Wests Tigers NRL head coach Benji Marshall has named his 22-man squad to clash with the Titans in Round 15 of the NRL Telstra Premiership.
The Tigers, looking to bounce back after last week’s embarrassing 68-0 defeat at the hands of Penrith, will host the Titans at Leichhardt Oval this Sunday, June 14.
A shift in the backline sees Heamasi Makasini and Sunia Turuva push out to the wings, with Taylan May and Starford To’a coming into the centres.
Api Koroisau’s Origin selection means Latu Fainu starts at hooker, while Sione Fainu returns at lock, and Tony Sukkar becomes Kai Pearce-Paul’s second-row counterpart.
Patrick Herbert is an inclusion on the interchange bench after returning from suspension, joining Charlie Murray and Mavrik Geyer after their first starts of the season last week.
The less said of last week’s rout the better.
Marshall quickly admitted it was an unacceptable performance’’ and vowed to look for the reasons behind such a terrible loss.
A week earlier the Tigers more than matched it with a fired up Bulldogs side, but it may as well have been a different 13 players lining up against the Panthers.
Despite the loss, the Tigers are still in touch with the eight, albeit with a much poorer differential.
For most of the season they had a positive points differential, but after the Penrith tsunami of points, they are now on minus 78.
With 16 premiership points they are essentially equal eighth if you ignore the points for and against.
But they will need to return to their early season form if they want to play footy finals for the first time since 2011.
That’s 15 years, thank you very much.
MATCH DETAILS:
Wests Tigers v Gold Coast Titans
Sunday, 14 June
Leichhardt Oval
Kick-off: 4.05pm AEST
WESTS TIGERS LINEUP:
1. Jahream Bula
2. Sunia Turuva
3. Taylan May
4. Starford To’a
5. Heamasi Makasini
6. Jarome Luai
7. Jock Madden
8. Terrell May
9. Latu Fainu
10. Fonua Pole
11. Tony Sukkar
12. Kai Pearce-Paul
13. Sione Fainu
INTERCHANGE:
14. Tristan Hope
15. Alex Seyfarth
16. Bunty Afoa
17. Patrick Herbert
18. Mavrik Geyer
19. Charlie Murray
