Brett Kimmorley has admitted his Wests Tigers side are in “a little bit of pain” after they slumped to yet another defeat.
The heavy 36-12 loss to Cronulla, who made it eight victories in their past nine games, condemned the Tigers to their 17th loss of a miserable season.
Brett Kimmorley criticises his team's first half performance
When the club announced the departure of Michael Maguire a few months ago, the hope was that they could start afresh, before building the long-term foundations under their new coaching set-up next year.
Yet despite brief glimpses of improvement under interim coach Kimmorley, the same stale air still circulates around the Tigers.
In the opening stages of their contest with the Sharks, they were simply blown away. The 15th placed side having no answers for the roll through the middle which was generated by the Sharks' forwards, or their makeshift backline that did a stellar job of filling in for injured players.
“They’re a good footy side,” Kimmorley said as he praised Craig Fitzgibbon's men.
“They’re well-drilled, they’re tough, physical and play great field position. It was 26-6 at half time. So, the game was over effectively.”
The coach couldn’t hide his disappointment when discussing how their inability to produce the required levels of intensity led to conceding two tries in the opening 10 minutes.
“We’re battling and in a little bit of pain,” Kimmorley admitted.
“We challenged them at half-time…we blew the first half last week as well."
Wests Tigers having 'tough time' as injuries mount
“The first 20 minutes has got nothing to do with shapes and structures and skill- it’s just about getting into the game of football and having some toughness," Kimmorley said.
“I wanted to see a tough side and one which will respond to last week. But we sort of got a mirror image of what we were last week.”
The Tigers have won just four games all year with their last victory coming a fortnight ago.
However, it was that shock win over Brisbane which came at a cost, with Jackson Hastings picking up a season-ending injury during the match.
Without naming the halfback turned lock explicitly, it was clear he was the man Kimmorley was referring to when he mentioned how the Tigers had lost some players recently and hadn't been able to recover.
“We lost some players the last few weeks and in that win that we had against the Broncos,” the coach noted.
“It’s a tough time.”
James Tamou reflects on the passing of Paul Green
The captain James Tamou has had a particularly difficult week, after his former coach Paul Green tragically passed away. The front-rower won a premiership under Green, while he was at the North Queensland Cowboys.
“Noddy, the boys and the Tigers organisation made sure I was alright,” Tamou said.
“I was getting text messages and phone calls, but it’s just sad. It’s a sad time.
“We had a conversation about it, so that took a bit of weight off.
“But it’s a scary thing to think about. When it’s someone who can be so high on life with everything going on and everything they’ve achieved, with a family, and still be fighting some demons.
“It’s a scary thing and I know the NRL are taking the right steps in making sure people can seek help.”
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