Wests Tigers centre Beau Ryan believes his side can take an attitude lesson from the Sydney Roosters as they prepare to give popular Englishman Gareth Ellis a fitting home farewell this weekend.
An emotionally-charged Roosters celebrated fullback Anthony Minichiello’s 250th NRL game last Sunday with a stunning 44-20 upset over the Tigers, who could’ve entered the final round in eighth place and in control of their finals destiny.
Instead, they need to not only beat second-placed Melbourne at Leichhardt Oval on Saturday night, but rely on Penrith upsetting Brisbane at Suncorp Stadium 24 hours earlier.
Ryan hopes his team can replicate the fire the Minichiello-inspired Roosters hit them with in order to give well-respected second-rower Ellis the send-off he deserves in front of his home fans.
“The Roosters came ready to play and they played for Minichiello and touched us up,” Ryan said on Wednesday.
“It was disappointing but we’ve got the cavalry to do the job (against the Storm) and I’m confident we can do it.”
Ryan said the golden-point loss to Canterbury the preceding round was draining physically and emotionally and they failed to respond when their top-eight chances were on the line.
“There’s a big rivalry between the two clubs and it shocked the system a bit,” said Ryan.
“But being in professional sport you’ve got to bounce back and we didn’t last week.”
Ellis, who will head back to the English Super League with Hull FC at the end of the year, was trying to look on the bright side as his fourth NRL season draws to a close.
“Mathematically it’s still possible and we’re all still clinging on to that hope but the reality is that we’re not kidding ourselves – it could be my last game at the Tigers,” said Ellis.
“After last week’s game everyone is keen on restoring a bit of pride.”
The second-rower bemoaned the wild swings in form from the Tigers in 2012 after being listed in the pre-season as NRL premiership favourites.
“That’s the disappointing thing. We started the year with a great squad and great belief in what we can achieve,” said Ellis, who has won the club’s player of the season in each year since he joined in 2009.
“In little spurts we’ve played well, (there have been) moments of brilliance but in others we’ve been very disappointing and that’s why you end up loitering around that eighth spot.”
Ellis said he’s loved his time in Australia and testing himself in the brutal competition despite the likelihood he’ll return to England without an NRL premiership ring.
“One of my favourite memories here is playing finals football and to possibly not be able to do that this year is very disappointing,” he said.
“But I won’t feel like I’ve not been a success down here just because I haven’t won a grand final. My time here has been fantastic regardless.”
