Terrell May has found an unlikely kindred spirit in Benji Marshall and is now driven by a desire to repay him and the Wests Tigers in his first year at the club.

May emerged as a genuine reason for hope in the Tigers' season-opening loss to Newcastle on Friday night, when he was clearly the best prop on the field in the 10-8 defeat.

After carpooling to the game with fellow recruit Jarome Luai, May played through the first 54 minutes unchanged and ran 175 metres to go with five offloads.

Shocked when told by the Roosters last October he was surplus to requirements six months after signing a two-year deal, May is now a leader of the pack at the Tigers.

Marshall labelled May as "misunderstood" following Friday's loss, rejecting the idea a dislike for football had put May on the outer at the Roosters.

Instead, Marshall said the 25-year-old simply wanted to put family before football, something the Tigers coach has encouraged both for himself and his players.

"I feel like Benji knows me so well," May said.

"We chat a lot. It's the first time I've really chatted to a coach this personally.

"He even texts me sometimes and just checks up on me. He's a coach, but I see him more as an older brother.

"That's why I want to go out there and do the best for him and do the best for this club. Because he brought me over and I've got to repay him back."

May also said he was ready to thrive on the prospect of continually playing big minutes as a starter, after previously doing so off the bench at the Roosters.

The front-rower played with the gusto of an impact prop early on Friday night, but did so knowing the plan was still for him to go through the first half unchanged.

"You don't want to pace yourself. You want to blow your load and see what happens from there," May said.

"I came here to (play big minutes). I don't know how long I played, but I knew I was out there for pretty long

"But I don't really care about what I do. I just care about winning. And obviously we didn't get the result, so I'm not too happy."

Marshall said afterwards May had proven what he would bring to the Tigers.

"He showed he is not mucking around coming here. He wants to lead the way and be our leader in the forward pack," Marshall said.

"We planned to try and get him through the first 40, which he did, he got through it pretty good.

"We don't chase stats or minutes, it's just the quality we get out of him. I thought he was quality for us."