The Tigers may have beaten the Knights comprehensively, but Benji Marshall was only happy with three quarters of his side’s display, labelling their last 20 minutes “unacceptable”.
The merger club now end Round 6 in second place behind only the Panthers, scoring eight tries into front of their faithful at Campbelltown Sports Stadium.
While the Tigers secured two more crucial competition points, Marshall was not happy that his side allowed the Knights to run in three second-half tries after the 58th minute mark.
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“I’m really happy with the boys for getting the result. Obviously the two points is what you come for and to give our fans (who) go to work on a Monday, something to celebrate is really important to us,” he said.
“So I’m happy in that respect. But unhappy at the same time.”
When asked to elaborate on what he is unhappy about, Marshall initially said “no” before opening up.
“It’s obvious isn’t it? The way we finished the game was just, yeah, we’ve worked so hard to change our standards around what’s acceptable,” Marshall explained.
“And I thought the last 15 minutes was unacceptable… there’s no way the score should have been 40, whatever, 22. It should have been 40 something to 10, or even 6.
“When Jeral (Skelton) threw it in goal and just a few things (I) wasn’t happy with, but sometimes you have got to get perspective around we got the two points too.
“But we need to be better.”
Marshall went on to break the game down into two parts — his team’s performance before the 60th minute, and what unfolded after it, particularly in defence.
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“Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy… if we isolate the first 60 minutes and the way we applied ourselves to our defence, our line speed,” he said.
“I thought our halves had some really good last play options and the middles back that up with really good line speed and defence.
“Which is what we’re looking for, but then the last 20 is a different story. But we’ll take the two points, we’ll move on and then another big game next week.”
In their last four seasons, the Tigers have endured three wooden spoons and a 13th-placed finish last season, with their finals drought stretching back to 2011.
It’s the longest drought in the NRL, but now excitement is building at the merger club and Marshall doesn’t want it to slow down.
“I don’t need to keep a lid on it, we’ve just got to keep working hard, it’s as simple as that,” he said.
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“It’s a marathon this season, I’ve heard a few people say it’s not a sprint, we still have 20-odd games left. I just love the effort that the boys show during the week, preparation wise.
“They’re putting in to their footy and they’re getting rewarded for it. But I guess that last 20 just shows when you take the foot off the pedal, that’s what happens.
“So a good lesson for us at the same time.”
Meanwhile, centre Patrick Herbert made his club debut on Sunday afternoon and delivered a stellar display, scoring a try and assisting another with an NFL pass to his winger.
Marshall heaped praise on the man he handed a train-and-trial at the start of the pre-season.
“I was actually watching a Maori tournament on YouTube and he was playing for a team that I had no idea who they were,” he said.
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“I thought ‘is that Patrick Herbert?’. So I watched him play, man of the match and then I have him a text and said ‘what are you up to?’. He said ‘nothing’ and I said ‘well come on a train-and-trial’.
“Then he trained really good in pre-season and impressed all the boys with his work rate and his effort and we rewarded him with a contract.
“So a great story, I thought he was outstanding tonight. I thought he did his job perfectly. It’s a testament to our leaders in our group that we have someone (who) falls out of the team.
“And he can just step in and do his job. So really happy for him. It’s been four years since he played NRL, so to come back from a torn Achilles, ACL and put in the hard work.”
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