got some unqualified opinion and unwavering bias you’d like to share with the world? Send it through to dyor@hellosport.com.au to be featured on the site