Were The Big Four Behind The Axing Of Wests Tigers Coach Jason Taylor?

NSW State of Origin coach Laurie Daley said it best: "What I want to know and I think most Tigers fans would like to know is what the real reason behind it all was," he told the Daily Telegraph's rugby league show.

The sacking of West Tigers coach Jason Taylor just three games into the 2017 NRL season is one of the more perplexing and opaque decisions made by an NRL club in recent memory. Little to no warning was given and the grounds - that the Tigers are performing poorly and that the playing group might have lost respect for their coach - are tenuous at best.

The Tigers have been middle of the road so far in 2017, winning one and losing two out of their first three, each game decided by a large margin. These are not the kind of results that see a coach axed within the first three rounds. So let's cross that one off as false.

It is true the club hasn't made a Finals Series since 2011 and that they are desperate to turn around their fortunes this season, but Taylor cannot be held accountable for longterm failings. He only took over the job in 2015. So what else is there?

Since Taylor joined the Tigers they have endured a scandal-plagued end to 2016, and similar beginning to 2017. Taylor, as coach, has been involved in the controversies to varying degrees. The first, the sensational axing of club legend and captain, Robbie Farah, in 2016 just three games shy of his 250th game for the Tigers, was one of the more ice-cold manoeuvres by a new coach in recent memory. How it affected Taylor's standing among the players and fans is hard to say. Both he and Farah were famously divisive. Yet the team played better with Farah gone, seemingly validating coach Taylor's decision, based on a brief window of results, to let the exciting halves/fullback trio of Luke Brooks, Mitchell Moses and James Tedesco run the team.

Then came the Tim Simona betting and cocaine saga, in which the Tigers star admitted to placing bets on himself to perform poorly during the 2016 season (as well as coming clean on a coke habit he says he picked up at club). It ranks among the most damaging scandals of the last decade but Taylor alone can't be fingered for it. He has a squad of 30 or so other players to keep an eye on, not just Simona.

It is true that Taylor has a history of finding himself on the nose with his players. During Mad Monday celebrations in 2009, while coaching South Sydney, he was punched out by the 102 kilogram Kiwi International David Fa'alogo. Taylor was dressed as Daniel San from the 1984 classic, Karate Kid, at the time and can be seen on CCTV footage performing the crane manouver just before he was knocked (Taylor also hit Fa'alogo with a playful punch in the stomach beforehand). The aged and diminutive 38-year-old former halfback was left out cold on the pub floor in his karate gear for 30 seconds. The only person who came to his aid was Bra Boy, Sunny Abberton. Both Taylor and Fa'alogo were sacked by Souths over the incident.

Fast forward to his time at the Tigers and there is no secret the club's main priority is not Taylor but rather keeping the so-called 'Big Four' together; halves Luke Brooks and Mitchell Moses, fullback James Tedesco and NSW Origin Prop, Aaron Woods. All four are off-contract at the end of this season with Woods saying publicly he needs to know who the Tigers coach is going to be in 2018 before he signs. What could the Big Four have against Taylor? Were they close to Farah and upset at the treatment he received (even though they were the beneficiaries of it)? These are unknowns.

Where it gets really interesting is that all of the Big Four are managed by the same man, Isaac Moses, the brother of Mitchell. Also the same man who manages the troubled gambling addict, Tim Simona. If anyone should have known about the damage Tim Simona was doing to himself and the club it was his manager, Isaac Moses. How that it played out between him and Taylor once that bombshell was dropped is another telling unknown.

What we do know is the Big Four were reluctant to sign until they knew who would be coaching the club. We know they are who the Tigers are putting their faith in to restore the team to its former glory. We know that the Tigers had all the time in the world and some of the best personnel in the game to bounce back and play well this season.

Taylor won't be at the helm if they do. He is the third coach in five years to die from the poison chalice that is coaching the West Tigers. They take on competition heavyweights, the Melbourne Storm, at the spiritual home of the Tigers, Leichardt Oval, this week. All eyes will be on the alternate future the club has opted for, in particular young halves, Mitchell Moses and Luke Brooks, who are still a long way from living up to their potential as the club's saviours.