'Not a tough football team': Ricky slams Raiders in woeful Tigers loss

The Raiders coach also hinted he could swing the axe at the selection table in the wake of their 48-24 loss to the Tigers at Campbelltown on Sunday.

Stuart also completely dismissed their brief fightback while Wests were reduced to 12 men when Alex Seyfarth was in the sin bin.

The loss ended the Raiders' eight-game winning streak over Wests and saw them drop out of the top eight.

They're part of a big pack of NRL teams on 18 competition points and face a tough trip to Melbourne to play the Storm.

What changes could Stuart make? Tom Starling will likely return from concussion, while the likes of Hohepa Puru, Albert Hopoate, James Schiller and Chevy Stewart could also be options.

Whether Corey Horsburgh (groin) and Pasami Saulo (back) were ready to return from injury was up in the air.

Raiders centre Matt Timoko appeared to hurt his shoulder, while winger Nick Cotric hurt his ankle - although they were both able to complete the game.

Cotric was one of the Raiders' few good players and will weigh up an offer to join Catalans this week.

Regardless, it will be a tough bus ride home for the Green Machine, who have found a novel way to fix concerns about their home form - by being awful on the road as well.

Perhaps the Raiders remembered Campbelltown was their home ground during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Stuart didn't hold back in his assessment of the heavy loss - which probably should've been heavier after they somehow went into the sheds at half-time only trailing 18-2.

"Tough people pull it back. Tough teams pull it back," he said

"Don't see that [comeback] as any type of praise. If we can't score tries against 12 men we're in a bad position.

"I just said the same thing to the boys in there - don't get too excited about the fact we scored a couple of tries at the back end.

"The game was over. They took their foot off the intensity and had 12 men.

"[I put it down to] toughness. We're not a tough football team at the moment.

"It's mental. That's an individual choice. We've got too many individual choices at the moment where we're taking soft options."

Three Tigers scored their maiden NRL tries in the first half - Lachlan Galvin, Luke Laulilii and Sione Fainu.

Galvin ended up with a double, while Adam Doueihi ended his first NRL game in more than a year with an emotional try to seal the game.

He's been through hell with three knee reconstructions, with Tigers coach Benji Marshall hesitant to bring him back into the side.

The future of Tigers prop Stefano Utoikamanu has been a hot topic of conversation, despite Wests offering him a $4 million, five-year extension.

He's been linked to the Green Machine as a potential long-term replacement for veteran middle Josh Papali'i.

Utoikamanu scored a try off the back of some clever work by Wests hooker Api Koroisau, who had a brilliant game and scored try himself.

Raiders captain Elliott Whitehead said they would work together this week to try and turn around their back-to-back losses.

"It's something we're going to have to fix up together - we're not going to point fingers at each other," he said.

"We know we can fix it up. We've got a big task going down to Melbourne next week.

"We're not completing our sets where we want to turn the ball over.

"We speak about it all week and then we go out there and we dish that rubbish up.

"We're going to have to fix it ourselves internally and we're going to have to do it fast if we want to keep our season alive."

AT A GLANCE

WESTS TIGERS 48 (Lachlan Galvin 2, Luke Laulilii, Sione Fainu, Jahream Bula, Stefano Utoikamanu, Apisai Koroisau, Adam Doueihi tries; Koroisau 8 goals) bt CANBERRA RAIDERS 24 (Danny Levi, Nick Cotric, Kaeo Weekes, Ethan Strange tries; Jordan Rapana 4 goals) at Campbelltown. Referee: Todd Smith. Crowd: 10,106.