Sheens to resolve goalkicking problem - Sports News - Fanatics - the world's biggest events

Sheens to resolve goalkicking problem

By Adrian Warren 01/08/2010 01:11:57 PM Comments (0)

Wests Tigers coach Tim Sheens is set to decide on the contentious and vital issue of who should be his side's goalkicker, after superstar Benji Marshall relinquished the duty during Saturday's NRL clash with Cronulla.

Five-eighth Marshall opted to hand over the responsibility in the second half after landing just one out of three attempts before the break.

It meant he had nailed just four out of 14 attempts in the Tigers' past three games.

Centre Chris Lawrence took over the task, finishing with one from two in his team's 24-22 win at Leichhardt Oval.

Following the game, Sheens declined to anoint Lawrence as the Tigers' new fulltime kicker.

"That's something I will decide in the next couple of days. We'll make a decision then," Sheens told reporters after the game.

Marshall declined to make himself available for comment after the match.

Sheens has a kicking issue of another type to deal with heading into next Saturday's ANZ Stadium clash with Souths.

Three of the four tries the Tigers conceded against Cronulla came from their failure to deal with high kicks.

"We were pretty scrappy and piggy-backed them out of their own end numerous times and gave them the opportunities to put up those attacking kicks that they scored their tries off," Tigers captain and hooker Robbie Farah said.

"They were pretty soft tries and that's something we have got to address.

"A contentious held call against centre Ben Pomeroy denied the Sharks a potential late match-winning try and enabled the Tigers to consolidate fourth spot."

Farah and Sheens were far from happy with their team's performance.

"We know that's nowhere near good enough," Farah said.

"We sang the team song. It was a bit of an empty feeling singing it.

"You always want to play well and get the win but we've got a lot of work to do to be able to compete with the top sides.

"The two games we've lost in the last couple of months have been to Manly and the Dragons and they are probably the benchmark and that's where we've got to be at."

Forward Chris Heighington said the Tigers had yet to produce an 80-minute performance this season.

He labelled the Tigers' 50-10 loss to Souths back in May as the turning point of the season for his club, who have won eight out of 10 games since that debacle.

"We were all embarrassed, we had a couple of real close meetings after that game and we sorted a few things out," Heighington said.

"It (next Saturday) is a completely different game for us.

"But I suppose it will be in the back of the mind, for sure."

Centre Blake Ayshford will have an X-ray on Monday after suffering a suspected broken left hand.

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