Their season slowly slipping away, the Wests Tigers head into their clash against St George desperate to record their second win of the 2017 season.
Unfortunately, a week after their coach was terminated, their halfback Luke Brooks has been ruled out after suffering a hamstring injury in the heartbreaking 22-14 loss to Melbourne Storm at Leichhardt Oval last Sunday.
As for their interim coach, Andrew Webster, he’s been thrown in at the deep end following the departure of Jason Taylor after the mauling by Canberra.
Webster may have thought the first grade coaching caper was easy after the first 40 minutes against the Storm, but it was all downhill in the last stanza.
The Dragons are no pushover in 2017, playing a simple, mistake free football that looks set to get them close to the playoffs.
However, if the Wests Tigers can manage to play well for 80 minutes – something they just seem incapable of doing – a piece or two of brilliance from Tedesco or Moses may give them a sniff of victory at ANZ Stadium this Sunday afternoon.
Something else that could lift team morale would be if Ivan Cleary were to get the nod for the coaching job before the 4pm kickoff.
In any case, Andrew Webster has today named a 21-man squad for the St George clash, including pencilling in half Jack Littlejohn, who returns to the side in place of Luke Brooks.
Jamal Idris also returns to the starting side after making his return from injury in the Wests Tigers Intrust Super Premiership team last weekend.
In other changes to the NRL team, Michael Chee Kam and Sauaso Sue have been named on the bench, with Matt Ballin also named to play after being a late withdrawal last weekend.
The Wests Tigers team is:
1. James Tedesco
2. David Nofoaluma
3. Jamal Idris
4. Kevin Naiqama
5. Moses Suli
6. Mitchell Moses
7. Jack Littlejohn
8. Aaron Woods (C)
9. Matt McIlwrick
10. Ava Seumanufagai
11. Josh Aloiai
12. Chris Lawrence
13. Elijah Taylor
Interchange:
14. Tim Grant
15. Sauaso Sue
16. Michael Chee Kam
17. Matt Ballin
18. Kyle Lovett
19. Justin Hunt
20. Joel Edwards
21. Junior Tatola
