Wests Tigers captain Apisai Koroisau has discussed the club's morale, insisting it is high, despite heading into Round 9 winless and at the bottom of the NRL table.
The Tigers will face their most difficult task to date on Saturday, taking on back-to-back premiers, the Penrith Panthers, in Bathurst.
After kicking off the season with consecutive disappointing losses at Leichhardt Oval to the Titans and Knights, they would concede 96 points in the next three games.ย
During these games, they looked out of shape in attack and defence whilst trying out different combinations to combat the scrutiny of the media.
However, in the past two games against the Eels and Sea Eagles, they have looked like a different side and came inches to emerging victorious.
Despite being the second team in history to lose their first five games in consecutive seasons, captain Apisai Koroisau insists the losses haven't taken a toll on the morale at the club.
Koroisau isn't the only one who believes this statement. If you visit any Wests Tigers training sessions, smiles and laughter can be seen throughout. Indicating that the morale hasn't taken a hit.
"In training, everyone is key to ripping in, and the guys around training are great," Koroisau said.
"The best thing about all this is that there's no excuses."
"We all know that it's our fault, the footy that we're playing, and we're not giving ourselves a chance."
"The best thing about taking accountability is that we can take ownership on fixing that as well."
The two-time premiership winner will go up against his former club for the first time this week.ย
To make matters worse for the Tigers, they will be without Charlie Staines.
Although Staines took some time to get comfortable with his new side, he has been one of the key stand-outs in the past two games.
Staines is set to be out for up to 10 weeks after he suffered a small bowel perforation in the second half against Manly.
Whilst morale might be high at the club and not taken much of a hit, he admitted it has been frustrating not to emerge with the two points in any of the games.
"Definitely frustrating, especially in the games, but when you look at the tapes, you sort of see that we're losing one game rather than overall," he admitted.
"I think for us; the big thing is to make sure that we're in the game, especially the long games."
