Wests Tigers haven't played finals footy since 2011. They won the wooden spoon last year, and their first trial match of 2023 ended in a 48-12 thumping at the hands of the Warriors at Mt Smart Stadium on Thursday. Although devoid of their stars - David Nofoaluma, Brent Naden, Adam Doueihi, Luke Brooks, Api Koroisau, David Klemmer and Isaiah Papali'i were all missing - acting skipper Stefano Utoikamanu was blunt in his assessment of his side's performance. "It was pretty shocking, I think. Our defence was pretty poor," he told. "We played a pretty young team … we can't expect much from that, but the only thing we can do is move on to next week and focus on what we can do to improve." The Tigers conceded the first points of the match in the ninth minute, and went into the sheds only 14-0 down. They conceded two more early tries in the second half, before back-to-back four-pointers cut the deficit back to 14 points.
scope for improvement then
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