Few comments on the game:
22 degrees and chance of a Shower at Bankwest. Good conditions for some footy.
1) The Tigers are weak in the Centres.
Chee Kam is a 2nd-rower, and Roberts is an arm-grabbing defensive horror show. With Turbo lurking and Schuster & Foran's slick passing we just need Harper/Parker running some good lines and they will murder Roberts goal-line defence, and catch Chee Kam out of position/wrong-footed. If they decide to late-change Leilua in the centres all the better - he is super lazy, and would likely shift Chee Kam out. Roberts and Lazy-lua is such a weak defensive pairing.
2) Their wingers are a mix
Talau on the wing should be exploited (inexperience), and whilst Nofoaluma is a beast, he is a short beast. We have the height advantage if either of Saab or Garrick are on his edge and we should be bombing the crap out of his edge. Just need to contain him on kick returns - send kicks all day to Talau/Laurie and rag-doll the crap outta them.
3) Halves - we should have the edge:
Cherry has to outplay Brooks, as Brooks has caused us issues in previous games. Brooks has a good kicking game, and Cherry's has been hot and cold.
Doueihi killed us in that comeback win last year (and his goalkicking was on point). Foran needs to reproduce the kicking game from the Tits game - take the short grubbers for repeat sets whilst Daly takes the longer mid-field kicks and/or bombs - worked a treat last week and Foran's short-kicking game is superior to DCE's right now.
4) Fullback - no contest, but don't underestimate Laurie
Laurie at FB carved us up in the Trials, 2 really soft tries from memory - his support play and positioning was top-notch. He's only a little fella tho, and a tall bomb with Turbo leaping for it will be so hard for him to measure up. Just need to smash him a few times on kick-returns to instill a bit of fear in him on the attack so he takes his eyes off the ball and sees Tent about to wig-wham him.
5) Fwds - Prefer our lineup thanks very much
Aside from Tamou, our Forward pack looks a lot meatier than theirs. If Paseka monsters Tamou we should win the middle. Aloiai will be begging to start the game and I won't be surprised to see him out first ahead of Marty/Guac. Looking for him to have an absolute belter.
Overall:
They are a dangerous side for us, and this is a game we simply have to win if we are to show we are heading the right direction. First game we have against a team lower on the ladder than us - those are games you just have to win, else best we can hope for is 9-13. If we keep our complacency in check we really should have this mob wrapped up by half-time.
And lastly, please no injuries....
Go Manly!