With the Wests Tigers’ 2015 NRL season now complete, we take a look back at some of the main talking points from the year that was.
Club record broken
During the 2015 season, Head Coach Jason Taylor used a total of just 25 players. Previous to this, the least amount of players used during a Wests Tigers season was 26 in both the 2005 and 2007 seasons. The most players ever used in a season was back in 2001, with 35 players taking the field throughout that year. What makes this even more remarkable is that Lamar Liolevave and Josh Drinkwater played just the one NRL match each.
Three players play every game
James Tedesco, Mitchell Moses and Kevin Naiqama played in all 24 games for Wests Tigers this season. Tedesco and Moses played every minute of every Wests Tigers match, with Naiqama missing minor parts of the Raiders (Rd 22), Sea Eagles (R15) and Cowboys (R11) games.
Tedesco (City) and Naiqama (Fiji) also played during the Representative Round in May; while Naiqama also appeared in the NRL Auckland Nines tournament at the start of the season.
Nearly…. but not quite every game
Luke Brooks, Pat Richards, Sauaso Sue and Ava Seumanufagai only missed one match each all season, while Martin Taupau played every match bar his three-game suspension.
Taupau looked as though he would go on to play two seasons straight before his suspension in Round 20, having not missed an NRL game since joining the Club at the start of the 2014 season.
Wests Tigers among leading try-scorers
With Pat Richards and James Tedesco notching up 17 tries each, Wests Tigers were the only Club to have two players in the Top 10 try-scorers for the year.
Richards and Tedesco finished in third place behind Semi Radradra (24) and Curtis Rona (22).
Brooks and Richards number-up
While on statistics – both Luke Brooks and Pat Richards were among the best players in the competition in try-assists and line-breaks respectively.
Brooks finished fifth in total try-assists with a total of 16 – trailing Jonathan Thurston (28), Benji Marshall (22), James Maloney (19) and Daly Cherry-Evans (18).
Adding three line-breaks to his tally on Saturday night, Richards finished the season in fourth-place with 20. Radradra (25), Rona (22) and Alex Johnston (21) finished in front of the veteran winger.
Young guns on the main stage
Despite only using 25 players this season, the Club blooded five players through to the NRL. Kyle Lovett, Delouise Hoeter, Lamar Liolevave, Nathan Milone and Manaia Cherrington all had their first taste of the top grade in 2015.
Lovett played 21 games this season, while Cherrington also featured prominently in the backend of the season with 11 matches.
The Club also welcomed new players in Kevin Naiqama and Josh Drinkwater.
Wests Tigers 2015 Season Statistics
TOP TRY-SCORERS:
17 – James Tedesco
17 – Pat Richards
10 – Luke Brooks
9 – Kevin Naiqama
6 – David Nofoaluma
TOP TACKLES:
697 – Robbie Farah
663 – Kyle Lovett
627 – Sauaso Sue
599 – Aaron Woods
573 – Martin Taupau
MOST METRES:
3654 – James Tedesco
3268 – Aaron Woods
2684 – Keith Galloway
2487 – Kevin Naiqama
2425 – Pat Richards
LINE BREAKS:
20 – Pat Richards
14 – James Tedesco
10 – Tim Simona
7 – David Nofoaluma
7 – Kevin Naiqama
