- Tigers blew big chance against under strength Sharks
- Coach has blasted his troops for their lack of effort
- Loss puts Tigers in box seat for the wooden spoon
Wests Tigers coach Benji Marshall has blasted his side’s performance in a record loss to Cronulla which centre Adam Doueihi bluntly described as ‘s**thouse’.
Marshall’s men are now staring at the prospect of picking up a third-straight wooden spoon after Friday’s 58-6 defeat to the Sharks.
Over the last three weeks the Tigers have conceded 138 points and are bottom on the NRL ladder, a position which is unlikely to change with hooker and influential captain Api Koroisau set for scans.
Koroisau failed to finish Friday’s loss with a calf issue and his absence could heap yet more pain on the rudderless Tigers.
The captain was also sin-binned for a professional foul midway through the first half.
The Tigers have had 14 players sin-binned this season, a record in the NRL era.
Marshall was clearly furious in the aftermath of the defeat, apologising to Tigers supporters in a tense and prickly post-match press conference that lasted less than three minutes.
‘It (Koroisau’s sin-binning) doesn’t matter, they scored 58 points,’ Marshall said.
Wests Tigers coach Benji Marshall did not mince his words following Friday’s defeat against the Sharks
The first year coach said there wasn’t a single player from his team that could say they played well against Cronulla
‘We talked all week about having a defensive attitude and it was nowhere, sin-bin or no sin-bin, it doesn’t matter.
‘This is the first time we’ve had that attitude all year, in most games we are in there competing….but tonight we weren’t.’
Marshall said not a single Tigers player deserved praise in a performance where there were 37 tackles and only one player – Doueihi – ran for more than 100m.
Doueihi, who is just five games back from an anterior cruciate ligament injury described the Tigers’ performance as ‘s**thouse, embarrassing (and) disappointing’.
‘From the get-go we didn’t bring any energy, any enthusiasm, we weren’t willing to tackle hard enough and weren’t willing to run hard enough,’ Doueihi told the Nine Network.
Koroisau’s injury adds to concerns over back-rower Alex Seyfarth (concussion) and prop Stefano Utoikamanu, who suffered a broken nose.
Utoikamanu again struggled to command the middle amid interest from several rival NRL clubs and was outmuscled by the Sharks forward pack.
‘There’s no one in our team that could say they played well,’ Marshall said.