The 2006 Wests Tigers season was the seventh in the Wests Tigers joint-venture club's history. They competed in the National Rugby League's 2006 Telstra Premiership. They're based in based in the Inner West and Western Sydney. Pre-season The Tigers played a trial game in Gunnedah against a local country side which they won easily. This was the only trial the team played before leaving for England to contest the 2006 World Club Challenge. This game pitted the 2005 NRL Premiers against Bradford who won the Super League title in 2005. The Tigers side were without many of the players from their grand final victory with notable absentees being Benji Marshall and Pat Richards. An early try to fill-in 5/8 Daniel Fitzhenry gave some hope but the Bulls dominated to eventually win 30-10. Trial Results v Combined Group 4 W 64-4 at Gunnedah (A) v Bradford Bulls (Eng) L 10-30 at Huddersfield (A) v Manly L 18-42 at Brookvale (A) Regular season A series of close losses and a long list of injuries stymied the Tigers bid to defend their NRL premiership. In three games (Manly, Penrith, Newcastle) the Tigers led with less than 5 minutes to go only to concede late tries. In all three losses the game sealing tries came from kicks often involving freakish bounces or rebounds. Another two losses were from golden point (extra time) against Canberra, both in controversial circumstances. In the second game at Campbelltown the Daily Telegraph published a photograph showing Canberra players several metres offside which should have warranted a penalty. The referee Steven Clark later said he was reluctant to see a penalty decide the game. In the first game Tigers forward Todd Payten was penalised for a ball stripping offence with there being some debate whether a second player was involved. The major injury loss was the star playmaker Benji Marshall. A cheekbone injury in round one was followed by another major shoulder injury against the Cowboys. These injuries meant Marshall played very little football. Captain and fullback Brett Hodgson missed the latter part of the season and Paul Whatuira also suffered long term injuries. One highlight was the successful debut of several players including Chris Lawrence and Ben Jeffery who starred in an upset win over eventual premiers Brisbane in Brisbane. The Tigers eventually missed the playoffs but would have made the finals had they won the close losses referred