Why Twal believes the Tigers are 'capable' of breaking finals drought

With Alex Twal on the verge of his 10th NRL season with the Wests Tigers, he feels that the side under coach Benji Marshall is moving in the right direction.

And it could see the 29-year-old play in his first-ever NRL finals series.   

After winning nine games last season (the most in a single season since 2019), hopes are high within Tigertown that they can maintain some linear progression in 2026 under the 2005 Premiership player.    

And it’s a feeling that is also held by Twal, who has recently re-committed to the club until 2029, with the prop/lock admitting he wouldn’t have stayed if he believed the club wasn’t capable of pushing into the finals.

“We’ve definitely taken steps forward as a club over the last 12 months,” Twal explained on SEN’s Arvos with Adam Peacock.

“I’m just really happy with how Benji has got things going at the moment. Just the feel around the place.

“Obviously, it’s early days in the pre-season, but I’ve been around for a while, and I sort of know what it takes to be professional and working towards that space.

“I definitely think we are on that trajectory at the moment (towards a top eight finish).

“If I didn’t think that we were going to play finals footy, I wouldn’t have put the best part of the back end of my career in (playing for) the Tigers. I definitely feel we’ve got the capabilities to play finals footy, so looking forward to what’s ahead.”

The Tigers will be featuring in their first preseason match on Saturday when they play the Sydney Roosters at McDonald Jones Stadium in Newcastle.

That will then be followed by a match at their home in Leichhardt Oval against the Panthers on the following Friday.

They’ll then wait till Round 2 to begin their season proper when they face the Cowboys on March 14 at Leichhardt Oval.