AAP
They're the NRL's great entertainers, but Wests Tigers veteran Braith Anasta concedes rival teams won't take his side seriously until they add some steel to their undoubted style.
The Tigers are off the mark for 2013 with a 28-18 win over Penrith at Campbelltown on Sunday, while Canberra coach David Furner's week went from bad to horrid as the undermanned Raiders were hammered 36-0 on the Gold Coast.
Flogged 42-10 by Newcastle last Monday night, the only way was up for the Tigers against the Panthers.
They got there, but it wasn't pretty, against a side which was forced to play 70 minutes without their chief playmaker when Lachlan Coote was forced from the field with a pectoral injury.
That the Panthers were still able to lay on three tries, and be in the game with 15 minutes to go, showed just how far the Tigers had to go to be talked about as a finals contender.
"It was just good to get the monkey off the back, just getting a win," Anasta said.
"That's all it was for us today is the win.
"We'd like to improve our defence ... we improved a lot today but we can improve a lot more.
"People aren't going to take us seriously until we do.
"No one's really giving us a chance this year. I think a lot of that comes off the back of our defence."
Anasta's opinion comes from some point of authority, given he has been in opposition to the Tigers for the first 13 years of his career.
He knows what the perception of the Tigers is among rival clubs, and is doing his utmost to help change that.
But Anasta also concedes the Tigers will always play their unique brand of football - especially while ever Benji Marshall and Robbie Farah are at the helm.
Even under new coach Michael Potter, the Tigers' ability to put points on the board will remain their strength.
"Benji and Robbie - they're the nucleus, and they're still there," Anasta said.
"They've got a lot to do with the way we play so it's not going to change a hell of a lot."
One team whose style might need to alter following a dramatic week is Canberra's with their first match of the post-Josh Dugan era ending in a 36-0 flogging by the Titans.
The loss of Dugan, sacked midweek following a number of off-field indiscretions and a fallout with the coach, was always going to impact the Raiders' attack.
But the 35 missed tackles will have had alarm bells ringing in the coach's box as Furner attempts to regain control of the dressing room.
He's not on his own there however with Steve Price's grip on the St George Illawarra coaching position growing more tenuous by the week.
As if the poor loss to Brisbane wasn't bad enough, there was more bad news on Saturday with the man some consider the saviour to the side's attacking woes - young halfback Josh Drinkwater - suffering a shoulder injury while playing for the Illawarra Cutters in the NSW Cup.
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