Fleas are natural jumpers. A flea can jump up to a hundred times its own height. If you put a group of fleas into a glass jar and leave it open, they will quickly and easily jump out.
So, naturally some crackpot researchers one day thought it’d be a good idea to put a bunch of fleas into a jar and screw a lid tightly on top.
The fleas continue to jump, but now they repeatedly smash into the glass lid.
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When, after a few days, a researcher removes the lid from the jar none of the fleas jump out.
Even though the physical barrier is gone, they continue to jump at the exact same height, conditioned by the invisible limit they have now internalised.
West Tigers fans are fleas in a jar and we’ve learnt the pain of jumping too high and too early.
Six games into the season with only one loss the mood is one of cautious, reluctant hope.
But starting on Saturday, the Tigers will take on last year’s premiers, Brisbane, followed by minor premiers Canberra.
After that, its away trips against last year’s preliminary finalists, Cronulla and Melbourne.
The next four games will give a strong indication of whether long suffering fans will see that light at the end of the tunnel.
The tale of the tape reveals already stark differences, we ended last season with a dismal net differential of -135, already this years the boys have built a commanding +64 points. Behind that are differences both going forward and defending.
While the 2025 side was often plagued by basic handling errors and missed assignments, so far this season, the Tigers are operating at a reliable 79 per cent completion rate and an impressive 88.2 per cent tackle efficiency.
And it’s backed up both in points scored and points allowed; averaging a staggering 31.2 points per game (156 points in just 5 games) compared to just 19.9 points per game last season.
There’s a growing sense this isn’t just a hot start, but a team that’s figured out where the game is at. Under Benji Marshall, and with the influence of Jarome Luai, the Tigers have leaned right into the change in the way the six-again rule is now being officiated.
With repeat sets coming so frequently, the game doesn’t slow down, wearing teams out and opening the door for sides willing to take advantage of it.
That’s exactly what the Tigers are doing. They’re playing a more ad lib style of footy, built around second-phase play and offloads, and Benji is allowing them the freedom of structure to play what they see in front of them – and it’s leading to some beautifully flashy football Tigers fan’s haven’t seen for a fair time.
First however, here’s some stats to highlight the magnitude of what’s going on at the Tigers:
- If you discount the opening couple games of a season (like round two 2019), this is the first time in the club’s history (since the joint venture) the Tigers have been tied in first place.
- Sunday’s 42-22 win over the Knights snapped a 603-day drought for the club at Campbelltown.
- They have already won the same amount of games this season as they did in the entire 2023 campaign, in which it took them until Round 9 just to register their first victory of the year (an upset against Penrith).
- The win this weekend meant the Wests Tigers have won three NRL matches in a row for the first time since 2018.
- Only four of the Tigers’ current top 17 had made their NRL debuts at the time, and Heamasi Makasini, the club’s latest young hope, was just nine years old.
- In the years since, they have won two matches in a row 15 times but never made it to three.
- It has been 14 years since the Wests Tigers last won five consecutive matches, the longest wait in the NRL and almost double the next closest team (the Manly Sea Eagles 8 years ago).
- The last time the club achieved a winning streak of four or more games was during the 2012 NRL season, where they put together a seven-game winning streak between April 15 and June 8 under head coach Tim Sheens.
So what do the fans think?
“I reckon there’s been plenty of low points in the last 10 years especially,” lifelong Tigers fan Ronan Kelly told news.com.au.
“The turnstile of coaches that we had, when Ivan Cleary especially came on board and signed all the players and then headed for the back door soon after.
“All the stuff with the Holman Barnes group and all the off-field drama with them and sacking off] board members and then of course the Lachlan Galvin stuff last year when we finally were starting to look like we were going well.”
Tigers fans have had no shortage of depression fuel in recent years but turning out to Leichhardt Oval you’d be forgiven for thinking they were one of the competitions top performers.
“I think the Tigers fans have been bonded by their misery of the past 10 years,” Kelly said.
“I know there’s a lot of guys, friends, supporters, that I’ve been texting week on week, year on year, saying that there’s got to be some sort of turnaround sometime soon.
“So fingers crossed – it’s only round 6, but fingers crossed.”
Kelly said there was a “cautious optimism” but that the vibe does feel different this year.
“I just like the way that even after the win, you’ll listen to the press conferences and Benji’s still not happy, even though they put 42 points on the Knights.
“I think a real line in the sand moment has been drawn by him and the standards that he’s willing to uphold and keep everyone to account.
“There’s definitely a cautious optimism in the group, in the fans. I was joking just this morning with my mate that I’m just waiting for the next off field implosion to happen and some drama to derail the season, which it seems to do every year for the last few years.
“We’ve been the laughing stock of the league for a while, so hopefully this is the year all the fans that have suffered for so long, like me, have a bit more to cheer about this year and we can finally crack the top eight.”
Fellow lifelong fan Lachy Davis said no club has faced a bigger mountain to climb.
“This brings a tear to my eye, honestly the biggest thing is overcoming adversity,” he said.
“Over the last few years as soon as things have started to go our way something, something always goes wrong, Galvin leaving, Holman Barnes causing Shane Richardson to leave.
“Historically we’ve had mad juniors and because we’ve been so s**t we lose them all to other teams as soon as they crack it in first grade.
“I always remember in 2022 the lads came last, 16th out of 16 teams, and I remember thinking it can’t get worse than this.
“And in 2023 the Dolphins joined the comp and we came 17th out of 17 teams, it actually got worse.
“The boys getting three back to back to back wooden spoons to now has been such a good turn around.”
Davis agreed with Kelly that the locker room vibe change was a decisive factor.
“I think the fact that Benji and some of the players he’s brought in has caused such a mentality shift – people are saying Luai isn’t performing well on the field – but the mentality shift he’s brought to the club [is] a winning mentality.
“It feels like we have some good young guns at the moment who are keen to stay around.
Benji coming back like 20 years after winning the boys their first premiership to pull them out of the fire has been so good to watch.”
