Two sides battling to keep the top eight within reach meet at Allianz Stadium tonight when the last placed Wests Tigers take on the under siege Cronulla Sharks. We’ll have live scores from 7.30pm AEST.
Even though season 2013 has only reached round 9, both the Tigers and the Sharks both would have good reason to believe that they must have done something to anger the football Gods, such has been their recent run of rotten luck.
For the Tigers this has manifested itself as injury after injury, with the club’s injured list at times reading as a ‘who’s who’ of their previous years side.
On the other side of the ledger the Sharks campaign has stalled out of the blocks on the back of the ASADA investigation, which has continued to be an ongoing distraction for players this week.
The result of all this is that tonight’s match has taken on increased importance, and both sides will believe the two competition points are there’s for the taking.
Adding extra spice to the encounter will be the presence of a number of former Tigers players in the Sharks team, a fact not missed by fans of either side
Prediction
The young Tigers struggled to contain the big Bulldogs forwards last week, and will face another stiff test against the hard-nosed Cronulla pack.
Whilst the Sutherland Shire Superman Paul Gallen may be missing this evening, the Sharks still have enough muscle to mix it with the best as they showed against Newcastle last week.
For the Tigers it will come down to how well they can use the ball, and whether the brilliance of the Farah/Marshall combination can ignite their stagnant attack.
Their completion rate was abysmal against Canterbury, and a repeat performance against a Cronulla side buoyed by the re-signing of pivot Todd Carney could spell danger for the black and golds.
For mine I think the Sharks will be too strong across the board, however it is a brave man that bets against Benji.
Still, I’m tipping the Sharks by 8
Preview provided by Roar expert Chris Chard.
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