Benji Marshall has shut the door on suggestions his club is considering signing Israel Folau, with the Wests Tigers coach more concerned about getting a response from his team following their 68-0 shellacking last weekend.
There had been reports in recent days that the Tigers were contemplating signing Folau in the coming weeks.
Folau, 37, last played in the NRL way back in 2010 and has since hopped around codes around the world including stints in the AFL, rugby union and even one year with Super League side Catalans.
“No, we’re not signing him,” Marshall declared on Friday, with the pair playing together for the NRL All Stars back in 2010.
“I don’t talk about recruitment publicly, but that’s the furthest thing from my mind right now.
“I’ve seen there have been a lot of reports out there, but I need to get my team back on track. I need to focus on what’s important right now, and that’s us getting a performance we need this weekend, so I’m not even going to go down that path.”
Marshall has bigger things on his plate after last week’s ugly loss to Penrith where he says his side made “schoolboy” errors against the premiership favourites, with the players “embarrassed” about how they played.
“I think I said in the press conference, part of the process of reviewing that game is you’ve got to go through it and take accountability for your performance, learn from it, and then make amends so that doesn’t happen again,” he said.
“It was really important for us to go through that process so we didn’t just flush it under the carpet and pretend it never happened. And although it was tough, I think the value we’ll get out of that will hold us in good stead.
“And then you’ve got to just look back at where we’re 6-6 in our season, so it’s not all doom and gloom as it feels like it is externally.
“My job is how do I get the team back on track into a positive mindset so we can give our best performance in our last game at Leichhardt? That’s important to us and our fans, and we’ve got to get that right this week.”
The Tigers face the Titans on Sunday in what will be their final game at Leichhardt Oval until 2028 as the stadium receives a much-needed facelift.
They will be without key players Api Koroisau and Adam Doueihi, with all eyes on Jarome Luai, who has come under fire for his performances since he signed a deal to join the PNG Chiefs in 2028.
“I said this at the time (when he signed the deal) that it’ll become a distraction if you let it,” Marshall said, not wanting Luai to feel like he has to carry the team this weekend.
“If you don’t find the results, then they’ll find the excuses to make that a distraction. And we haven’t had the results, so people are always going to point to that, but it’s deeper than that.
“You don’t like making excuses, but we have a lot of our key players out, and what we haven’t done is adapt enough in those games to defend better.
“You can talk all you want about Jarome’s decision to go to PNG, but there are 16 other players or 18 other players in the squad that need to do their job as well.”
