Wests Tigers players are feeling the scrutiny and pressure like never before.
“We can’t even walk down the street without somebody spraying us,” David Klemmer said.
Which is why the Tigers forward has clocked off social media and is advising his teammates to do likewise.
“I remember back in the day, you go through a rabbit hole when you start seeing that,” he said of the criticism posted online.
“You think ‘Oh shit’ and you keep going. You come here to training and then it’s an intense environment because you have to perform, train and keep yourself at a high standard – and then you’ve got that in the back of your mind as well.
“You have to keep the boys in a good mindset and positive as well, that’s all you can do and train hard.”
A winless 0-5 start to the season, coupled with off-field controversies such as the club’s commemorative jersey debacle, have turned up the heat on everyone at Concord. Given all the dramas, even minor hiccups become magnified. A case in point is Daine Laurie liking an Instagram post showing Broncos star Selwyn Cobbo scoring a scintillating try against his team.
“With Dano’s one, we are not travelling too well and that just becomes open slather,” Klemmer said.
David Klemmer has some advice for his under-fire Tigers teammates.Credit:Getty
“Anyone can pinpoint anything, the jersey [incident], anything, you’re just open to it. I’m pretty sure [Cobbo] and Dano are pretty close mates. It’s obviously not a good look and it’s just one of those things.”
Should the Tigers’ losing streak continue – a distinct possibility given their next clash is against Parramatta on Easter Monday – the spotlight will burn brighter still. Fellow forward Alex Twal said Klemmers’ advice is timely.
“Definitely, social media is so prominent in society,” Twal said. “If you’re a young fella, you haven’t played too many games if you haven’t been around it.
“It’s best to stay off it, I agree with big Klem. When the team is putting in the effort, it’s a bit hard to look at all the outside noise, you can only do what you can control and that’s training hard and putting in a good performance this weekend.”
Asked about Laurie’s media post, Twal said: “I’m sure he’s aware it’s not the right thing to do. At the end of the day he trained real good and if he had his time again he wouldn’t have liked that photo.
“Everything gets blown out of proportion when you’re not winning. At the end of the day, as players, we need to just focus on controlling what we can control.”
Stream the NRL Premiership 2023 live and free on 9Now.
Sports news, results and expert commentary. Sign up for our Sport newsletter.
