They were out of this contest for 65 minutes but then scored two quick tries through Brent Naden and Junior Tupou and, suddenly, were within two points.

Even after the Eels scored the apparent match-winner via Maika Sivo in the corner, the Tigers still weren’t out of it. Luke Brooks nailed a pressure penalty goal to bring them within six points with two to play.

The game died with a minute remaining when Brooks kicked over the top for winger Junior Tupou, but he knocked on. Diamonds, rocks ...

That play was a microcosm of the match, which was a microcosm of the Tigers season, which is fast becoming a microcosm of the last 10 years: signs of brilliance sprinkled over the top of dog poo.

The Tigers are trying. We can all see that. After a week of off-field gibber caused mostly by their front office, they responded with a spirited albeit streaky performance on it.

It’s feasible they could be like this all season, threatening to beat teams but falling away at the death. They now find themselves 0-6, rooted to the bottom of the ladder, carving a spoon from of a block of wood.

It sounds strange to say this about a side that’s conceded 160 points in six matches — the worst in the competition — but the Tigers’ problem isn’t their defence.

It’s their attack. Correction: their diabolical attack.

In another life, the current coaching triumvirate of Tim Sheens, Benji Marshall and Robbie Farah changed the way the game was played, blowing teams off the park by making it up off the top of their heads.

Eighteen seasons later, they are trying it again with lesser players, certainly lesser than Marshall, against wrestling defences that are better drilled and players who are fitter and stronger.

It sounds strange to say this about a side that’s conceded 160 points, but the Tigers’ problem isn’t their defence.

In the first half against the Eels, their only trick play was no trick play, passing it to whoever seemed up for it, hoping Adam Doueihi would step free, or Koroisau could wriggle through tiring markers or Isaiah Papali’i could shrug off three defenders.

In the second half, they played more direct against tiring defence and the points came, dragging them back twice from a 12-point deficit.

Brooks has been wearing much of the blame for the Tigers’ woes and that’s unfair. If Mitchell Pearce was rugby league’s punching bag, Brooks has become its speedball.

But he’s got to feel some of the heat. He’s the halfback, on $1.1 million a season, who is now 28, who has played nearly 200 NRL matches in a decade, who should be capable of leading a team around the park, even behind a forward pack regularly getting bent backwards.

Heading into this match, Brooks had one try assist. One. In five matches. Not good enough, hombre: Mitchell Moses, in this game, had three before halftime, all of them off his right boot.

Brooks is trying and you have to give him that. There are players in the NRL on more trying less.

Early in the second half, he spat out a flat, spiralling cut-out pass that resulted in a try to winger Asu Kepaoa that kept the Tigers in the hunt at 22-10.

The signs are there for the Tigers, whether it’s in Brooks or others.

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New fullback Charlie Staines should have attracted several Insta-likes for his performance, although he came up with a crucial late error. Prop Stefano Utoikamanu is a terrifying wrecking ball covered in spiders, but his side needs more from him.

The Tigers are low-hanging fruit for the media, ex-players, and fed-up fans. Is it “bullying”, as Sheens indicated before this match?

It’s more likely the inevitable scrutiny that surrounds a struggling team with a frustrated supporter base tired of the explanations that regularly come from the front office.

You sense the Tigers are about to find out just how tight they are.

It’s conceivable they could go through the whole season playing thrilling, promising football — but never win.

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