Tigers coach Tim Sheens took a dig at his team’s disastrous form following the 46-12 loss to Brisbane, telling media he hoped his side could beat the bye after they slumped to their fifth straight loss.
The Tigers are the only winless team in the NRL in 2023 and again showed a lack of resilience and creativity, leaving no doubt that they are prime candidates for this year’s wooden spoon after taking out the dreaded dishonour last season.
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Wests supporters hoped 2005 premiership-winning coach Sheens and his title-winning players Benji Marshall and Robbie Farah as assistants would turn around 11 years of missing the finals, but for now, it seems like much of the same.
Sheens wasn’t too hard on his team after the match, saying he wouldn’t make any knee-jerk decisions following the hefty defeat.
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Although, he did send a message to his squad after what he described as their worst performance of the year.
“We didn’t handle their second phase in the second half,” Sheens said.
“We didn’t touch the ball at one stage for about 10 minutes.
“Can’t worry about external noise. We will turn up and try and figure it out.
“I have faith in this group. Quality group of guys and they have talent. Coaching group’s job is putting them together instead of bringing them down. We all have to work a lot harder.
“I hope we beat the bye in a couple of weeks.”
Last year, Wests lost five in a row at the start of the year before beating the Eels in round six. The Tigers play Parramatta on Monday week at Accor Stadium. Sheens and his men will be hoping history repeats so they can get a win before their round seven bye.
“We continually shot ourselves in the foot,” Sheens added.
“They were too strong, too quick for us. Just too good.
“They were very smart and kicked early. Adam Reynolds was the difference. His decision making and kicking game was outstanding.
“We were down to 18 per cent possession halfway through the first half.
“With even possession we have the team to win some games. We still have plenty to offer.
“I’ll never give up on this group. We were good in patches. The effort was good in patches. First half got away from us.”
As for the form of fullback Adam Doueihi, who was shifted from five-eighth to the No.1 jersey, Sheens said his team’s spine is a work in progress and he won’t turn his back on his squad.
“I’m not going to make a decision on our spine right after this,” he said.
“We are still putting it together. We weren’t clinically good enough on the night.
“We’ve played five games, four of them we have competed well, tonight was the first one we were never in it.
“It was 12-12 in the second half until they scored late. They could have got right away from us in the second half but they didn’t. There’s merit in that.”
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