Wests Tigers head coach Benji Marshall has confirmed young gun Latu Fainu isn't too far away from being recalled to the starting team.
The youngster has been playing off the bench since returning from injury, splitting his time between the halves and a ball playing lock.
With Lachlan Galvin's departure to the Canterbury Bulldogs, it was tipped Fainu would be pushed straight back into the halves once he was fit alongside Jarome Luai, but instead, back-up fullback Heath Mason has been handed the responsibility at five-eighth.
Marshall said it was a case of building Fainu's minutes up again before exposing him to an 80-minute contest.
โIn terms of their combination. Latu, he showed some really good touches in the middle and then when he went to half, he is used to playing there, and had some really classy touches. We are building Latu's minutes up to hopefully give him 80 minutes soon, so it's not far away," Marshall said during his post-match press conference after his side almost pulled off a comeback win against the Canberra Raiders.
The call on Fainu's likely return to the number six jersey in the coming weeks will see Heath Mason drop back to reserve grade.
The theme of 'not far away' was a constant one for Marshall after the game, suggesting his side are on the brink of turning a corner.
โDisappointed. Particularly in the first half with the way we played, but at halftime we asked for a reaction and wanted to address some things, and I thought we came out and played some good footy,โ Marshall said.
โWe got ourselves a chance in the game to win it. Looking at our last two games, the four-time premiers, taking them to the wire and almost winning, and then the team that's sitting second on the table, again giving ourselves a shot today.
โI know the results have gone the other way, but it's not far off where we want to be.โ
The head coach admitted there were still areas for his side to improve on.
โWe were impatient a bit in the first half. Probably guilty of trying to score on every play and going a bit sideways, but I thought in the second half we played some good footy and gave ourselves a chance,โ Marhall said on his side's attack.
โA lot of their tries were one-on-one missed tackles, long-range sort of breaks into scramble defence. We have a bit to improve on, but again, it's not far off.โ
The result came with Jarome Luai surprisingly backing up from State of Origin 2 despite having to fly back to Sydney from Perth on the only day in between the two games.
Captain Apisai Koroisau said he always knew Luai would play if he was able to.
โDefinitely. I knew if he was able to, he would want to. His grit and the way he came out today and the energy he showed, he is just a competitor. Not surprised,โ Koroisau said of Luai.
Marshall said it's efforts like Friday's which prove why Luai - who only joined the Tigers from the Penrith Panthers during the off-season - is the co-captain of the club.
โJarome, the effort to come back after playing 80 minutes in Perth in State of Origin, comes back and competes on every play for 80 minutes for his team, that's why he is the captain,โ the coach said.
The loss, where the Tigers seemed to be unsure of how to win in the closing stages despite coming home like a freight train, are now five wins from 14 games and sit in 13th spot on the ladder, although could fall as far as 16th at the end of the weekend.
