Roar Guru
The Wests Tigers will look to put a week of off-field drama behind them as they take on competition heavyweights the South Sydney Rabbitohs at ANZ Stadium. Join us for live scores and commentary from 7:40pm AEDT.
Despite a dominant victory over Gold Coast in Round 2, Wests Tigers fans probably haven’t felt too joyous this week, following the financial woes widely-reported to be surrounding their club.
Fans will be hoping the news hasn’t affected the playing group, as the Rabbitohs are surely set to prove a tougher challenge than the inept Titans outfit they faced last week.
Installed as competition favourites after dominating the highly fancied Roosters in Round 1, South Sydney crashed back to earth last when they were edged out by Manly.
They’ll be looking to return to the winners’ circle in emphatic fashion tonight, continuing a five-game winning streak against the Tigers.
The last time these two sides faced off at ANZ Stadium, in fact, the Rabbitohs rushed out to a 38-4 halftime lead before finally disposing of their opponents 54-10.
This year it’s the Tigers who have proven to be the fast-starters, scoring two tries in the opening 10 minutes of both their clashes so far in 2014.
The Bunnies will be aware of that and will look to shut down the likes of James Tedesco, Pat Richards and Luke Brooks early.
Speaking of Brooks, the hyperbole continued in earnest after his strong performance against the Titans, with comparisons to the likes of Benji Marshall and Andrew Johns being made just three games into his career.
His fourth game may prove his toughest yet – it’s expected he’ll be tested in defence by a barrage of Burgess boys intent on intimidating the young playmaker. It will be interesting to see how he handles such an onslaught.
Brooks’ opposite number, Adam Reynolds, may also feel he has something to prove, after enduring heavy criticism for his performance against Manly.
His Origin credentials were called into question by many, but a week is a long time in rugby league and it may only take a strong performance tonight to have him back in Blues fans’ graces.
It may not come down to Reynolds, however, as with a Bunnies outfit full of strike weapons – Greg Inglis, Nathan Merritt, Isaac Luke, Chris McQueen, John Sutton and the Burgesses in particular – they’ll simply have too much firepower across the park.
Rabbitohs by 18.
Can the Wests Tigers spring an upset over the competition favourites, or will the Rabbitohs continue their winning streak over the joint venture club in this fixture?
Join us this evening at 7:40pm AEDT for live score updates and debate in our live blog – be sure to give us your opinion in the space below if you’re watching.