- Tigers squandered big chance against weak Sharks
- Coach criticizes his troops for their lack of commitment
- Loss puts Tigers in the box seat for the wooden spoon
Wests Tigers coach Benji Marshall has criticised his team’s performance in a record defeat to Cronulla, with centre Adam Doueihi calling it ‘s**thouse’.
Marshall’s men now look forward to the opportunity to secure their third straight win after a 58-6 defeat to the Sharks on Friday.
The Tigers have conceded 138 points in the past three weeks and are now bottom of the NRL standings. That is unlikely to change with hooker and influential captain Api Koroisau set for a scan soon.
Koroisau sat out Friday’s defeat with a calf injury, and his absence could add to the pain for the rudderless Tigers.
The captain was also fined for a foul halfway through the first half.
This season the Tigers have had 14 players suspended from the competition, a record in the NRL era.
Marshall was clearly furious after the defeat and apologized to Tigers fans during a tense and testy post-match press conference that lasted less than three minutes.
“It (Koroisau’s scapegoat) doesn’t matter, they scored 58 points,” Marshall said.
Wests Tigers coach Benji Marshall was vocal after Friday’s defeat to the Sharks
The first year coach said there was not a single player from his team who could say they had played well against Cronulla
“We’ve been talking about defensiveness all week, but it’s nowhere to be seen. Whether there’s a penalty box or not, it doesn’t matter.
“This is the first time this year that we have that attitude. In most games we are there, but tonight we were not there.”
Marshall said no Tigers player deserved praise for a performance that saw 37 tackles and only one player – Doueihi – run for more than 100 metres.
Doueihi, who suffered an anterior cruciate ligament injury just five games ago, described the Tigers’ performance as “s**thouse, embarrassing (and) disappointing”.
“From the beginning we had no energy, no enthusiasm, we weren’t willing to go hard enough and we weren’t willing to run hard enough,” Doueihi told Nine Network.
Koroisau’s injury adds to concerns over defender Alex Seyfarth (concussion) and prop Stefano Utoikamanu, who suffered a broken nose.
Utoikamanu again struggled to control the midfield due to interest from several rival NRL clubs and was outclassed by the Sharks attack group.
“There’s no one on our team that can say they played well,” Marshall said.