Wests Tigers coach Tim Sheens benched tearaway forward Daine Laurie in the second half of their 14-12 NRL loss to Melbourne on Sunday because he was doing more harm than good.

The Wests Tigers were their own worst enemies at Olympic Park, with unforced errors a key to their downfall.

And no player made more crucial ones than Laurie, a replacement prop.

Late in the first half with the Tigers level at 6-6, he dropped a simple pass from Gareth Ellis with the line wide open.

And his fortunes didn't change early in the second half.

Seven minutes in he was penalised for taking out Storm halfback Cooper Cronk after he put a kick up and in the ensuing play, replacement forward Matt Cross barrelled across the line for a try, going through Laurie.

Soon after the dreadlocked giant was penalised for a dangerous tackle on Storm winger Anthony Quinn that will come under scrutiny by the match review committee.

"It's unacceptable," Sheens said after the match.

"He's pretty disappointed about it.

"He didn't get his second stint in the second half after he started, he didn't go back out mainly because I reward him when things are going OK but he's still so raw I can't afford to leave him on the field if there's going to be some issues around his game."

Standing 198cm and weighing 110kg, the quietly-spoken 24-year-old joined the Tigers from Yamba during the 2008 pre-season and didn't even play league for 18 months preceding that.

Despite the errors he has become popular with Tigers fans for the way he rips in and tries his best.

But Sheens will need more than that from his players if the Tigers have any hopes of a finals berth this season.

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