WESTS TIGERS’ FINAL-ROUND WOES
2004 – KNIGHTS START THE ROT IN NEWCASTLE
The Tigers were in the box seat to play in their first finals series as a merged club after they entered the final round in eighth. Against a Newcastle side already out of contention, the Tigers fought their way back to 18-16 down before Kurt Gidley broke their hearts with a 66th minute try. It marked the Tigers third straight loss and when Canberra flogged South Sydney 62-22 hours later, their season was over.
2007 – HEARTBREAK AFTER THE FINAL SIREN
Looked certain to qualify for the finals before it all came crashing down in the last eight minutes of their regular season against the Knights. Up 24-12, the Tigers fell victim to two solo efforts from Newcastle winger Cooper Vuna. That levelled the scores, before the Knights pulled off a one-on-one strip with 12 seconds to go, Danny Buderus earned an offside and Kurt Gidley kicked the penalty goal. It saved Newcastle from the wooden and knocked the Tigers out of the finals.
2009 – FROM FIFTH TO OUT
Newcastle were again their nemesis but this time in different fashion. The Tigers were fifth with three rounds to play before they fell to Jarryd Hayne’s Parramatta in the classic battle between he and Benji Marshall. That loss dropped them five spots to 10th, before they lost to Gold Coast the following week. Needing to beat Canterbury in the final round and have Penrith beat Newcastle to qualify, the Tigers held up their end of the bargain but the Knights beat the Panthers 35-0 to finish ahead.
2012 – LATE-SEASON FIZZLE REPEATS
The Tigers entered the final round of the season needing to pull off a minor miracle with a must-win game against Melbourne at Leichhardt and needing the lowly-ranked Warriors to beat Canberra. Neither happened, with the Tigers barely in the contest against the Storm and beaten 26-6. They finished 10th, left to rue a controversial golden-point loss to Canterbury while sitting eighth in round 24 that kickstarted a three-match losing streak to end their season.
2016 – FARAH’S FAREWELLING NIGHTMARE
The most famous of their last-round collapses that left the enduring image of Robbie Farah sitting on the scoreboard drinking by himself. After they beat the Warriors in the penultimate round, a win over Canberra on a Sunday afternoon at Leichhardt would have been enough to end their finals drought. What followed was nothing short of a disaster. The Raiders led 30-4 by halftime, and when the score finally reached 52-10 the season couldn’t end soon enough. Farah wasn’t picked for the match by Jason Taylor and it appeared the end of his Tigers’ career before his return last season.
2018 – ANOTHER NINTH-PLACED FINISH
The Tigers finished ninth for the fifth time in their history, but this one was decided well before the finals. Ivan Cleary’s men were the last team to drop out of the eight in round 12, as it remained unchanged for the second half of the season. After winning five of the first six, the Tigers struggled through the middle part of the season to lose pace with the finals.