Round 23: Cronulla Sharks vs Wests Tigers

[Queenslander]

Cronulla Sharks vs Wests Tigers
Toyota Park; Saturday 18th August, 5:30PM


vs

Referee: Paul Simpkins

Team Notes:

Sharks

- Sharks coach Ricky Stuart has named an 18-man squad for the match against the Wests Tigers this Saturday night, with Misi Taulapapa to also train with the first grade squad on stand-by for Fraser Anderson who broke a finger against the Eels.

- Coming into the team which beat the Eels are Cameron Ciraldo and Kevin Kingston, with the pair chosen to play from the interchange bench, with Anthony Watts going back to Premier League to play halfback.

- Stuart will assess his troops during the week before finalising his 17-man squad.

- One player certain to again be included in the Sharks side is NSW State of Origin five eighth Greg Bird, who returned from injury ahead of schedule for the match against the Eels last week.

Bird broke a thumb in round 18 against the Roosters and missed three matches. His clash with Tigers play maker Benji Marshall should be a highlight of the contest.

- The other Sharks player keen to show his wares against the Tigers pack will be Paul Gallen, considering a President’s 13 team and a squad for the Test Match against the Kiwis will be chosen at the end of the season. With the Sharks unlikely to be in the finals series, Gallen and his team mates have just three weeks to impress Australian selectors.


Tigers

- In changes to the team beaten by the Sydney Roosters, Chris Lawrence moves to the centres to replace Paul Whatuira, who drops back to the interchange bench.

- Stuart Flanagan comes in at hooker for the injured Robbie Farah (hip). Keith Galloway has been named in the front row to replace the injured Bryce Gibbs (ankle).

- Liam Fulton moves from lock to the second-row to replace Ben Galea, who moves back to the interchange bench. Ben Te’o is the new lock. Dene Halatau returns to the team on the interchange bench.

- Ben Galea will play his 150th career game. He has now played 148 games for Wests Tigers.


Teams:

1. Mitch Brown
2. David Simmons
3. Ben Pomeroy
4. Fraser Anderson
5. Luke Covell
6. Greg Bird
7. Brett Seymour
8. Ben Ross
9. Isaac De Gois
10. Craig Stapleton
11. Reece Williams
12. Luke Douglas
13. Paul Gallen

Interchange:

14. Eddie Su'a
15. Cameron Ciraldo
16. Paul Stephenson
17. Kevin Kingston
18. Dayne Weston (one to be omitted)

1. Brett Hodgson (c)
2. Daniel Fitzhenry
3. Dean Collis
4. Chris Lawrence
5. Taniela Tuiaki
6. John Morris
7. Benji Marshall
8. Todd Payten
9. Stuart Flanagan
10. Keith Galloway
11. Liam Fulton
12. Chris Heighington
13. Ben Te’o

Interchange:

14. Dene Halatau
15. Paul Whatuira
16. Bronson Harrison
17. Ben Galea

[Capital_Shark]

No Farah - I'm slightly confident.

Defense will win it and a good start. Kick away from Marshall to limit his kick returns, last thing we need is him making ANOTHER high lights reel at the expense of the Cronulla defensive line. Seymour should drop the short bomb's to Marshall's side though cause he's fair hopeless in the air and if Covell's out his side (which I think he is) he's fair decent up high.

Hoping for another blinder out of dummy half from De Gois De Great up against his old team.

[jenny]

Farah desperate to take on Sharks

August 17, 2007 - 6:39PM

With a Test jumper in the offing and his side clinging to a top eight berth, Wests Tigers hooker Robbie Farah is making a desperate last ditch bid to play in Saturday night's NRL clash against Cronulla.

Farah has been unable to train all week after suffering a hip-pointer injury in Friday night's loss to the Sydney Roosters, his build-up instead consisting of sessions in the hyperbaric chamber interspersed with intense physiotherapy.

But he will attempt to prove his fitness by running on Saturday morning and is prepared to play with the aid of painkilling injections.

"He's keen to play but he hasn't been able to do any running just yet, they'll give him up until the last minute," Tigers assistant coach Royce Simmons said.

"We had the day off today so he'll come in with Leedsy (head trainer Andrew Leeds) first thing tomorrow where they'll make a final decision.

"If he plays it will be with the help of a needle - it depends if you get to the point I think."

Tigers coach Tim Sheens all but wrote off Farah's chances of playing earlier in the week when he said he hoped the star playmaker would miss only one game with the injury.

But Farah is desperate to play with the Tigers only holding onto eighth spot ahead of South Sydney by virtue of their superior points differential.

Simmons also revealed Farah had been plagued by the guilt of missing key games in last year's run to the finals, when the Tigers went from the cusp of the top eight to joining the also-rans.

"He's getting all the right treatment, he's that keen to play," Simmons said.

"This time last year he got injured and missed a game or two and all of a sudden we were out of the semis.

"He's aware of that and he's trying really hard like a real pro - he's giving himself every chance to play."

The clash against the Sharks also presents an opportunity for the 23-year-old to showcase his talents in front of Cronulla and Test coach Ricky Stuart.

Farah is one of several players in contention for Shaun Berrigan's utility role on the bench in the Australian side for the end of season Test against New Zealand.

The Brisbane hooker will miss the remainder of the 2007 season due a broken jaw before joining the exodus to the English Super League in 2008.

But former Tigers great and Australian No.9 Benny Elias warned Farah not to rush back from injury, claiming he could do his representative chances more harm than good by doing so.

"When you play injured - I can assure you from experience you do not play your best football," Elias said.

"Ricky Stuart does not need to see him play tomorrow to know how good he is.

"It could hamper him more - he hasn't played a bad game this year and the worst thing that could happen is he plays a bad game because he's injured.

"All of a sudden your estimation from an Australian coach goes from a 100 out of 100 to probably 60 and you have to make it up again."

Meanwhile, Newcastle officials denied claims they had met with Kirk Reynoldson today in a bid to sort out the disgruntled backrower's future.

Reynoldson has been dropped for Sunday's game against Penrith, leaving him one game shy of activating a clause which would see his contract extended into the 2008 season.

Knights director Paul Harragon said the club was working with Reynoldson in a bid to sort out a compromise deal but a Knights spokesman claimed no talks took place today.

? 2007 AAP