Wests Tigers' finals drought stretched to 10 years as they slumped to 13th on the competition ladder, their worst finish since 2017.
While the Tigers managed to score more points (500) in their 25-round regular season than they had done in eight years, defensively they conceded a whopping 714, their worst effort since 2001.
The departure of club legend Benji Marshall to South Sydney proved too great a loss to overcome in the end, although Adam Doueihi and new recruit Daine Laurie were among the shining lights for coach Michael Maguire.
Laurie finished as a joint player of the year alongside Luke Brooks, who produced some solid performances without being brilliant.
Maguire's future was up in the air following a humiliating 38-0 loss to last-placed Canterbury in round 25 but the club have thrown their support behind the premiership-winning coach moving forward.
Regular-season win/loss record
A sluggish start of one win from their opening seven games put the joint venture on the back foot before a mid-season resurgence saw them climb to 11th after round 13.
The move to Queensland from round 18 started positively with a 42-24 win over Brisbane but losses to Manly and the Warriors during the next fortnight pushed them back further.
Three straight defeats to end the season, in which they conceded 118 points and scored just 36, brought the curtain down on a disappointing campaign.
Run metres differential
Wests Tigers were among the clubs to struggle most for yardage with 115 metres conceded on average per game to their opposition.
Their 1557 metres per match average ranked them 13th for the regular season in an area Maguire will need to fix in 2022.
Defensively they sat alongside some top-eight sides in conceding yardage with 1672, ranking them ninth.
Mid-season recruit Ken Maumalo (158.3m) and winger David Nofoaluma (133.6m) finished the side's best for average metres recorded per game.
Try scoring - game time
Wests Tigers were slow starters but found their groove in the second halves of games with a split of 37-50 tries.
They scored 180 of their 500 season points in the final 20 minutes of games.
Winger David Nofoaluma finished as the club's leading try-scorer for a second consecutive season although his tally of 13 was well down on his return of 17 tries in 2020.
Young gun Tommy Talau finished second best with 11.
Tries conceded - game time
The Tigers struggled to repel opposition sides throughout the course of the 80 minutes with their starts particularly an issue despite managing points in the opening quarter.
Wests Tigers recorded 30 points in the first 10 minutes of a game throughout the year but conceded 70 in return for a -40 differential.
They scored 16.8% of their points (84) between 10-20th minute mark but were again let down by their defence to concede 96.
Over 30% of their points conceded came before and after the half-time break.
Tries scored/conceded from six-agains
Wests Tigers ranked equal 10th alongside the Bulldogs for scoring tries off ruck infringements conceded by the opposition with 13.
In return, the side struggled to defend their own ruck infringements (they had more than any other all season) to let in 22 tries, two fewer than the Bulldogs.
Metres gained from offloads
Wests Tigers recorded the highest number of offloads in 2021 with 306 in total to edge out Parramatta.
However, despite producing more offloads, they generated 1768 metres to rank sixth behind teams like the Eels, Storm and Panthers, indicating the lack of effectiveness.
David Nofoaluma (50), Luciano Leilua (38) and Joe Ofahengaue (27) led the way in the offloading stakes. Nofoaluma's offloads generated a club-high 329 metres while Leilua's produced 278.
Goal-kicking accuracy
The joint venture has struggled in recent years with their goal-kicking but Adam Doueihi's accuracy with the boot in 2021 saw them rank sixth alongside some of the best teams in the competition.
Doueihi finished with a 79.3% success rate while Luke Brooks slotted seven goals for the year from nine attempts.
Players used
The Wests Tigers used a total of 31 players throughout their 2021 campaign at an average age of 25.1, the equal fourth youngest in the competition.
Of the 31 players, 18 appeared in 11 or more games while Luke Brooks, David Nofoaluma and Luciano Leilua played in all 24 matches.
The club blooded six debutants throughout the year while 11 players were under the age of 23 – the equal third-highest amount across all squads this season.
The Wests Tigers had just 18 of their 31 players feature in 11 games or more.
Decoys and Supports
Two areas the Wests Tigers have improved in recent years is their decoy and support play, which indicate players are often in motion around the ball.
They led the competition in both areas ahead of heavyweight teams Melbourne, Penrith and Sydney Roosters.
An area to work on will now be how to convert their opportunities into points in 2022.
Kicking game variety
Plenty was made about the Wests Tigers' attacking kicking game throughout the 2021 season with NRL.com stats able to show how much variety the side lacked with the boot.
Luke Brooks and Adam Doueihi took most of the ownership in this area while Moses Mbye and Dane Laurie also had their moments.
The side ranked first for cross-field kicks but fell away with other types of kicks, preferring to place the ball in the air more than along the ground.