Round 2: Wests Tigers vs Manly Sea Eagles

[Titanium_BD1103]

Wests Tigers Vs Manly Sea Eagles
Saturday 24th March, 5:30pm; Leichhardt Oval, Sydney

Referee: Paul Simpkins

Team Notes:

Tigers

- Keith Galloway starts at Prop with Todd Payten moving to the second row and Chris Heighington returning to the bench.

Sea Eagles

- Steve Menzies and Steve Matai are out. Anthony Watmough goes into the second row for Menzies and Jamie Lyon to the centres for Matai.

- Travis Burns returns to the starting line up at 5/8th

- Matt Ballin and Clint Halden make their debuts on a 5 man Sea Eagles bench, with 1 to be omitted.

Teams:

http://i14.tinypic.com/2z3ncy0.jpg

Tigers

1 Brett Hodgson
2 Taniela Tuiaki
3 Dean Collis
4 Paul Whatuira
5 Jason Moodie
6 Benji Marshall
7 John Morris
8 Keith Galloway
9 Robbie Farah
10 Bryce Gibbs
11 Ben Galea
12 Todd Payten
13 Dene Halatau
Interchange

14 Liam Fulton
15 Daniel Fitzhenry
16 Chris Heighington
17 Bronson Harrison



http://i12.tinypic.com/2hqdppi.jpg

Sea Eagles

1 Brett Stewart
2 Michael Robertson
3 Steve Bell
4 Jamie Lyon
5 Chris Hicks
6 Travis Burns
7 Matt Orford (c)
8 Jason King
9 Michael Monaghan
10 Brent Kite
11 Anthony Watmough
12 Glenn Stewart
13 Luke Williamson
Interchange

14 Clint Halden
15 Matt Ballin
16 George Rose
17 Mark Bryant
18 Glenn Hall





***Please use this thread for game day spoilers and general match information***

[Queenslander]

Wests Tigers Vs Sea Eagles Preview
Wednesday, March 21, 2007 - 1:19 PM

Wests Tigers and Leichhardt Oval are usually a winning combination.

Form: There was a lot to like about the Tigers? first-up effort at Olympic Park. They showed strong goal-line defence as well as some neat touches in attack. The Sea Eagles relied heavily on Matt Orford?s boot to overcome Canberra in wet conditions at Brookvale.

History: The Tigers have dominated head-to-head clashes against Manly at Leichhardt, winning three of the four encounters. The Tigers have won nine of their past 10 matches at Leichhardt.

Danger sign: Injuries to the Eagles could leave them vulnerable. Back-rower Anthony Watmough was missed last week, while veteran Steve Menzies, centre Steve Matai and Orford all picked up injuries against the Raiders.

Best Bet? Look to the Tigers to continue their run of success at Leichhardt with victory by a 1-12 margin.

Money-spinner: The Tigers? wide shifts and second-man plays give their wingers solid scoring opportunities. Take Jason Moodie or Taniela Tuiaki as First Tryscorer.

Source: Big League

[Capital_Shark]

ANOTHER tough one. Farrah was outstanding against the Storm and Benji didn't break anything, so I guess the Tigs have a chance.

Manly took their sweet time to put away some very ordinary and under-done looking Raiders. I think their blessing was Matai's injury, getting that fat bastard Lyon back in the centres, and Burns into 5/8.

Manly in a close one I reckon.

[Poida]

I always hated Wests Tigers since the 05 grand final.

Im going for Manly on this one.
A mammoth win over the Raiders far from guarantees a Manly win here but I pick Manly by 10.
Tigers will take time to get used to the Marshall/Morris combination.

[TITAN PETE]

Too many injuries for Eagles leaves them a little under done, Tigers 22-18

[Hoppy2007Dragons]

Tigers at home against manly (a team with some major injury blows) historically is a recipe for success, so i'm picking tigers to win 28-14.

[ivano88]

The bets are on for this one I would imagine. The Tigers unlucky losers from last week while Manly topped the NRL ladder with a convincing win over the Green Machine. The Tigers are under pressure to record their first win of the season early in this so far brilliant season, and the Eagles need alot to justify their win from last week. Being the Devil's Advocate, I would say the Tigers may beat Manly at home by 10.

[Queenslander]

Manly notch 19-8 NRL win over Tigers

Saturday, March 24, 2007 - 11:10 PM

Manly's Michael Monaghan filled in seamlessly for injured halfback Matt Orford, creating two tries and potted a field goal in a 19-8 NRL win over the Wests Tigers at Leichhardt Oval.

A renowned mud-runner, former No.7 Monaghan cleverly switched the attack to send Anthony Watmough over in just the sixth minute and, in the final minute of the first half, kicked for winger Michael Robertson to score.
His performance was complimented by a strong debut from stand-in hooker Matt Ballin, who scored the Sea Eagles' third try in the 47th minute.

A storm hit Leichhardt 10 minutes before kick-off and rain bucketed down on the players and the crowd of 15,185 during the warm-up and for periods during the match.

"It probably helped me, the fact that it was my first game at halfback for a long time, the conditions probably did make it a little bit easier," Monaghan said.

"The pace of the game was down a little bit so I was able to get back into stride there a little bit."

Centre Jamie Lyon added three goals for Manly and coach Des Hasler agreed the Sea Eagles' second win, without injured stars Matt Orford, Steve Menzies and Steve Matai, was gutsy.
"Courage was certainly one of the things that was displayed out there today, coming here to Leichhardt's always difficult.

"The side's certainly matured a lot over the last 18 months." The flashy Tigers were always going to struggle in a slug-fest with the grinders from the peninsula and a high error count meat they spent the second half camped in their own half.

Coach Tim Sheens signalled changes to his side, who have now lost their first two games.

"We were probably half as bad as them again if not twice as bad," Sheens said.

"We're going to have to have a good look now at some interchange from the premier league who've won their last couple of games and first grade have lost."

After Robertson's try had given Manly a 10-8 lead at the break, a big southerly arrived at just the right time for the Sea Eagles who began the second half with the wind at their backs.

Watmough was denied a second try in just the fifth minute of the second half when video referee Chris Ward came up with a controversial obstruction ruling.

Manly replacement Glenn Hall was adjudged to have held Tigers hooker Robbie Farah out of the defence but the incident appeared to have little impact on the play as another clever Monaghan ball sent Watmough over.

But Manly got their try two minutes later when stand-in hooker Matt Ballin dived through some ordinary defence and Lyon converted to take Manly's lead out to 16-8.

The Tigers' only four-pointer came in the 31st minute through Farah when the hooker brilliantly gathered in a Marshall chip and scooted past two Manly defenders.

Marshall's conversion gave the Tigers the lead for the only time in the match at 8-6.

Source: AAP

[DeeGan]

One of the most inept displays from a NRL team as I have seen ... the Tigers were horrible. I thought they were going to be tought to beat at home especially with the withdrawl of Orford.

I would've hated to be a paying Tigers fan at that game last night.