Tim Sheens

Being a Rugby League coach is a tough job, especially at the elite level. You are often held solely responsible for your team’s fortunes creating a high pressure high stress environment in which you have very little control. Steve Kearney has inherited a weak and ageing playing roster at Parramatta and with each weeks passing come more calls for the coach’s head from fans and past players. But Kearney isn’t out there missing tackles or dropping the ball and he certainly had little to do with the signings of Shane Shackleton and Justin Poore who were bought to add muscle to a timid forward pack. Neither have lived up to reputation at the Parramatta club and both look like reserve graders. Very few coaches can go to bed at night with any sort of job security. Wayne Bennett and Craig Bellamy are perhaps the only coaches with any sort of real job security. But while we have already heard calls for the sacking of Kearney, Brian Smith and David Furner this year A View From the Top would like to pose the question, what about Tim Sheens?

Now it’s only round four and yes a few other clubs including the boys in cardinal and myrtle sit alongside the Tigers on two points there are a number of points to consider here:

-The Tigers were very active players in the transfer market last season securing the prized services of International Adam Blair along with Joel Reddy, Matt Bell and Tom Humble. In turn they lost Andrew Fifita, who has a huge future in the game, and Bryce Gibbs to Cronulla while Todd Payten retired. They also let Tim Moltzen go, only to hold onto him when Robert Lui was sacked from the club. 

As such they bought a backrower, a center, and two reserve graders while losing three front rowers and a halfback. Keep in mind Wests have one of the best backrow and center pairings in the competition and one of the weakest middle thirds. Seeing how things have played out over four rounds AVFTT has to really question what Tim Sheens was thinking here. From what I can see the plan here was to play young Tedesco at fullback with Moltzen at seven and Adam Blair on an edge relegating Liam Fulton to the bench and forcing Aaron Woods into the starting lineup. 

Now AVFTT has expressed before that it has always clear Tim Moltzen is not a halfback, he cannot kick or organise, so he would merely become a passenger to the Robbie and Benji show. Is Adam Blair that much of an upgrade on Liam Fulton? Fulton runs good lines off Benji and has a handy offload. Tedesco is 18. Do you want an 18 year old in your ‘spine’ from round 1. The kid can play so you can put his injury down to bad luck for Sheens, but at 21 is Woods ready to step up and carry the Tigers over the advantage line? Again an injury to Galloway has hurt Sheens here but when your top three front rowers include two 21 year olds and one Matt Groat you’re in for a long year either way. 

The Joel Reddy acquisition is even more puzzling. A City representative at Parramatta he played a lot of lower grades at fullback but established himself as a center in the top grade. Now the plan here could have been to play Reddy at fullback, as many speculated over the off season but after four rounds AVFTT gets the impression that Sheens bought Reddy to play him in the centers. As I said Wests have had one of the most consistent and effective center pairings in the competition over the last two years in Ayshford and Lawrence as well as an absolute boom youngster in Tim Simona. Clearly another signing the club didn’t need. 

It seems the plan here was to pair Reddy with Lawrence in the centers pushing Ayshford into the backrow. That plan couldn’t get any stupider if you tried. They already have four 80 minute backrowers at the club. While Wests supporters allowed themselves to get a little excited about their off season signings they never really made any sense. Sheens ignored the weakest areas of the side allowing them to get weaker while marginally strengthening the sides strengths. Its borderline incompetent.

- The Tigers have won one game. In golden point. Against the Sharks. From a favourable referees decision. They did not deserve to win, against the Sharks. Alarm bells must surely have been ringing after round one. Why? Because the Sharks are going to compete with sides and occasionally beat sides one way - through the middle. They have almost no backline of any note apart from a gun fullback and five eighth and will struggle to score points again this year. They do however boast the best forward pack in the competition in Paul Gallen. Apparently a few others blokes play in the forwards but I am yet to see any evidence of this rumour as of yet. They were bullied by the Sharks and it would seem to be an emerging trend after four games.

-They were beaten by a Canberra Raiders side minus their best defender in Fensom and their best attacker in Dugan. Again they bullied by the giant Raiders pack and it is alleged a missing persons report was filed with Campbelltown police when Matt Groat went missing for 80 minutes on Monday night.

-They have one of the best sides on paper in the competition and should have added to their 2005 Premiership by now. Two consecutive Preliminary final losses are not bad seasons by any stretch of the imagination but they’re not good seasons either when you boast Farah, Marshall, Lawrence, Ellis and the like.


-On top of all this rumours have emerged that the club is trying to lure Braith Anasta for the club for next season. Not a front rower or fullback but a five eighth or backrower at the end of his career. Whoever is in charge of recruitment at the club needs to be sent a video of the sides 48 missed tackles against Canberra as soon as possible.

Wests may well turn it around this weekend and towel up the Bunnies at the SFS. However regardless of that surely the finger of CEO Stephen Humphries and Chairman Mike Bailey must be getting a little itchy. Wests have serious issues with the makeup of their side. Adam Blair had five touches on the weekend and thats just not good enough. Keith Galloway is still weeks away and without Farah and Marshall on the weekend they will be unable to rely on indivdual brilliance to get them home. A forward pack or Woods and Blair in the front row and Ellis, Fulton and Heighinton in the backrow with anyone at hooker would surely be a better option than the named Woods Fulton Bell Ellis Blair Heighinton pack. Sheens needs to bite the bullet and for the first time in years address the sides glaring weakness, the front row, before their season and his job slip away before his eyes.