Round 4 Wests Tigers v Canberra Raiders

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MONDAY

Wests Tigers v Canberra Raiders at Campbelltown Sports Stadium, 7:00pm (local). #NRLWSTCAN

TIGERS: Tom Humble, Beau Ryan, Blake Ayshford, Chris Lawrence, Joel Reddy, Benji Marshall, Tim Moltzen, Aaron Woods, Liam Fulton, Matt Groat, Adam Blair, Gareth Ellis, Chris Heighington. Interchange: Sean Meaney, Ben Murdoch-Masila, Matt Bell, Junior Moors


RAIDERS: Blake Ferguson, Dimitri Pelo, Jarrod Croker, Shaun Berrigan, Jack Wighton, Terry Campese (c), Josh McCrone, David Shillington, Glen Buttriss, Brett White, Joel Thompson, Bronson Harrison, Josh Papalii. Interchange (from): Travis Waddell, Joe Picker, Sam Mataora, Tom Learoyd-Lahrs, Jarrad Kennedy

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We will see what the Green Machine is made of without their Superstar Dugan for a few weeks, Tigers should be too good.

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NRL Tigers can cope without Farah: Sheens

Ian McCullough AAP Sun, Mar 25, 2012 - 3:57 PM

Wests Tigers coach Tim Sheens will name an extra hooker on his bench for Monday's NRL clash with Canberra, to cope with the loss of suspended skipper Robbie Farah.

Farah was handed a two-game ban after pleading guilty to a grade two dangerous tackle charge for his challenge on St George Illawarra halfback Ben Hornby last week.

It will be the first time in two seasons the Tigers have gone into a game without their captain.

Sheens has named Liam Fulton as hooker for the visit of the Raiders, he said he's likely to include a specialist hooker on the bench, which could see young rake Pat Politoni make his debut.

"Robbie is a unique player and we play a lot of football around him," Sheens said

"Liam not being a specialist hooker, he's a little bit like Dean Young he's a utility player.

"He's played some hooker for us and we'll use a specialist hooker at some stage of the game."

The Tigers welcome back Gareth Ellis, who missed the defeat to the Dragons last Friday due to a badly corked thigh, and Sheens has been grateful for the longer turnaround.

The Raiders have injury issues of their own with star fullback Josh Dugan out with a shoulder injury and workaholic back-rower Shaun Fensom sidelined with a torn biceps muscle and utility forward Trevor Thurling with a knee injury.

Despite the losses, Sheens is still expecting a difficult evening and warned his players they must improve their defence after Dragons front-rowers Trent Merrin and Michael Weyman ran riot against the Tigers' young props Aaron Woods and Matt Groat.

"We've got to stand up in the middle," he said.

"Last week we were pretty poor there. A lot of the pressure put on our defence was by our own offence mistakes and a 9-3 penalty count, we've got a bit of work to do in that area.

"We've challenged the forwards this week to stand up and I'm confident they will."

[TITAN PETE]

Last Time Played: Wests Tigers v Raiders

NRL.com Mon, Mar 26, 2012 - 9:00 AM


Canberra Raiders v Wests Tigers
Round 8, 2011
Canberra Stadium

The Tigers walloped the Raiders 49-12 in the national capital in Round 8 last year – just five weeks after a 34-24 success in Campbelltown.

The Tigers were on the back foot early, conceding a try to Josh Dugan with just 10 minutes gone, before scoring four tries in 27 minutes to head to the sheds up 24-6. They went on with the job in the second 40 and although Dugan crossed for a second try the visitors piled on another four tries in the closing 20 minutes to run away with the contest. The Raiders were their own worst enemy, completing their sets at just 52 per cent, although the Tigers were red-hot in making seven line-breaks.

Tigers fullback Wade McKinnon was a standout, scoring two tries, running 132 metres and busting five tackles, while skipper Robbie Farah added two try assists.

The Raiders were best served by Matt Orford who added two try assists in his second-last ever NRL game, while Josh Dugan was a powerhouse with nine tackle-breaks helping him to 138 metres.

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Impressive Raiders gun down Tigers

Ian McCullough AAP Mon, Mar 26, 2012 - 10:23 PM

Wests Tigers' early season woes continued on Monday night when Canberra inflicted a third loss in four games upon the pre-season NRL premiership favourites at Campbelltown Stadium.

The Raiders chalked up a comfortable 30-16 victory, their first win in eight against the joint venture, thanks to two tries from Jarrod Croker and four-pointers from Josh McCrone, Jarrod Croker, Sam Mataora and skipper Terry Campese.

Campese was impressive throughout for his side, who were missing fullback Josh Dugan and influential backrower Shaun Fensom, and easily won the battle of the five-eighths with Benji Marshall.

Marshall was unable to assert any significant influence over the game as the Tigers desperately missed the presence of skipper Robbie Farah around the ruck.

Tigers coach Tim Sheens shifted Tim Moltzen to fullback and drafted young Jacob Miller into halfback in an attempt to kickstart his misfiring attack.

However, it was the visitors who started the brighter with McCrone latching onto a sweet pass from Campese with just five minutes on the clock.

The Tigers hit back when Gareth Ellis charged over from close range six minutes later, and Miller gave the hosts the lead when he latched onto a loose ball, which he appeared to have knocked forward.

Croker hit back for the visitors when he raced 75 metres just before halftime after Campese hauled in a Benji Marshall grubber-kick just in front of his own line and offloaded to the centre, who outpaced Moltzen to touch down.

The Raiders came racing out of the traps after the interval and their dominance was rewarded when Mataora brushed aside three players to score six minutes after the restart.

Campese sealed the win with a fourth try for the visitors 13 minutes from fulltime and Croker added his second shortly after to add some gloss to the scoreline before Moltzen added a late consolation for the hosts.

Croker kicked five goals for the Raiders, with Marshall kicking two for Tigers.

Raiders coach David Furner hailed the performance of Campese, who spent most of last season on the sidelines with knee, groin and pectoral injuries.

"He's a player who you need to be touching the ball as much as possible and I thought his control and leadership was very good," Furner said.

"It was a good knock by the skipper."

Australia and Queensland forward David Shillington was forced out of the game early in the second half after tearing an oblique muscle, and is expected to be on the sidelines for at least two weeks.

Josh Papalii also limped out with a thigh injury and Furner said his side learned lessons from last week's loss to Sydney Roosters where they lost three players before halftime.

"We lost Shillo and Josh Papalii and we talked about handling that type of adversity after last week and we did," he said.

"It's a good win, and the players deserved it."

Wests Tigers coach Sheens lamented his side's indiscipline as they went down 8-3 in the penalty count in addition to missing 40 tackles compared to just nine by the Raiders.

"You've got to be able to defend and tonight we didn't," Sheens said.

"But you've got to keep working at it."

"It's (a tough start) but we've been in these positions before and we've been criticised by everybody and sundry and we've fought our way out of it."

Tigers centre Chris Lawrence was put on report for a lifting tackle on Jack Wighton, who was also sanctioned for a high shot on Marshall.

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Lawrence to avoid ban over dangerous throw

AAP Tue, Mar 27, 2012 - 11:17

Wests Tigers centre Chris Lawrence looks set to escape suspension despite being charged with a dangerous throw from his team's NRL loss to Canberra on Monday night.

Lawrence received a grade one charge for his second half tackle on Raiders winger Jack Wighton but can avoid a ban with an early guilty plea.

That would leave him free to play in Sunday's match against South Sydney - a game both teams are desparate to win after managing just one win each from the first four rounds.

The Tigers will again be without captain Robbie Farah as he serves the second week of his ban for a dangerous throw against St George Illawarra in round three.