Expert
The Wests Tigers will be hoping a return home means a return to form as they host the North Queensland Cowboys, who must find a way to keep winning. Join The Roar for live scores and coverage from 7:50pm (AEST).
The Tigers had an excellent start to the season, surprising everyone with victories over some of the competition’s heavyweights, but the wheels have started to fall off in the last month.
They have lost three games straight, culminating in a 26-4 loss to the Warriors last weekend in Auckland. Ivan Cleary’s side will be looking to get back to where they started the season, and that’s going to start on the defensive end.
The return of New Zealand front rower Russell Packer will bring them plenty in the way of muscle, but in losses to the Knights, Eels and Warriors, they have let in a combined 72 points, whereas they let in just 67 points across the first six rounds.
In addition to their departing defence, Benji Marshall has lost a little bit of form and it’s showing in a somewhat rushed and panicky attack.
Defence was what the Tigers were built on through the first six weeks of the season, but even without it, the Cowboys need to overcome a major hurdle tonight.
Johnathan Thurston has never beaten the Tigers in Sydney, with the Cowboys not winning any of their last six games at Leichhardt, stretching all the way back to 2000 when they beat the then newly merged club. Since then, it’s been all doom and gloom for the men from Townsville.
Thurston is undoubtedly the key man for the Cowboys and his battle against Luke Brooks in the halves will go along way to deciding this game.
Despite that, Thurston needs support from an underperforming North Queensland outfit who only got their third win of the season last week against an injury-riddled Panthers in Bathurst.
Their first half was probably the best 40 minutes of footy they have dished up this year. Matt Scott was almost back to his old self, Jason Taumalolo led the way and more importantly, all of Lachlan Coote, Michael Morgan and Jake Granville played well, taking the pressure off Thurston.
They struggled to hang on in the second half with a bad fade out, but after losing at home to the Raiders the week before, they managed to hang on.
The Cowboys must continue to hang on and win games, because with just three from nine, September is looking an awfully long way away.
Prediction
Even with their awful record at Leichhardt, the Cowboys were convincing in the first half last week. The Tigers just haven’t had things working for them and Thurston should get North Queensland to fall over the line.
Cowboys by 4.
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