Maguire wants players to rise to the challenge and stop the rot

The Wests Tigers have lost three games in a row for the first time this season but coach Michael Maguire won't let his players get down in the dumps.

The 44-4 thumping by the Knights at McDonald Jones Stadium on Saturday night hurt everyone at the club. The previous two losses to the Eels and Warriors were by far smaller margins.

"You get together and look at the areas where we can fix up," Maguire said.

"One thing I know is the group will turn up and fix what we did wrong tonight."

It was not a night to remember for veterans Benji Marshall and Chris Lawrence, who were both celebrating their 250th games in the black-white-and-gold.

"It's always disappointing when you can't celebrate the milestones with a win. Full credit to those two boys – they're the fabric of our club," Maguire said.

"To see Chris at the back end of the game battling there with his body at one stage but wanting to stay out there."

And then there was the sight of fullback Adam Doueihi in tears post-game.

Having played four Tests for Lebanon, he had written the country's name on his wrist strapping as he still has family and friends in the capital city of Beirut which was devastated by a chemical explosion midweek.

"It's a choice of how you turn up to work on Monday," Maguire said, when asked how he would lift the spirits of his players.

"There's plenty of things going on in the world at the moment … we get to turn up and sort out our team so we're very fortunate at the moment.

"It's how we take on the challenge now. We've dropped a few games in a row."

But he felt for Doueihi in what would have been an emotional week for him personally.

"Those sorts of things definitely play a part. He's pretty passionate Adam – and he was a junior at the Wests Tigers so he wants to see the club up where we all want it.

"He's showing what it means to him and I can assure you every single player in that change room feels the same."

The statistics will surely be pulled out at Monday's team meeting. The Wests Tigers didn't complete 12 of 36 sets, made one line break to the Knights' eight, made 15 errors and missed 31 tackles.

"We just played against a team that played better than us today," Maguire said.

"They performed and got completions, put pressure on us. We didn't give ourselves a chance in that first half. It became a snowball effect.

"Without the ball your fatigue comes in and your defence ends up looking poor. It was not a great night for us."

The Knights scored four tries in each half to emphasise that fact.

"It's in our hands to make sure we turn that around," he said.

The next assignment for the Wests Tigers is another team down on their luck – the Canterbury Bulldogs – at Bankwest Stadium next Sunday.

To add a little more pain, utility Billy Walters won't be there. He has damaged his knee with the early diagnosis being possible tears to both his anterior cruciate (ACL) and posterior cruciate (PCL) ligaments.

He will be having scans to confirm if the injuries are season-ending.