The Wests Tigers might be at the start of a new era, but there were plenty of familiar problems on display in their 32-12 defeat at Canberra.
There were too many errors, too many penalties and a succession of defensive lapses that ensured that only one side was ever going to win.
One, in which Jayden Sullivan switched off completely at a restart, was as good an emblem of the sort of thing that Marshall needs to change as he could have wished for.
It was barely acceptable at park footy level, let alone the NRL. Benji ended up hooking his halfback before the day was done.
“Being 14-0 down against Canberra at home, it’s quite a tough ask to come back,” said the rookie coach.
“But after (fighting back) we went away from the things we spoke about during this week, we put in two chip kicks, which we haven’t practiced, and off the back of it conceded two soft tries that were unacceptable.
“With a team like that, with Joseph Tapine in form … and (Josh) Papali’i, the way they’re playing, if you don’t get in front and they get the momentum, they’re hard to stop.”
Canberra, for their part, were the same thing they always are, and that was far too good for the Tigers.
Jamal Fogarty kicked high and long, the pack played ultra-tough and they controlled the pace from start to finish.
On top of that, teenage five eighth Ethan Strange underlined his promise with another strong showing, including a solo try that was his first of what will surely be many in first grade.
Ricky Stuart’s side move to 2-0 for the year, and while it doesn’t look like their game has evolved much, they might not think that it needs to. Then again, they didn’t go 13+ at any point in 2023, and have now done it twice in two games in 2024.
Their only concern will be a head knock that forced Seb Kris from the field and will rule him out of next week’s trip to Auckland.
“Something we’ve spoken about through the off-season, especially this week, is we have to be better once we get into the lead,” said Sticky.
“Sticking to the plan was great, it’s easy to say but it was hard to do.”
Benji Marshall doesn’t need a crash course in what the Tigers are like, but he certainly got one early on.
On their first possession, they ambled around tamely before dropping the ball before the kick after a horror pass from dummy half.
Then they gave a penalty away, fumbled a kick, gave another penalty away and were lucky when Canberra decided to take the two rather than apply the blowtorch. It didn’t really matter, as they scored twice early anyway.
Benji wasn’t backwards in coming forward when it came to intervening in the game.
He had changed three of his forwards within 22 minutes following the shocking start, and was rewarded by an uptick in performance, with the forwards finding some traction and creating space from which Api Korisau was able to create.
That is clearly going to be the plan going forward – it has to be.
The Tigers’ pack isn’t terrible and can make an impact, which will at least give the spine something to work with.
Today was always going to be a tough ask against the Raiders, who are also best up front and who have made their name by beating every team beneath them.
It’s day one and things will get better. There were signs enough to suggest that he can move forward, even if they have surrounded by the usual nonsense that comes with the Tigers.
There was an easy comparison to be made in the halves with first-gamer Galvin facing off against Ethan Strange, himself in just his second in the halves following one appearance last year in the centres.
Galvin showed encouraging signs, but Strange stole the show.
Those who have seen his NSW Cup highlights reel will know all about his class, and it was on show from minute one.
Danny Levi gets the credit for the first Raiders try, picking the moment for a shortside play and then finishing the move, but the quick hands of Strange were a major feature in getting the ball around the Tigers’ defence.
Shortly after, his running game came to the fore with a superb solo try. It was the sort that, if scored in junior grades, would come with caveats about the quality of tackling. Granted this was the Wests Tigers, but still: tries like that are worth plenty in the NRL.
Strange had contributed to two tries before Galvin had so much as touched the footy, but once the debutant did get involved, he looked decent enough too.
His first involvement was a run, then a smart kick that Jordan Rapana did well to mop up. He then created a gap from which Jahream Bula set up the first try for another debutant, Samuela Fainu.
There were a few dodgy moments, including a pass straight over the touchline late on, but Benji won’t be bothered. The thought was there, and that’s better than several who have played in that role at the Tigers of late.
He was certainly the better of the two Tigers halves.
Bud Sullivan, the nominally senior man, barely ran the football, directly contributed to one of the silliest tries of this year or any year by switching off in defence and was then hooked for Aiden Sezer.
On this alone, it would be surprising if the veteran halfback wasn’t elevated to the starting role next week. The young bloke did more than enough to get a second crack.
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