Round 15: Wests Tigers v Roosters preview
The Sydney Roosters continue their battle for fourth place as they take on the ninth placed Wests Tigers.
Leichhardt Oval will be the venue for Saturday afternoon's clash between the defending premiers and the perennially ninth placed Tigers. This is the first time the Roosters have played the Tigers at Leichhardt Oval since 2014, a 48-4 flogging by the tri-colours as an injured James Tedesco watched his Tigers suffer from the sideline. Now Tedesco will line up against the Tigers at his former home ground. Tedesco's Roosters will be disappointed with their 18-point loss against a well-oiled Melbourne Storm. The Roosters completed at 20 per cent below their opponents and coughed the ball up a total of 17 times, seven more than the Storm.
With 13 wins from their last 14 matches against the Tigers, the Roosters will be looking to continue this trend as they battle it out with the Raiders, Knights, Sharks and the Rabbitohs for that final top four spot, with Penrith, Melbourne and Parramatta sitting 7, 6 and 4 points respectively ahead of the defending premiers.
The Roosters have hit a roadblock by their terms, with four wins from their past seven matches as Trent Robinson has struggled to field a full strength team due to the multitude of injuries that his star players have suffered. Luke Keary, Mitchell Aubusson and Lachlan Lam have been added to that injury list after all three failed to make it through the Storm clash. Injuries to Keary and Lam have opened the door up for Kyle Flanagan to return into the lineup, pairing with Drew Hutchinson in the halves. Brett Morris returns for Christian Tuipulotu on the wing and Jared Waerea-Hargreaves returns at prop pushing Nat Butcher back into the back row. Freddy Lussick has be named on the bench for his NRL debut.
The Wests Tigers narrowly avoided defeat on Sunday night courtesy of a 77th minute Luke Brooks field goal which gave his side the victory over the last placed Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs. The Tigers have been low on confidence recently having won just two of their past seven matches and now find themselves in ninth place sitting four points from the eighth placed Rabbitohs. The Tigers got out to an early lead on Sunday and showed everyone the type of football they can play when they're all guns blazing. However, in typical Tiger fashion they switched off after leading by 16 points. They can't afford to do the same this weekend against the Roosters. Despite the Roosters sub-standard form by their standards, they still have the fire power to run over the Tigers if they do indeed fall asleep again on Saturday afternoon. Their loss to the Knights two weeks ago shows what the consequences can be if the Tigers switch of for large periods of the match. The middle of the park will be the focus for Michael Maguire this week, with two of the Bulldogs line breaks caused by tired middle forwards in the Tigers own half. Something that a side trying to fight their way back into Finals contention can't afford to do.
The Tigers have named an unchanged 17 with Alex Twal being named in the reserves in the number 18 jersey and could be a chance of making his return from injury.
Last meeting: Round 16 2019 - Wests Tigers 16 Roosters 24
Who to watch: The former Tiger, James Tedesco is again the man to watch for the Roosters. Despite the Roosters disappointing performance last week, Tedesco was still able to run for 234 run metres with 69 post contact metres and eight tackle breaks. He has failed to crack 200 run metres just twice this season and has played a big part in bringing the Roosters of their own line. With Luke Keary out this week, the Roosters will look to Tedesco for some extra creativity and this could see the Australian fullback get his hands on the football more than the 33 touches he averages per game. Still searching for his first try since his hat trick against the Bulldogs, it would be more than fitting for him to get his name on the scoresheet against his former club at Leichhardt Oval.
With Harry Grant out injured, it's going to require a great team performance from the Tigers to upset the defending premiers on Saturday afternoon and with the focus on their defence. Whilst Benji Marshall will be the source of most of the Tigers points, Adam Doueihi has taken strides in his play as a fullback, especially his ball playing ability. Doueihi has five try assists this season with a total of nine try involvements. The young fullback showed his ball playing skills with his brilliant cut out ball to David Nofoaluma which led to Luke Garner's first try. Doueihi has averaged 164 run metres this season with 55 of those coming after contact. With 30 touches in each of their last two matches, expect Doueihi to have a big part in the Tigers red zone play.
The favourite: The Roosters are the favourite for this clash, being the two-time defending premiers and with their extraordinary record against the Tigers they realistically have every right to send the Tigers packing at Leichhardt Oval. The Roosters don't have much experience at Leichhardt in recent times having only played there four times since 2011.
My tip: The Roosters will be determined to prove to the competition that they are still the team to beat and with the Tigers struggling for form, it is the Roosters game to lose. I expect the Roosters to win in a high scoring clash but at the end of the day it is the Tigers at Leichhardt, anything could happen. Roosters by 14.
