Wests Tigers fell to the Penrith Panthers 38-10 in Round 27 of the Telstra Premiership at CommBank Stadium on Sunday.
The defeat saw the Tigers finish the regular season in 15th spot with eight wins.
The Tigers started on the back foot, going into the sheds 26-0 down after a challenging first half.
The Panthers dominated possession and territory early, crossing for five tries before the break to take a commanding lead.
Despite a strong effort early in the second half and scoring two tries, the Tigers conceded 12 points as the Panthers ran out 38-10 winners.
The Panthers victory secured them the minor premiership, with the side needing to win by more than two points to claim the title.
Wests Tigers Pathways graduate Vaka Aho made his debut, becoming WT #314, while prop Terrell May played his 100th NRL game.
The key moments
7th minute: Liam Martin finds Brian To'o on the right edge, who goes over for the opening try. Nathan Cleary converts. Panthers 6-0.
16th minute: Casey McLean goes over from dummy half on the left side. Cleary converts. Panthers 12-0.
21st minute: The Panthers spread it across their line for Tom Jenkins to score on the left wing. Panthers 16-0.
29th minute: Jenkins goes over again in the left corner. Panthers 20-0.
31st minute: Jenkins and Dylan Edwards combine to send Edwards over. Cleary converts. Panthers 26-0.
38th minute: Jack Cole goes to the sin bin after committing a professional foul.
45th minute: A long cut-out pass from Jock Madden at dummy-half goes right to Jeral Skelton on the wing. Panthers 26-4.
49th minute: Madden gets it to Latu Fainu, who draws in the Panthers defender and passes to Solomone Saukuru, who goes over on the left edge. Madden converts. Panthers 26-10.
58th minute: McLean makes a break and scores on the left side. Cleary converts. Panthers 32-10.
64th minute: The Panthers spread it out for McLean to go over. Cleary converts. Panthers 38-10.
What they said
NRL Head Coach Benji Marshall
"It was a bit of a weird year for us. We showed such promise and optimism to start the season and then we went through a bit of a rough patch losing eight in a row and had to fight at the back end. Obviously, you want to make the semis and move forward as a club, but there is a lot we can take away from this year that we need to be better at, myself in particularly, and make sure we are not in this position next year.”
