The Wests Tigers say the ordeal of their trip home from Auckland, which included chartering a propellor-powered plane from Brisbane to Sydney's Bankstown airport, has brought them closer together.

The Tigers found themselves stuck in Auckland after last Sunday's 26-22 win over the Warriors because their flight was grounded by the ash cloud generated by a volcano in Chile.

Originally due to arrive in Sydney on Monday afternoon, the club's players, coaches and officials eventually made it home late on Tuesday night.

They managed to board a flight from Auckland to Brisbane, where they chartered a small propellor plane which hit major turbulence on its way to Sydney's second airport.

"I think we packed and unpacked probably four times and then it was a long trip home via Brisbane and then a small plane back to Bankstown airport in the middle of the night, but we got home," coach Tim Sheens said.

The Tigers trained in Auckland on Tuesday in an attempt to overcome any disruption ahead of Sunday's clash with Melbourne at Leichhardt Oval.

The side famously turned their season around after a mini camp in the wake of a thrashing by South Sydney last year and they're hoping the time together in New Zealand will also reap benefits.

"It was good to spend some time together over in Auckland," captain Robbie Farah said.

"If anything, hopefully it will be good for us that the boys got to spend some time around each other and it won't be a problem at all."

Also no problem, according to the Tigers, will be the end of season departures of forwards Bryce Gibbs and Andrew Fifita to Cronulla, moves announced this week.

"It's long gone, every club's doing it," Sheens said.

"Young Beau Henry's playing for a different club (Gold Coast after switching from Newcastle) this week."

Farah added: "We've known it's been coming for a while but obviously it's been done now and hopefully we can just move on and get on with trying to send out those boys off on a good note this year.

" ... The club I'm sure wouldn't have wanted to let those guys go but with the (salary) cap the way it is, you can't keep everyone."

The moves have only fuelled speculation that Storm opponent and New Zealand international Adam Blair will join the Tigers from 2012.

"I'm not speculating on that," Sheens said.

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