Wests Tigers head coach Ivan Cleary has named his 21 player squad to take on the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles at Campbelltown Sports Stadium this Thursday, August 23.
Cleary has made a handful of changes to the side that was defeated 20-10 by the St George Illawarra Dragons last weekend.
Elijah Taylor will miss this week’s game after suffering a badly corked thigh against the Dragons but is expected to be available for Round 25.
Alex Twal and Josh Aloiai return to the bench, with the match set to be Aloiai’s first since Round 19.
Chris Lawrence returns to the run-on side after coming off the bench last week and will captain the side against Manly in front of his home supporters at Campbelltown.
The defeat to St George has left the Tigers’ chances of making the finals hanging by a thread – a very thin thread.
To start with they need to beat Manly by a lot of points this Thursday and then back up and win against Souths in their final outing for the season.
This will take them to 28 premiership points.
Then the Wests Tigers will be praying that teams currently on 28 points, the Broncos or the Warriors, lose both their next two games and push their points differential into negative territory.
It’s a long shot, but it backs what Cleary and his players have been saying this week – our season ain’t over yet.
But it will be if they put in another shocker and lose to Manly on Thursday night.
Wests Tigers NRL Team
1. Moses Mbye
2. David Nofoaluma
3. Esan Marsters
4. Mahe Fonua
5. Kevin Naiqama
6. Benji Marshall
7. Luke Brooks
8. Russell Packer
9. Robbie Farah
10. Ben Matulino
11. Chris Lawrence (capt.)
12. Michael Chee Kam
13. Matt Eisenhuth
Interchange
14. Alex Twal
15. Sauaso Sue
16. Luke Garner
17. Josh Aloiai
18. Jacob Liddle
19. Robbie Rochow
20. Tyson Gamble
21. Malakai Watene-Zelezniak
Go the Tigers