‘A negative smell’: Benji’s honest admission as Tigers coach vows to ‘find’ answers

It was an excuse-free zone for Wests Tigers coach Benji Marshall after Sunday’s blow out 44-16 loss to Melbourne Storm at AAMI Park.

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Despite the team’s injury crisis, Marshall is adamant the Tigers should be better than what they have served up in conceding 52 points to Cronulla and 44 to Storm in two heavy defeats over the past fortnight.

“It just creates a bit of like a negative smell around what we’re doing with those two scorelines,” Marshall said.

“Especially given defensively before the last two weeks, we were pretty high up in the competition.

“Again, our standards are better than that, but I’m not going to make any excuses around that.

“What I’ve got to try and find is solutions and what’s going to help and how we get out of it.”

The Tigers were blown out of the water by Storm in the opening 12 minutes, conceding four tries.

They made a late run in the second half with centre Taylan May scoring the second of his two tries and Luke Laulilii getting on the board to trim the deficit to 16 with 14 minutes to go, but the damage had been done.

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“Just seemed like no matter what we did [in the first half], we couldn’t find a way out of turning the momentum that they had,” Marshall said.

“You can’t give anyone that sort of start.

“What it creates is scoreboard pressure and you start playing a different type of footy to try and catch up and win the game.

“I was proud of the fight in the second half, but ultimately we just weren’t good enough.”

The Tigers have a nervous wait on the Magic Round availability of Alex Twal, Latu Fainu and Kai Pearce-Paul, who were placed on report.

They can ill afford to lose any more troops given their extensive injury list.

“Honestly, specifically I don’t remember a lot of them, but we’ll have to have a look and see what comes out,” Marshall said.

“Obviously not ideal, but that’s rugby league mate, you’ve got to take the good with the bad.”

The Tigers will get back forward Terrell May, who was a late exclusion for the Storm game to attend the birth of his child, for the blockbuster clash with Manly Sea Eagles at Suncorp Stadium on Saturday.

Tigers skipper Jarome Luai praised the other May, Taylan, for starring against Storm with two tries, 179 run metres and nine tackle breaks.

“He’s a beast,” Luai said.

“All the boys love playing alongside Taylan.

“Just the X-factor he brings, but he also values the stuff without the ball as well, so he’s an awesome player.”