'Look in the mirror': Benji Marshall's message to Wests Tigers after 'embarrassing' reality check

An "embarrassing" 64-point thrashing against the Storm will act as a crucial opportunity for the Wests Tigers to "look in the mirror" according to coach Benji Marshall.

The second-year boss was far from impressed by his side's nightmare trip to Melbourne on Sunday, where the brilliance of Ryan Papenhuyzen was on full display.

Despite having made five less errors than their rivals and conceding the same amount of penalties, the Tigers struggled to find their rhythm in attack against their rivals and their defence was even worse, leaking 11 tries for the afternoon.

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However, the absence of their fighting spirit was the biggest issue for Marshall.

"There's losing the game and then there's being beaten, and today we got beaten," he said in the post-match press conference.

"We've got a team that usually fights for everything and I just didn't see the same fight.

"We built standards that we want to live by and today we didn't live by any of them.

"Everyone is disappointed, embarrassed, but it's not good enough.

"We've got to be better than that."

When asked where the fighting spirit may have been lost, Marshall had no answer.

Although he did note that the result now leaves the team with a balanced five wins and losses in the opening 10 rounds of the season.

Such a damaging defeat also sees the joint venture drop to 10th on the ladder, but Marshall was taking nothing away from the Storm.

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"I don't want to make any excuses," Marshall continued.

"Everyone knows how good they are and how hard they are to beat at home. I think the Storm have been the benchmark for the competition for the past 20 years.

"We knew that after what happened last week that they were going to be upbeat and ready to play. They just got on a roll and we couldn't get anything back.

"We've got to reflect on where we are and we've got to learn from it. We've got to get back up for next week. We can't dwell on it and take that (feeling) into next week.

"You can hurt from it but you've got to take that hurt into next week and improve.

"It's a couple of steps forward and then a few steps back," he continued.

"We took a lot of steps back today. We know what works for us, the processes that work, we just need to apply that and we didn't do that today.

"We all just need to look in the mirror and be better for next week."

Sunia Turuva dismissed suggestions that the thrashing could impact the team's mentality in future performances ahead of next weekend's clash with South Sydney.

"I don't think so," Turuva replied.

"If anything, it lights a fire inside of you. I guess when you are going good, you are never as good as you think you are.

"For us, it is a great look in the mirror from where we want to be. It's a chance for us to look at our prep and how we are turning up to games.

"I think it will be a good thing for us."