The Wests Tigers need to play finals football in 2026; it's as simple as that. But what does the club need to do on the field to make that happen? How do we do something that we haven't done in 15 years?

On this edition of the Wests Tigers Podcast, we identify our areas of improvement that the club and team need to make. Joel Helmes and Nick Hayes suggest improvements that should and could be made in important aspects, such as bench rotations and impact.

We also identify consistency in the halves and arrest a worrying trend that has crept into many failed or frustrating Wests Tigers seasons, a long mid-season run of outs!

Watch or listen to this edition to see what else the club needs to do to see finals footy once again, finally!

What has us worried heading into the 2026 NRL season? Joel and Nick also list a few factors that have them concerned at this point in the Wests Tigers' preseason. These concerns include positional question marks, key contract discussions, and a reliance on some inexperienced and untested young players.

As always, feel free to agree or disagree with the boys on the Wests Tigers Podcast Forum. Other topics up for discussion on this edition of the Wests Tigers Podcast included:

• Is Royce Hunt ready to turn the corner and hit a new high?
• Why aren't a couple of key 2026 recruits listed on the 'Teams' page of the official Wests Tigers website?

And the brand-new Wests Tigers jersey design also comes up for discussion, with a Wests Tigers legend also being mentioned in that discussion.

It's the latest big edition of the Wests Tigers Podcast. We hope you enjoy it and that you're surviving another long Wests Tigers off-season! We hope to be back again with another podcast edition soon. 

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