St. George Illawarra Dragons v Wests Tigers
WIN Jubilee Oval, 3pm.
The Dragons have 8 players backing up from State of Origin, 7 from NSW in Morris (2), Gasnier (3), Soward (6), Young (9), Scott (11), Creagh(12) and Merrin (Bench) and 1 player from QLD, Boyd(1).
They will have their work cut out for them battling fatigue and sore muscles, but if the Tigers play anything like they did last week against Penrith then the Dragons will slaughter them.
Benji Marshall was asked on Thursday night’s The Footy Show whether his side could turn around their atrocious form from that of the match up against Penrith. In giving his response Marshall looked visibly agitated and somewhat ‘cranky’ as Darryl Brohman succinctly put it.
The Tigers have been surrounded by a lot of negative press this year ranging from Marshall’s pre-season assault charge to multiple rumours of player rifts, the latest involving Marshall, Fulton and Gibbs. Wests Tigers chief executive Steve Humphreys came out 2 days ago and strongly denied that there was any such rift. If there is any such problems it would certainly account for the lack of concert between the Tigers players on field, and last week’s amateurish display of errors would be a prime example. Not helping the Tigers cause was a concussion for prop Keith Galloway and it looks like he may sit out this afternoon.
I would love to back the Dragons here but with half the team backing up from Origin we have to be patient and save our money for another day.
Mike’s Best Bet: None
