The Wests Tigers are jumping into a time machine and heading back to the future in 2023.

Last year's wooden spooners are hoping that with Tim Sheens as head coach and Benji Marshall as his assistant they can take themselves back to their halcyon days of 2005.

Sheens was the coach who masterminded the joint-venture's sole premiership that year, with Marshall the beating heart of a team that played with flair and panache.

The Tigers have not played finals since 2011, but they are pinning everything on Sheens being Doc Brown and Marshall their own Marty McFly as they wind back the clock.

The club has taken mis-step after mis-step since that 2005 premiership but they believe the return of Sheens and Marshall - along with fellow club legends Robbie Farah and Chris Heighington on the backroom staff - can signal the start of a reversal in fortunes.

"It's the feel of the club," said halfback Luke Brooks, who has yet to experience finals after 189 NRL games for the Tigers.

"I feel like we're moving towards something and we're going in the right direction.

"There's a lot of happy faces here, we are training hard and enjoying it - it's created a really good vibe."

Part of that new feel comes with an upgrade in facilities.

After being spread out across Sydney, the Tigers' $80 million centre of excellence gives the joint-venture a home they can call their own, where images of the heroes of Wests, Balmain and the Wests Tigers line the walls.

"We've got everything here and it's something that the club will show off to incentivise players to come here," Brooks said.

Recruitment over recent years has been difficult and partly explains the Tigers' demise over the last decade.

Former head coach Michael Maguire's hands were tied by the signings made by his predecessor Ivan Cleary, and it is only four years later the club's salary cap is in shape.

Sheens has enjoyed the luxury of being able to dip into the market and add quality.

Hooker Api Koroisau has been made captain, Isaiah Papali'i and John Bateman provide international quality in the backrow and David Klemmer adds grunt to a pack that has lacked a ruthless edge.

"I don't want to be coming in here yelling and screaming," Klemmer said.

"I want to repay this club for giving me this opportunity and help out where I can.

"Sheensy wanted me to bring my pass and an offloading game. It was really appealing to me and the way they want to play is exciting.

"Top eight (is the aim), it's up to us to produce on the field now."

The prop, who left Newcastle in a swap deal with Jackson Hastings, says the club's external recruits deserve as much notice as the youngsters that are likely to come to the fore under Sheens.

Stefano Utoikamanu, Shawn Blore and Tommy Talau are all highly touted prospects and are back to full fitness after having their 2022 campaigns hampered by injury.

But beyond the new signings and prodigious talents, the Tigers have spent the entire off-season preaching about how they will play.

Forwards have spent hours passing and offloading so the spine of Brooks, Koroisau, five-eighth Adam Doueihi and fullback Daine Laurie can play with a run-first mentality.

The Tigers want to channel the free-wheeling spirit of 2005 and bring it into the present day where tired defenders are routinely exploited by the six-again rule.

"It's a style that players and teams haven't seen before, which is really fun," Doueihi said.

"We're doing something different, we're not doing the ordinary block shapes.

"We're going to change things up and play a style that suits me and Brooksy.

"Playing finals, I know there are 17 teams that are chasing the same thing, but we are going to play a different style of attack this year."

Whether that style can take them back to the top of the NRL remains unknown.

But to borrow from the era-traversing Doc Brown; if you're going to build a time machine, why not do it with some style?