Wests Tigers Coach Benji Marshall says he will use this week’s bye to assess the health of his team and whether some players will have surgery earlier than expected.
“We had the bye in round one, that was tough, and then 12 straight weeks of footy into another bye, into another 12 weeks. It's taken its toll,’’ Marshall said following Sunday’s loss to Parramatta.
“We've got guys playing busted to be honest, who just probably should have surgery, but are just still playing to fight for the club, which says how much it means to some of the blokes.
“In terms of niggles and injuries, it's a good time for us (the bye).
“This game was a big occasion like for us. We wanted to play for Api (250th match) and everyone wanted to be on board for that.
“I guess the bye gives us a good chance to just take a breath and have a look at the final four weeks, what the priorities are moving forward and what it looks like and make a plan accordingly.”
Marshall said his priority is to win as many games as possible to end the season strongly rather than looking at who may be blooded in the NRL.
“I'm feeling proud of the guys. It's been tough, obviously,’’ he added.
“It's been tough for everyone, but, you know, through hardships and pain, you get the biggest growth and through tough times, you see whose character comes out in the end, and I thought today, I thought we showed a lot of character.
“Obviously, execution wasn't there, but, yeah, I'm feeling proud of the boys that they could get through that and put it in that performance given our last few haven't been up to standard.”
