Benji Marshall admitted the Tigers are “in a bit of a hole at the moment” after his understrength team crashed to a third-straight loss on Saturday afternoon.

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The Tigers were one of the early season surprise packets and built their success on a new-found defensive resilience under Marshall.

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But injuries have tested the young squad in recent weeks, with the 46-18 loss to the Sea Eagles on Saturday being just the latest big scoreline put on the Tigers in the last month.

In fact, the Tigers have conceded 142 points in their past three games and while a mounting injury toll would be an easy excuse to turn to, Marshall said Saturday’s performance was “not good enough”.

“We’re in a bit of a hole at the moment. Down on troops and not playing the footy we want to play, lacking a bit of confidence and resilience and again, we weren’t good enough today,” he said.

“It’s a credit to Foz and what he’s doing at Manly. They’re a really good side. I think what he’s been able to achieve in his short time with them has been awesome… but a lot to look at (to) find how we get out of the hole at the moment.

“We’ve got the bye next week, so it’s probably coming at a really good time for us. We’re a bit wounded. We had a bye in round one and we’ve played 10 games straight since, so we’re stinging for it at the moment.

“It’s a really good time for us to reset and as a coach, go and have a look at what we need to work out, because the last three weeks hasn’t been good enough.”

Marshall did concede his team is “lacking a bit of class” with Adam Doueihi, Api Koroisau and Jahream Bula all unavailable.

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“But at the same time, there’s still some things that we need to be better at, especially defensively,” he added.

“Before the last three weeks, we were really strong defensively and the last three weeks, we’ve just let our bundle go, which is not good enough.”

The Tigers missed 46 tackles in Saturday’s game and no longer look capable of defending errors like they were earlier in the season.

It would be easy to put the blame squarely on the playing group, but instead Marshall said it was on him as a coach to “work out” why that was the case.

“We are our own worst enemies are off the ball at the moment,” he said.

“We are making mistakes, poor discipline, giving the opposition too much footy. I think we’ve been dominated with the ball the last three games but again, then defensively we expect more from ourselves.

“So again, I’ve got to look at what I’m doing and why we weren’t up defensively this week or why we haven’t been the last couple of weeks. That’s something as a coach that I probably need to work out.

“The bye week is a good time to reflect on that and look at what’s changed in the last three weeks bar personnel.”

How can Benji Marshall fix it? (Photo by Hannah Peters/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images

It has been a busy month for the Tigers off the field, with skipper Jarome Luai confirming in late April that he would be leaving the club at the end of 2027 to join the PNG Chiefs.

The disappointment of that announcement has otherwise been balanced out by plenty of good news, with the May brothers and Bula among the big names to extend their contracts with the club.

It is easy to look at the Tigers’ sudden slide in the past three weeks and connect it to Luai’s signing news. Marshall knows it and said criticism of the club’s recent performances is “fair”.

“We deserve to cop it for the way we’ve performed, to be honest,” he added.

But he also said that he has an important role as coach to lift spirits within the playing group, reiterating that the squad is “united” despite what any headlines may claim.

“We’re a happy camp,” he added.

“Losing makes you unhappy. I don’t want to make excuses or say what’s not happening. But we’ve got some things happening internally that we like the way we’re doing our training but it’s just not happening on the field.

“We’re panicky. We’re losing confidence. So again, that’s on me.”

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Luai, however, defended his coach by declaring it is on him as a “leader” to have the “honest conversations” with his teammates and turn their form around.

“Bagz doesn’t need to take it all upon himself. I’m right beside him,” Luai said.

“It is a challenging period, and it’s going to challenge us as leaders. The hardest thing to do right now is probably be positive.

“But that’s what I need to do for my team and my teammates. Address it head on, walk towards this challenging period and work it out ourselves.

“That’s the only people that’s going to dig us out and just have honest conversations with each other and back to the drawing board.”