Three stats to fix: Wests Tigers

It is little surprise given their last-placed finish in 2022 that the Wests Tigers sat at the wrong end of many of the NRL's most important statistical categories last season. 

The metrics show that improvement in a couple of key areas last year could have drastically changed the way their season panned out, and they are points which won't have been lost on the new coaching setup led by Tim Sheens. 

NRL.com takes a look at a few of the ways the Wests Tigers can improve in 2023 as they seek to climb the ladder with their new-look roster. 

Catching kicks and bringing them back 

Defusing kicks, and the manner in which you return them, can make or break a set of six in the NRL, and last year the Wests Tigers got it wrong far too often. 

First-choice fullback Daine Laurie struggled with catching bombs, allowing 19 to bounce (an average of one per game he played), while in total he failed to defuse 31 kicks.  

Despite having one of the NRL's bigger wingers in Ken Maumalo, their yield from kick returns was the worst in the competition, averaging just 119.2 kick return metres per game.

For context the NRL's best team in that area, the Panthers, averaged 206.2 kick return metres per match last year.

Don't blow it

They won four games last year and allowed several more to slip from their grasp. 

A close look at the Wests Tigers' games in 2022 shows just how many blown chances there were, with the club establishing a lead of more than 10 points on eight occasions, of which five still ended in defeat. 

Developing his side's ability to manage a game from in front, and fostering their confidence to do so, will need to be a big focus for Sheens if the club are to be any chance of challenging for the top eight this season.

Scoring tries 

Unless your defence is incredible, you aren't going to win very often in the NRL if you average just 2.5 tries scored per game across a season.

That was the Wests Tigers' competition-worst stat from last year, and by the end of the regular season the Storm, Rabbitohs, Eels and Panthers at the other end of that category had scored almost double the club's total haul of 63 tries. 

Those scoring struggles can be traced back to a number of issues, and with the exception of the Broncos no team had fewer good ball sets than the Wests Tigers' 288 last year, meaning they often weren't in any position to build pressure and score tries.