St George Illawarra Dragons halfback Benji Marshal concedes he has a lot to work on following the 36-0 loss to the Parramatta Eels at Pirtek Stadium, Parramatta on Saturday.
The Keebra Park junior made his Red V debut after being a late addition to the starting line-up and confesses he still has areas of his individual play that need improvement before he next takes to the field.
The NRL All-Star though admits his teammates have the talent to overcome the present downward slump which has seen them lose thrice on the trot and has backed them to come out firing next round.
“It was pretty tough out there,” said Marshall.
“There was a lot of pressure out there and I put a lot of pressure on myself to do something with every touch and I have a lot to work on.
“I thought defensively I was pretty solid but a few of the options I took probably need to be looked at.
“There’s no doubt I enjoy being back out there with both the atmosphere and the physicality of the game but my execution probably let me down.
“I played the wrong options two or three times with a few errors that probably cost us a bit.
“I was a bit nervous out there which I think affected me a bit trying to be the creator out there which hurt me with pass selection and playing the miracle play.
“I knew the expectation was going to be high not only from St George Illawarra Dragons supporters but from everyone and I probably let that dictate what I was trying to do out there.
“I think I just need to settle into games and take control by getting my hands on the footy a bit more and try not to play the miracle play every time.
“Gareth [Widdop] and I only had one training session together which probably didn’t help being halves and we were sort of playing two different games out there.
“I was trying to play my side and he was playing his side and we didn’t get a lot of opportunities to combine but I can only speak for the way I went.
“There’s certainly a lot of belief in the side but we are struggling with confidence at the moment but once we find it I definitely think we have a good team to move forward.”
