North QLD Cowboys v Wests Tigers
Dairy Farmers Stadium, 7:30pm
Cowboys $2.20, Tigers $1.65
Cowboys: Matthew Bowen, Ashley Graham, Brent Tate, Willie Tonga, Kalifa Faifai Loa, Ray Thompson, Michael Morgan, Matthew Scott (c), Aaron Payne, James Tamou, Gavin Cooper, Glenn Hall, Dallas Johnson. Interchange (from): James Segeyaro, Joel Riethmuller, Ashton Sims, Tariq Sims, Cory Paterson, Will Tupou, Leeson Ah Mau
Tigers: Tim Moltzen, Beau Ryan, Blake Ayshford, Chris Lawrence, Mitch Brown, Benji Marshall, Robert Lui, Bryce Gibbs, Robbie Farah, Keith Galloway, Liam Fulton, Gareth Ellis, Chris Heighington, Interchange: Sean Meaney, Todd Payten, Aaron Woods, Andrew Fifita
Now that State of Origin has passed us by for another year we begin to look towards the business end of the season, but which teams mean business? The Cowboys certainly mean business having consolidated a top 4 position on the ladder for quite a number of weeks now and last week they racked up a win against Newcastle in an away game without their number one player Johnathan Thurston.
The same can’t be said for the lacklustre Tigers outfit whose players can’t seem to gel in 2011. Enough has been said about it this year and I don’t dwell on their all round problems and would rather focus on this game.
From last week, I think a step in the right direction has been dropping Wade McKinnon and putting Tim Moltzen into his preferred position of fullback. Wade had a shocker last week and he seems to have become nothing more than a defensive fullback. Sorry Wade.
One of my favourite theories for 2011 is that of injured players needing a run before getting back to good form and that being the case be on the lookout for Chris Lawrence who should be firing after his return game last week from injury. Brent Tate will play his first ever game for the Cowboys after he was injured at the end of last year and Chris Lawrence will be ready to cause Tate some problems on their side of the field.
Get ready for a tight contest.
Mike’s Best Bet: $63 on Nth QLD +4.5 @ $1.75 (Sportingbet)
Starting Bank: $2000, Current Bank $2541.42
(Team lists sourced from nrl.com.au)
