MITCHELL PEARCE COLUMN | Wests Tigers clash is 'potentially a season-defining game for us'

A big call maybe but that's exactly how I feel about tomorrow night's clash against the Wests Tigers at McDonald Jones Stadium.

It's potentially a season-defining game for us. You could argue all seven of our remaining games could define our season but I feel like this is the game where we have to make a statement again. Where we have to rediscover the sort of form we were in mid-season when we had everyone talking about us.

The NRL is so competitive and tight, you can't afford a lull period. You can't afford to lower your standards.

Almost three weeks ago against the Warriors with a below-strength side, we were four minutes away from going to 20 points and putting ourselves in a good position to make a run at the top four.

Now we have lost three in a row and four of our last five and find ourselves in a real dogfight for a top eight spot.

We have addressed what went down against the Roosters last weekend. What happened late in the second half was not acceptable. That lack of desire to stop their try onslaught was nowhere near where our standards need to be and every player in the squad realises that.

But as disappointing as the loss to the Bulldogs and that last 25 minutes against the Roosters was, that's done now. We can think about the what ifs and if we'd hung on to get the two points against the Warriors and the missed opportunity against the Bulldogs all we like but it's not going to change the reality.

But it's the reality that should excite us now. The challenge in front of us should excite us. We know we belong in the play-offs. We know we are good enough to feature in the big end of season games. Now we have to prove it all again.

Starting with the Tigers tomorrow night, we have to show where we are as a team and how far we have come. We dragged ourselves off the canvas earlier in the season when plenty had written us off. We held our hands up against some of the best teams in the comp and that mentality is what's needed again.

We can make excuses about how the Origin period and a few key injuries have been a disruption and affected our momentum or how some crucial decisions haven't gone our way. But there's much more to it.

The biggest reason we have gone off the boil is we haven't had enough ruthless intent in defence. When we were beating everyone in that run of wins we had, we were getting up off our line as a group and smashing blokes. We were picking blokes up and driving them back in tackles. Defensively, we were absolutely buzzing. Everything that we delivered in attack during that period was off the front foot because of that defensive dominance.

If you look back at the past month, we've reverted back to being far too passive defensively and when you are losing the ruck and playing off the back foot in attack, that's when the errors begin to mount up, forcing you to defend more. That's when you leak points.

When we were beating everyone in that run of wins we had, we were getting up off our line as a group and smashing blokes.

Defensive intent is not a physical thing. It's mental. It's about enthusiasm, desire and effort and when you are down in that department, you give your opposition every chance of winning.

What we do know going into Friday night is the Tigers will be every bit as desperate as we are and they have plenty of players who can hurt you if you don't keep them under pressure for the full 80 minutes.

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Like us, they have dropped games recently and coach Michael Maguire questioned their toughness this week to get a reaction after their latest loss.

Their two senior men, Robbie Farah and Benji Marshall, are still two of the smartest ball players going around. Robbie is playing his 300^th NRL game as well so it will be a special night for him and one he will want to remember with a win.

We have to make sure we ruin his party.