Benji Marshall admits NRL Finals a long way away for the Wests Tigers

Wests Tigers coach Benji Marshall says his side isn’t worrying about its increasingly precarious NRL finals position.

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Instead the men from Concord are focusing purely on putting in a consistent performance ahead of Friday night’s crucial Round 19 home clash against the high-flying NZ Warriors.

Sitting twelfth after three straight losses, Marshall was blunt about where his attention lies when speaking with the media this week.

“We’re not even talking about finals to be honest, it’s more about getting our process right consistently because at the moment we’re very inconsistent, playing well for 20 minutes, then not playing well for 20,” Marshall lamented.

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“We’ve got to get an 80-minute performance this week,” he continued.

Admitting his side is down on confidence compared with earlier in the season when the Tigers sat third after Round 8, Marshall said that would return through hard work rather than just results alone. 

“Confidence comes from doing the hard parts of the game well and we know we can do it because we’ve seen it… it takes one game to refind that confidence.”

The Tigers will be without Api Koroisau for the next month after the star hooker suffered a pectoral injury in the disappointing loss to the Dragons, with 22-year-old Josese Lanyon set to start at No.9 in just his fourth NRL game. 

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There was better news elsewhere for the Tigers with PNG-bound captain Jerome Luai returning from the delayed concussion that ruled him out of Round 18 while boom forward Samuela Fainu has also passed a fitness test to return early from the foot injury that has seen him sidelined since Round 9.

“Sometimes when you give injury updates you give worst case scenario,” Marshall explained of Fainu’s surprise return against the Wahs.

“You don’t want to overpromise and underdeliver to your fans.” 

On the subject of under-delivery, Marshall also reflected on the poor 24-10 loss to the Dragons and identified two clear areas where he expected to see big improvement this week.

“We need to fight harder to play the ball quicker to give ourselves a chance,” he declared. 

“And we need our spine to connect in good positions, we need to get our strike players’ hands on the ball a bit more, so we’ve done a little bit of work there as a spine and as a team (this week).”

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The Tigers host the Warriors at Campbelltown on Friday night. Kickoff at 8 p.m.