Paul Gallen has torched the efforts of the Wests Tigers‘ players during their round five loss to the Sharks on Sunday.
Speaking on Nine’s 100% Footy, Gallen said he was incredibly disappointed with the side’s lack of urgency in defence, describing it as “horrible”.
The Tigers are anchoring the NRL ladder as the only team yet to chalk up a win from their first five games.
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And that’s no surprise, according to Gallen, who couldn’t believe how far off the mark they were with a fundamental area of the game.
“That effort by the Tigers’ team was horrible,” Gallen said.
“There was a try that Ronaldo Mulitalo got – he ran over near the sideline, he ran all the way to underneath the post celebrating to the fans and not one Tigers player tried to cut him off to make it a harder kick.
“It was embarrassing. It was the worst thing I’ve seen in first grade.”
Watching a replay of the try, Gallen expressed disbelief in the reactions of the Tigers players, questioning their desire to compete.
“That’s just a lack of effort, a lack of commitment to your teammates, a lack of commitment to yourself. You’ve got a responsibility and a job to do when you get on a rugby league field,” Gallen said.
“Surely they’ve got individual pride where they want to show something more than that.”
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