Despite the Panthers being the better side for a good portion of the game, the Wests Tigers somehow managed to win, as they got out of jail, with a narrow 20-18 win over the Penrith Panthers at Campbelltown Stadium last night.
That man did it again, with Benji Marshall the catalyst behind the resurgence, showing off some moves of magic, as the Tigers well and truly used their last get-out-of-jail-free card with the win.
Their attack to put it bluntly, looked flat in the first-half, and poor ball control also cost the Tigers early on, as it showed in their poor completion rate.
Both sides were guilty of poor ball-control however, with it being seemingly contagious, as even the first try came from an error from Panthers fullback Lachlan Coote, allowing the Tigers to score.
Things went from bad to worse for Penrith before the game had even started, when five-eighth Travis Burns was ruled out in the warm-up, after suffering adverse reactions to pain-killing injections for his knee.
Despite their obvious lackadaisical performance for most of the match, Sheens was so upset with the performance, that he did not allow his players to sing the team song after their performance.
“For us to win the game, we got away with it (but) St George will lap us by 100 (next weekend) if we play like that,” Sheens said in an almighty post-match spray.
“I’m not really happy with them, and they know it, and they’re not happy with themselves.
“We had every reason to be a lot more determined tonight given last week (loss to South Sydney).
“I know blokes tried, but they tried stupidly … pushing things that didn’t need to be pushed.
“Our completion rate was disgraceful.”
Panthers coach Matthew Elliott was also disappointed that his side could not close out the win when it mattered most.
“I didn’t think we needed to land a killer blow, we just needed to hold onto the ball,” he said.
“From where I was sitting, we actually gave that game away.”
Dally M Points
3 Benji Marshall
2 Masada Iosefa
1 Robbie Farah