Wests Tigers Head Coach Ivan Cleary and captain Aaron Woods spoke to the media after tonight's disappointing 26-14 defeat against the Gold Coast Titans.
On a frustrating night for the home side, Cleary's side were left ruing a controversial decision midway through the second half to deny Malakai Watene-Zelezniak a game-changing try.
With the decision overturned by the Bunker, the Titans worked the ball down field and ran in three tries in quick succession — essentially ending any hopes at a Wests Tigers comeback.
"I felt we did a lot of things right tonight, we just couldn’t build enough pressure," Cleary said. "It was either penalty at the wrong or fifth tackle options weren’t good enough.
“The (Malakai Watene-Zelezniak) no try, personally I thought it was a lose carry, so if that’s the case then it’s not a strip," he said.
“Under pressure, our edge defence let us down but that’s been happening all year.
"I thought the guys in the middle did well, led by Woodsy. We certainty gave ourselves a good chance but if you can’t finish your sets off and build that pressure or penalty comes at the wrong time then I think they got their back up and they kicked out to two tries — that really affected us mentally.”
Backing up less than 48 hours after a gruelling State of Origin match on Wednesday night, Woods echoed the thoughts of Cleary in regards to ill-discipline costing the team on the night.
“Ivan asked me if I wanted to back up and I said yes, we’re here to play football," he said.
"It's part and parcel of the job.
"When you’re on the field you do what’s best for the team and put your body on the line [even though] it’s tough at times.
“It’s disappointing, we can’t give fifth tackle penalties away. We did well defending but we were our own worst enemy tonight.”
“Tonight I thought we had opportunities and we couldn’t capitalise by not getting it right or not finishing the set off well," Cleary added.
"When it backs on top of each other the resilence get tested."
See what Cleary and Woods had to say about tonight's game in full in the video above!
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