From bad to worst: Wests Tigers locked in race to bottom among NRL clubs this century

The collapse of the Broncos, the demise of the Storm: the NRL has delivered a season of change. Even if some things never do. The Wests Tigers have lost seven matches in a row and, after a promising start in 2026, their nosedive is taking them towards the NRL cellar, a place with which they have become familiar.

Indeed, if the Tigers lose to the bottom side St George Illawarra on Sunday, they will be well down the path toward a new club record of 11 straight defeats in a season, given they travel to Penrith, the Roosters and finals contenders the Cowboys in their final three matches. After last year’s turmoil around Lachlan Galvin and the board instability, this year there has been the shock, accelerated departure of Jarome Luai and an ugly falling out with Adam Doueihi. Though coach Benji Marshall responded to reports two weeks ago by denying his players vape inside the club’s gym, he admitted standards have slipped.

From a place of promise at times in the past two seasons, the club is back at square one. The Tigers’ absence from the finals will now tick past 16 years, and a fourth wooden spoon in five years is still not out of the question. Indeed, their collapse has taken the merged entity’s win rate below the modern NRL low-water mark from the Northern Eagles’ brief existence – 39.5% over their three seasons until Manly was reborn in 2003.

It means the Tigers and the Gold Coast Titans are locked in a duel to become the worst NRL club of the 21st century. A string of high-profile recruits in the past few years including Luai, Api Koroisau and Sunia Turuva has been unable to shift the Tigers’ fortunes. Under more stable ownership of the Holman Barnes Group this year and a new chief executive in Shaun Mielekamp, however, there is now a focus on building the club’s foundations.

The 21-year-old is top scorer in NSW Cup this year with 20 tries – four more than anyone else – and was named to debut by Marshall against the Dragons in the centres. Simon Strachan, co-founder of Gain Line Analytics and a former Wallabies analyst, has found developing cohesion between players is under-appreciated in both rugby league and union. Yet there may be no better time to do it than when a team is out of finals contention, with the longer term payoff making up for short-term pain.

Equally, there is an argument that Luai’s presence in the side is preventing others who will actually be at the club next year from gaining experience. Yet Luai engineered the Tigers’ most recent victory, a comeback against the Titans in round 15’s Leichhardt Oval send-off. The Gold Coast franchise have won just 38% of the NRL matches they have played since joining the competition in 2007, but in recent years have unearthed promising talents in fullback Keano Kini, lock Cooper Bai, centre Jojo Fifita and halfback Zane Harrison.