Wests Tigers captain Api Koroisau has praised coach Benji Marshall for installing the self-belief within the team that led to the upset win over premiership heavyweights the Sydney Roosters.
The Roosters went into their home game as competition leaders after eight consecutive wins and were raging favourites at Allianz Stadium.
On the other side, the Tigers had lost their past eight and were out of finals contention after a promising start to the year.
However, the Tigers reproduced the form that saw them win five of their first seven to shock the Roosters 25-24 in one of the club’s greatest wins.
Their cause wasn't helped after losing the experience of lock Alex Twal to concussion after one minute.
“Benji challenged our mindset about what we wanted from each other, firstly,’’ Koroisau said.
“He also said why don’t we just simplify things and go back to the fundamentals of football and go after the hard parts of the game.
“He really brought everyone back to the same page. We’ve been training really well, so for us it's all about translating that.
“The boys are just playing pretty freely. We came up with some errors on the back of that freeness, but we were just so happy to continue to challenge ourselves and take the risk.
“It is something that we can learn from, but we were also going after the hard parts of the game. I thought our defence was the best it’s been in a while.
“It was all about belief for us and just building on what we have here and not wasting the last few weeks that we do have together.
“Obviously, it’s been a long time coming for us and we needed to win.
“We’re still quite a young team. The boys all showed up, and the attitude was always going to be between the ears.
“For us to go on that losing streak run and to then come out and play like we did just brings that belief back.”
Wests Tigers full-back Jahream Bula echoed his captain’s sentiments on Marshall.
“It’s been a tough few weeks for him but to win that game was more than just for the team, it was for Benji and for our fans also,’’ Bula said.
“We always see Benji on the sideline shouting at us. He is very passionate, so for us to get that win for him was massive.”
