Benji Marshall has taken accountability for his side’s shock loss to the Dragons on Saturday night as the Tigers’ top-eight hopes took a massive hit.

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The Tigers were one of the feel-good stories to open the 2026 season but have tumbled down the ladder since and while injuries to key players have taken their toll, Marshall was making no excuses in the wake of a 24-10 loss to the last-placed Dragons.

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While a surprising result on the surface, the Dragons had been up for back-to-back games against the Knights and Raiders.

With that in mind, Marshall said earlier in the week that he had warned his playing group not to underestimate the lowly Dragons and make sure they turned up with the right attitude.

That didn’t happen and Marshall said he was to blame for the message not landing.

“That’s on me as a coach because I’ve got to go and look at the preparation we had and then how we turned up with that performance today,” he told reporters.

“I’ve got to take accountability as the coach and the end of the day that starts and stops with me.

“We got exactly what we deserved today, to be honest. Our discipline, attention to detail, care wasn’t good enough.

“So full credit to the Dragons because they earned their win and we were poor.”

Marshall didn’t want to get into too many specifics on where in particular the Tigers fell short, but he said his team were far too loose in giving the Dragons piggy-backs up the field.

“I don’t want to get too deep into it because we were way off, but we legged them out of yardage, penalty after penalty, silly moments, errors, and they capitalised,” he said.

“It just wasn’t good enough.”

Holmes gets a double in Dragons win | 03:57

The Tigers had their fair share of opportunities, with the Dragons completing at just 69 per cent and making 16 errors.

The result was 39 tackles in the Dragons’ 20-metre zone compared to just 31 for the home side and yet the Tigers were only able to score two tries, with Marshall even admitting they were “lucky” to score the second.

That was a brilliant individual effort from Adam Doueihi, but outside of that the Tigers looked lost for answers in the red zone.

“The last two weeks I thought we were poor, attack-wise, especially in good ball on the try line,” Marshall said.

“Today we were lateral, so side to side, made no inroads down there.

“If you look at all the stats wise we’ve gone backwards in a lot of them. I don’t want to sit here and make excuses about who’s in and who’s not in. It’s just not good enough.

“We had a chance to turn up today and have a real crack at it, but again we weren’t good enough.

“People are probably going to say it looks like the end of our season, but we won’t give up.”

Doueihi shocks Dragons defenders | 00:38

While the loss to the Dragons is not a death sentence for the Tigers’ season, a potentially serious pec injury to hooker Apisai Koroisau could be just that.

Koroisau told reporters after the game he was “not sure” on the severity of the injury but added he “feels good”.

In welcome news, Marshall said Jarome Luai (delayed concussion symptoms) will be back for next week’s game against the Warriors while Samuela Fainu (foot) could return.