G
Guest
Guest
Tigers fear Dragons humiliation
Joe Barton - SMH
May 22, 2011 - 12:29PM
AAP
Fresh from snatching a NRL victory from the jaws of defeat, Wests Tigers players have admitted a repeat performance against St George Illawarra next week will end in humiliation.
Thanks to late tries to Benji Marshall and Mitch Brown, the Tigers escaped with a 20-18 win over a similarly lacklustre Penrith outfit at Campbelltown Stadium on Saturday night, but coach Tim Sheens blasted his team as if they'd suffered a heavy loss.
He refused to let them sing the team's victory song post-match, and suggested the Dragons would thrash them by 100 if they dished up a similar effort at WIN Jubilee Oval next Sunday.
His comments were supported by Tiger cubs Aaron Woods and Robert Lui, who were equally downcast in a sombre winning dressing room.
"St George are the team to beat, so if we put in a performance like we did (against Penrith), they'll beat us by 50," Woods told AAP.
"The way we played (on Saturday night) was unacceptable."
The Tigers laboured to a disgraceful 60 per cent completion rate - a stat which was bolstered considerably by the fact they successfully finished seven of the final eight sets of the match.
With three errors to his name, halfback Lui was one of the main culprits for the mistake-riddled match.
He said that as a young playmaker, he took errors more personally than senior players who could block the mistakes out.
"It affects us hard, for sure," he told AAP.
"For myself, being a young bloke, we get angry (when we make mistakes), but Benji and Robbie (Farah) were there to calm us down and keep our heads right."
Lui agreed with Sheens' assertion that the Tigers had been lucky to come away with a win and said he had never seen a team more depressed after a victory.
"I think all the boys are a bit down (despite the win)," he added.
"It wasn't the best game we've ever played, but you could say we got the win but we're pretty disappointed with the way we played.
"We did (get out of jail) with this game … we were very lucky.
"We'll all learn from that, especially us young boys, and we'll listen to our senior players and just get stronger and stronger.
"We're just going to put that game aside and just look forward to next week.
"We have to use the way we are feeling right now to our advantage. We have to use it if we want to make the finals.
"And we've got to step up our game this week because the Dragons are the most consistent team in the comp and they're not going to let us get away with anything like that."
Joe Barton - SMH
May 22, 2011 - 12:29PM
AAP
Fresh from snatching a NRL victory from the jaws of defeat, Wests Tigers players have admitted a repeat performance against St George Illawarra next week will end in humiliation.
Thanks to late tries to Benji Marshall and Mitch Brown, the Tigers escaped with a 20-18 win over a similarly lacklustre Penrith outfit at Campbelltown Stadium on Saturday night, but coach Tim Sheens blasted his team as if they'd suffered a heavy loss.
He refused to let them sing the team's victory song post-match, and suggested the Dragons would thrash them by 100 if they dished up a similar effort at WIN Jubilee Oval next Sunday.
His comments were supported by Tiger cubs Aaron Woods and Robert Lui, who were equally downcast in a sombre winning dressing room.
"St George are the team to beat, so if we put in a performance like we did (against Penrith), they'll beat us by 50," Woods told AAP.
"The way we played (on Saturday night) was unacceptable."
The Tigers laboured to a disgraceful 60 per cent completion rate - a stat which was bolstered considerably by the fact they successfully finished seven of the final eight sets of the match.
With three errors to his name, halfback Lui was one of the main culprits for the mistake-riddled match.
He said that as a young playmaker, he took errors more personally than senior players who could block the mistakes out.
"It affects us hard, for sure," he told AAP.
"For myself, being a young bloke, we get angry (when we make mistakes), but Benji and Robbie (Farah) were there to calm us down and keep our heads right."
Lui agreed with Sheens' assertion that the Tigers had been lucky to come away with a win and said he had never seen a team more depressed after a victory.
"I think all the boys are a bit down (despite the win)," he added.
"It wasn't the best game we've ever played, but you could say we got the win but we're pretty disappointed with the way we played.
"We did (get out of jail) with this game … we were very lucky.
"We'll all learn from that, especially us young boys, and we'll listen to our senior players and just get stronger and stronger.
"We're just going to put that game aside and just look forward to next week.
"We have to use the way we are feeling right now to our advantage. We have to use it if we want to make the finals.
"And we've got to step up our game this week because the Dragons are the most consistent team in the comp and they're not going to let us get away with anything like that."
