Benji Marshall was at his dazzling best in Wests Tigers' 26-14 NRL win over Melbourne on Sunday but a mini-injury crisis added a sour note to the festivities at a sold-out Leichhardt Oval.

Marshall produced one of his trademark flick passes on the way to a hat-trick which has put the Tigers in the box seat for a top-two finals finish, but there were mixed feelings afterwards with coach Tim Sheens assembling an alarming casualty ward leading into the playoffs.

The worst of the wounded is star centre Chris Lawrence, who left the field with a broken jaw after just four minutes of play.

Sheens said Lawrence already had a slightly weakened jaw from a previous injury, which might explain why the damage was so severe from what appeared to be an innocuous hit from Jeff Lima, who wasn't even put on report.

"They're operating on him tonight (Sunday) at six o'clock and if we're still there in a month he'll be back," Sheens said.

"I'd like to hope the boys play well enough to give him another opportunity.

"In the meantime guys like Geoff Daniela and (Mitch) Brown and company (could get an opportunity)."

Evergreen prop John Skandalis suffered a nasty buttocks injury which forced him off and will miss a couple of weeks at best.

Fullback Wade McKinnon aggravated his ongoing hamstring problem and will at least miss this Friday's clash with Gold Coast.

Front rower Bryce Gibbs has a knee injury and second rower Liam Fulton a calf problem, which could keep them out again this week, while Gareth Ellis has a nasty cork.

"Luckily it's not the first semi," Sheens said.

"But look, we've been a strong club this year, we've made the semis at Wests and with Balmain in the (NSW Cup) and I think we're one game off in the 20's.

"So there'll be players there that'll step up and be very keen to get an opportunity to play next week, let alone the opportunity to maybe play in a semi-final."

Sheens gave his players a spray at halftime, as inconsistent football saw them cling to a 10-8 lead at the break.

A sold-out Leichhardt crowd of 20,168 went wild in the 13th minute when Marshall wound the clock back to 2005 and started and finished one of the tries of the season.

Marshall slid through the defensive line, set off 40 metres downfield before flicking inside for Mitch Brown, with the ball finally ended up with Marshall again to cross down in the corner.

The Storm were brave and the Tigers were guilty of dropping off in intensity at various stages.

A soft Ryan Hoffman try got Melbourne back in the contest at 16-14, before Tigers skipper Robbie Farah burrowed over in the 68th minute and Marshall completed his treble with a runaway effort at the death.

Melbourne coach Craig Bellamy was pleased with his team's effort and the Storm now have their minds set on a big farewell in front of their home fans next week.

"We had the gastric (bug) go through our place during the week and Adam Blair, I don't think he trained, Dane Nielsen missed a fair bit and Greg (Inglis) didn't end up playing today he was that crook .. so it wasn't an ideal week," said Bellamy.

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