BY CURTIS WOODWARD

@woodward_curtis

It isn’t easy being a Wests Tigers fan. They are as passionate as any other supporter base in the National Rugby League. And while the club loves to create headaches for themselves at the best of times – the media does them no favours, either.

Your writer has been fairly critical of Wests Tigers over the journey but only when it has been warranted. The NRL is a cutthroat business. There’s no room for mediocrity. You can love your footy team and be harsh at the same time.

Cruel to be kind.

We can all agree Wests Tigers have suffered as an entity because they haven’t nailed down who they are. They have tried to massage different factions at the expense of their long-term wellbeing. A premiership in 2005 merely prolonged the sickness.

The media has had a part to say in all this too.

So many online news outlets – so little time.

Once we only had newspapers and you’d have to wait a whole day to get another fix of rugby league news. Now, at the touch of a button, a story can be posted online in seconds.

The battle for clicks has never been so fierce.

In turn, it means journalists, bloggers and podcasters alike are producing more content than every before.

The problem is, we only have so many ex-footballers to turn to for a headline.

So it doesn’t help Wests Tigers’ fractured identity when the media continues to turn to a select few former Balmain Tigers legends for a sound bite. Of course, they have their right to have an opinion. After all, without Balmain there would be no Wests Tigers. Just like there would be no Wests Tigers without the Magpies.

The easiest thing to do is lump it all in together.

‘Frightfully lonely’: Every other club in the National Rugby League has played finals at least once since 2016 except for one

‘Tigers legend this, unhappy about that, something, something Wests Tigers’.

Those players have spilt blood for the game and their opinion will always be valid.

If it gets a few clicks for the media outlet, good for them too.

The issue here is the excessive use of these Balmain players with the connotation that every time an article goes up about what they think of Wests Tigers – a team they have never played for – it hurts the identity of said current club.

It alienates those with links to the Macarthur region or the Magpies.

Judging by the responses online, it also pisses off a fair chunk of Wests Tigers fans born in the late 1990’s onwards who never supported Balmain or Western Suburbs.

On Wednesday, Fox Sports hit #1 on speed dial and churned out a piece about how upset Benny Elias was with the decision by Wests Tigers to announce a five-player captaincy group.

“When you go into a board room to make a decision, you look for your CEO to make the decision,” Elias said.

“When the referee wants to talk to the captain, who’s he going to talk to – the five of them?

“Why is it five captains? Why not three or nine? How did we land on five? It’s embarrassing.”

By ‘we’, he means Wests Tigers.

Elias was also on SEN Sydney on Wednesday and continued the tirade.

Later, SEN posted the interview between Elias and Matt White on their website and actually called the former Kangaroos rake a ‘Wests Tigers legend’.

The Wide World of Sports website lifted his quotes from Fox Sports and published an article on Thursday as well.

Back on Monday, The Daily Telegraph tweeted a Dean Ritchie yarn, “A powerful band of Tigers old boys has initiated a strong push for a new voice to immediately assume the Wests Tigers captaincy for this season as the club grapples with a difficult choice.”

Before clicking on the link, you may have assumed the group included the likes of Robbie Farah, Benji Marshall, Brett Hodgson and John Skandalis. Perhaps Scott Prince, Ben Galea or Pat Richards…

Nope.

Garry Jack, Larry Corowa and Tim Brasher were reportedly part of the crew but the article has apparently been taken down and the link now directs you to an updated Brent Read story.

This isn’t about Balmain, Western Suburbs or knocking greats of our game.

Men like Ben Elias and others will always have something to say.

But it’s to the detriment of this club.

The question is, will the media ever cop the tip?

@woodward_curtis