General Rd 11 - Tigers Vs Warriors Preview!

[ToiletDuck]

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Wests Tigers vs Warriors
Leichhardt Oval
Friday 7:45pm

It's 8th vs 9th and the Warriors once again grace Friday Night Football, and aren't we all salivating at the prospect. Ray Warren will be looking over the names on our team sheet with sheer terror, while we'll get to hear Gus ramble on about suburban grounds and Benji Marshall. In all seriousness though, I don't think the NRL could have booked a better game in this Origin/Bye hit weekend - and who could forget the last time we traveled to Sydney to play the Tigers? Krisnan Inu hasn't forgotten, though it seems he has been...

Recent Form: Both these teams come into this one on the back of some good recent form. The Tigers have won their past three, while the Warriors notched up their first back-to-back wins of the season last weekend. Having said that, the Tigers’ wins came over the bottom three teams in the competition, and were a bee's dick away from a loss to the Titans two weeks ago. I feel the bye will have been a positive for Sheens and his men in a season that has not at all gone to plan. Still, a win is a win and they've built some much needed momentum.

The Warriors by contrast have had three bruising encounters against quality sides, and will have to cope with a short turnaround and another trip to Sydney. I was at Mt Smart on Saturday, and while happy to walk away with the two points, I remain worried about our defence. Fullback issues aside, we're leaking far too many points - only the Eels have conceded more! I wasn't at all confident watching us defend inside our 'red zone', and I felt the Roosters forwards again got one up on our pack.

Players to Watch: State of Origin has been kind to the Warriors, with no players being rested this weekend. Konrad Hurrell's name has been popular in league circles this week, and it isn't hard to see why. The Kondom rampaged his way to a double last weekend, and showed real pace to outrun Minichiello. A great prospect no doubt - I'd still like to see him occasionally carry the ball in two hands, and look to bring his winger into play.

The fullback turnstile continues, and all eyes will again be on Glen Fisiiahi to see whether he can replicate his Vulcans form in first grade. In possibly one of the biggest cases of white line fever ever seen, he has scored 18 tries in 8 games. Most of us will be paying much closer attention to his work on defence however – let's hope he's been expelled from the 'Krisnan Inu school of attitude and application'.

The Tigers will be hoping it's the Benji Marshall show in the absence of captain Robbie Farah. Benji has had an indifferent start to the year, but it's his new partner at 5/8th that concerns me. Chris Lawrence was unlucky to miss out on an Origin spot and will be out to prove a point. He runs beautiful lines and has developed an excellent combination with Marshall over the years. If these two get going, it will be a long night for the Warriors. Tom Humble is an interesting, if not eyebrow raising, selection at hooker - though Tim Sheens isn't exactly known for his textbook selections.

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My prediction: Anything is possible here, and for a real prediction - open your wallet and toss a coin. I'd like to think that after a couple of good wins against decent opposition that we'd come into this and continue that form. Unfortunately, I don't think we're at that consistent stage yet. Friday night football, travelling away from home with a short turnaround and the prospect of a boisterous Leichhardt crowd spells trouble for the Warriors. The Tigers have had the week off to prepare for Farah's absence. Our defence is still a big worry, and I don't back us to outscore the Tigpies. If the Warriors turn up the way we did against the Storm and Broncos, then anything is possible. Whether we will or not, is another story. Tigers 34 - 20 Warriors.

 

[surfin]

We will be alright, Kony wants to show Benji how much he admires what he does.

 

[Sup42]

Can't wait , a bit more nervous about this game because the Tigers are so unpredictable, Benji has never rated us ( from his comments on the footie show over the years) more importantly the Warriors have never seriously messed with his Mojo the way they can with Elite players like Smith , Slater , Thaiday. Webke ,Tate.

That being said, Its time to have a little faith, the players know whats on a line its a mini finals game the battle for the eight tomorrow night. In terms of our season we really need this one possibly more than any other game so far.

Three wins in a row against quality sides = momentum.

The Tigers will be smarting after last years final , we need to be prepared for a backlash. Unlike the Storm / Roosters / Brisbane....getting up for a grudge match isn't a edge we carry going into this game.

On Hurrell : I recon we need to be a bit patient. It's hard no to get over excited because clearly the sky is the limit, but before last year he's never played league in his life so.....i imagine the coaches will be telling him to introduce his attacking game in 'bit parts' phase one Run and don't drop the ball, Now we've seen Phase two Hole runner Step the Full back one on one ......as for his good passing game that will be several Games away based on a lot more time spent training with Tupou

 

[rugged]

while we'll get to hear Gus ramble on about suburban grounds and Benji Marshall

Not to mention big Keith

 

[Brother Faisal]

Well written article. New GSE Journo lol

 

[janfin]

Yo Toiletduck I believe that the Herald need a decent League writer Great article and I have to say the Warriors will take it out by 6

 

[Danpatmac]

on paper we should win this by 12 or more.

wait and see.

 

[ToiletDuck]

Yo Toiletduck I believe that the Herald need a decent League writer Great article and I have to say the Warriors will take it out by 6

Sign me up! Actually don't, I'll receive too much hate mail from Blues fans

on paper we should win this by 12 or more.

wait and see.

Disagreement with official NZWF predictions = 6 month ban.

But yeah, would not be surprised if this went either way.

 

[a.c.e]

Just play Warriors football. Control the middle, dummy half running and then swing it out to the match winners. Our forward pack still has a lot to prove, and Johnson gets to out shine Benji. Cant wait.

 

[Buck777]

Wests Tigers coach Tim Sheens says the club is ready to turn around their patchy NRL form and exact revenge on the Warriors for ending their premiership dream last season.

Sheens admitted the Tigers were still burning from the semifinal loss, where Warriors centre Krisnan Inu scored the match-winner in the dying minutes to knock the Tigers out.

Sheens said despite recording three wins on the trot, his team had yet to impress ahead of tonight's clash at Leichhardt Oval.

The past two victories have been one-point wins over Parramatta and Gold Coast, highlighting Sheens' concerns which trail back to their finals defeat last season.

"We've got a lesson to learn there. We're going to have to play a little more consistent," he said.

"Our form has been patchy but we've put together three wins in our last three games so we are looking to build on that."

Halfback Benji Marshall, who is standing in as skipper since Robbie Farah is in camp with NSW ahead of next week's State Of Origin opener, said the wins had not been special.

"Our form still hasn't been outstanding. We were probably lucky to win against the Gold Coast.

"A little bit inconsistent but at the same time the last three wins have been very important after five losses.

"Just to get that sort of momentum back into the squad and then get two points for the bye did us a lot of favours going into this game."

Back-rower Chris Heighington remains unlikely to return from a hand injury, despite seeing a specialist yesterday, and Sheens also shot down any suggestion the club was chasing former Tigers fullback Wade McKinnon, who is seeking a new deal after parting ways with English Super League club Hull FC.

https://nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=10806651

 

[Dankokoro 2.0]

On paper that looks like a pretty weak tigers side.. and i base that mostly on the fact that they're missing farah and i haven't even heard of like 4 of their players. Their backs look potent enough though.. if Benji has a blinder they definitely have the ability to put points on us. That won't happen though because we're gonna win by 13+
i

 

[Buck777]

The thing in our favour is that there is something very wrong in the tigers camp. Benji v Farrah, Sheens v Management, who knows. But when a team can go from 30 nil up to 31-30 in 16 minutes, that's crazy. No wonder Sheens used the F word in the press conf afterwards. Odd things too like purchasing players like McKinnon without telling the coach. Huh?
I think the tigers are very beatable. I think to that Benji doesn't care too much about the game at the moment. We saw that in the tests. AWOL for 70 minutes. Hope we take advantage of him/ them

 

[Brother Faisal]

Im hoping this is the game we really stamp our authority and show that we're real contenders. Im hoping for us to win by 20 but im not expecting that, i believe we'l win by 8 or 10. I would love to see us dominate from start to finish especially in the forwards.

 

[gREVUS]

i think early domination will break them and then when the boys go to sleep about the 2/3 stage of the game well see a tigers revival which will require a massive effort to stop. my prediction the Warriors by 7

 

[22 BEAST]

Warriors 36 Tigers 34
FTS The Fish
MOM Maloney

 

[Blain]

I dont know if its our poor performances against the Tigers recently, but Im suprised at the level of confidence for this one. The Tigers almost lost to the Titans AND Eels. They scored 30 points in 13 minutes!! They have been playing very averagely.

There side is a mess, check out the Tigers Forums. Sounds like they are about to implode. We all know Marshall is a questionable half back, Lawerence is no 6 and Humble isnt a hooker. They lack fire power at the back and have a weak bench.

I'm going Warriors 13+ on this one. I'm pretty pumped for it, if our defence is solid and we get up over their forwards, we should have it in the bag. Cant wait!

 

[gREVUS]

its not that i think they are that good, the warriors just have a bad habit of taking the foot of the gas mid second half, and no not cause they are tired (personally i think due to overconfidence), i would love to see them step up for the whole game and get us a 50 point lead

 

[Brother Faisal]

its not that i think they are that good, the warriors just have a bad habit of taking the foot of the gas mid second half, and no not cause they are tired (personally i think due to overconfidence), i would love to see them step up for the whole game and get us a 50 point lead

i think you're really right, its not unrealistic for them to win by 30. like you said they choose to stop playing. if anything i wouldnt like to see what the eels did to the tigers happen to us.

 

[MarkW]

One thing I can guarantee will happen in this game is that the Fish will score at least 1 try. He is a try slut.

 

[Sup42]

Reading the Tigers Fan forums are mostly about can we win without Robbie and berating the poor showings at captain by Marshall ( going A.W.O.L. as others have said here) seems to be a fair bit of Un rest about Humble at nine as well.
Perfect conditions for an Ambush by their Mob.

Sides that have question marks over them after a string of soft wins have a point to prove, i would be very Surprised if the Tigers Don't bring their A game tonight , missing a couple of Stars or not....I have a feeling we are the Scalp they Want More than any other.

We have a more robust forward pack, but I think it will be a lot closer Due to their Lot aiming up......Hopefully Marshall takes too much on himself and over plays his hand ( exactly as he did last year running it on the fifth ) Hopefully our lot hold onto the ball for the Majority of the match and the Tigers are the team on the wrong Side of the error and Ill discipline count.

Hopefully