This Saturday the Wests Tigers will get their first taste of what life will be like without star fullback James Tedesco.
The young gun will be making his State of Origin debut for NSW next Wednesday, alongside teammates Aaron Woods and Robbie Farah.
It is the first time that the club has had three players in the same State of Origin side.
Tedesco is one of the players credited with the team’s revival in the latter part of the season, so it will be interesting to see how they cope without him terrorising opposition defences.
The Wests Tigers are up against the Canterbury Bulldogs in round 18 of the NRL at ANZ Stadium on Saturday, July 9.
Coach Taylor has brought in Joshua Addo-Carr, JJ Felise and Michael Chee Kam to replace the Origin trio of Woods, Farah and Tedesco.
Jordan Rankin moves from the wing to fullback, while Tim Grant starts at prop and Joel Edwards comes on to an extended interchange bench.
Dene Halatau and Chris Lawrence will co-captain the side in the absence of Woods.
Five-eighth Mitchell Moses will play his 50th NRL game this weekend, having missed just the one match since making his debut in Round 17 of the 2014 season.
In other grades, Wests Tigers’ Intrust Super Premiership side travelled back from New Zealand on Sunday after causing an upset win over the high-flying Warriors.
The player movement in the NRL side causes a massive reshuffle of the side, with Charlie Taylor set to debut for the club after only recently signing on with Wests Tigers.
The Holden Cup side suffered a narrow defeat at the hands of the table-topping Panthers, but this week welcome back skipper Jack Wheelhouse from injury.
Wests Tigers NRL – Round 18 v Bulldogs:
1. Jordan Rankin
2. David Nofoaluma
3. Tim Simona
4. Kevin Naiqama
5. Joshua Addo-Carr
6. Mitchell Moses
7. Luke Brooks
8. Tim Grant
9. Dene Halatau (C)
10. Sauaso Sue
11. Josh Aloiai
12. Chris Lawrence (C)
13. Elijah Taylor
Interchange:
14. JJ Felise
15. Ava Seumanufagai
16. Michael Chee Kam
17. Kyle Lovett
18. Joel Edwards
