Disappointed Wests Tigers coach Mick Potter has a fix-it list to work through after watching his team struggle to match motors with the opposition in their 32-10 loss to the Rabbitohs on Friday night.
Coming off a last-start win over the Knights, Potter was adamant that the five-day turnaround was sufficient for them to put in a good performance, claiming that there were no excuses for such a dismal performance.
"We gifted them field position. Making errors down your own end is fraught with danger and we accommodated them. We burnt a lot of juice in the first half trying to hold them out. We had a patch there where we managed a couple of back-to-back sets, then it was all them in the first half, really," Potter said.
"They showed how much of a quality team they are and the score was a reflection of how the game went. No disrespect to our team. We tried as hard as we possibly could and that's all I ask but you can't keep handing over possession like we did."
While the Tigers were missing key duo Robbie Farah and prop Aaron Woods, the game was in the balance until Rabbitohs young gun Alex Johnston broke away and scored his second try of the match to push the momentum back in the Rabbitohs' favour.
Potter lamented that the inexperienced stars in his team might have struggled under the pressure of the Rabbitohs' dominance.
"We were right back in the hunt being six points adrift and there's plenty of time to play and [then Johnston scored and] that just breaks your heart. That's just the fundamentals. We can't have a team running through us like that. I think Teddy was winded on his way back still so we didn't have a fullback at that particular time," Potter observed.
"You want [the inexperienced players] to have a crack and have a bit of a go and try things but they also have to have in the back of the mind what's best for the team and at particular times [certain things] weren't good for the team."
"You would rather go into a bye [next week] off the back of a win. We'll be kicking stones for a few days. We just need to be a little bit more conservative with our plays in yardage. You can't be running over the sideline. That wasn't in the game plan."