The Manly Sea Eagles players were left to lick their wounds after the Melbourne Storm proved to be too strong in Friday night's qualifying final.
The performance wasn't acceptable for Manly players, feeling that they had "let the jersey down".
After a disappointing 40-12 loss to the Storm over the weekend, Sea Eagles players are looking ahead to next week promising each other that they "don't ever let it happen again".
Manly prop Taniela Paseka told NRL.com about the atmosphere amongst the team post-match.
"It wasn't pleasant," Paseka told NRL.com.
"After the game, we had a chat in the locker room after everyone had showered, we stayed back and had a chat."
"It was very quiet. No one really spoke. We were very disappointed, I was very disappointed, we felt like we let the jersey down so it really hurt us."
"The boys put their hands up. It was done then."
The loss was reminiscent of their first match of the season when the Sea Eagles lost 46-4 to the Roosters. That Round 1 loss resulted in the four-game skid and starting the season 0-4.
Since then, Manly have turned around their season winning 16 of the final 20 games of the year.
Now they get the opportunity to "get one back" against the Roosters in a do-or-die week 2 final.
Former West Tiger Josh Aloiai relishes the opportunity of taking on the Roosters. Starved of finals opportunities at his previous club, Aloiai took 104 games to make a finals appearance. He didn't get the finals debut he was hoping for.
Aloiai acknowledges that their Round 1 match still plays in the minds of his teammates. The club will be using it to fuel its teams' efforts this weekend.
"That hurt that day and I want the opportunity to get one back," Aloiai said.
"You look at our squad and all the individuals, how much they've grown and evolved, they're just totally different people.
"Some of the guys that didn't have much NRL experience are [now] high on confidence and have played so much more NRL football."
"One thing you can count on with this squad is the belief won't waiver. We're a team that has battled adversity from the start of the year from every kind of angle."
"We're a team that has huge character and you can expect us to bounce back and bounce back big this week."
Manly are hoping that their season doesn't end in the same fashion as it began, with a loss to the Roosters.
The Sea Eagles will take on Sydney Roosters on Friday the 17th of September at BB Print Stadium.
