Teen star among Tigers players breached for fitness issues

Young gun Latu Fainu has been revealed as one of five Wests Tigers players who were reportedly reprimanded for their fitness standards. According to a report from The Sydney Morning Herald, five Tigers players were issued official warnings by the club after returning to training last week out of shape. It has since been reported by the Herald that the 19-year-old Fainu was among the group and produced a poor performance in a time trial. Fainu played nine games for the joint-venture in his rookie 2024 season. The news comes after Roosters star Brandon Smith took a bold swipe at the players for turning up lacking fitness after the side's third-straight wooden spoon. "If I'm (Tigers coach) Benji Marshall, geez I find it disrespectful on the players' behalf," Smith said on The Bye Round podcast. "Three wooden spoons in a row, a new coach and you're going to come back out of condition. It begs the question, do you really want to play this game and what do you want to play for? "Do you want to play it because it looks cool and you want to make money, or do you want to play it because this means something to you and you want to win championships and you want to do great things in this game? "That is just not what it's telling me. Senior players like Jarome Luai, Api Koroisau, what are they thinking as well? "Are they thinking … are these players that we need around? Are these players that are going to help me win games and not be wooden spooners? "I'm not gonna be a, you know, nice guy about it, but you can't have three years in a row (finishing last) and that's not motivation for you to want to come back and put your best foot forward for this team and for Benji as a new coach." Podcast co-host James Graham agreed with the sentiment. "It is disrespectful," the retired Bulldogs and Dragons forward said. "It's a slap in the face to the whole organisation to say we agreed on this and you failed on something, on a variable, that is totally and utterly in your control." The strict new stance from the Tigers comes as the club looks to avoid a fourth-straight wooden spoon in 2025 and give Benji Marshall some breathing room as head coach.