**Balmain Ryde-Eastwood Tigers Vs Western Suburbs Magpies**
Leichhardt Oval, Saturday, June 11
**Kick-off:** 3.00pm
**Referee:** Chris Anderson
**Broadcast:** Triple H 100.1FM
**Summary:**
The Magpies will head into this one off the back of a loss to the Bulldogs last weekend while the Tigers confidence will be sky high after a 34-16 win over fellow top eight aspirants in the Centurions at Morrie Breen Oval last Saturday. Things are finally starting to click now for the Tigers after an indifferent start to the season and lot of that has to do with their spine (1, 6, 7 & 9) in Mullaney, Jack, Waters and Ndaira, and then when you go and throw in the class of Meaney, Latu and Pearn just to name a few, it comes as no surprise that a number of teams are looking out over their shoulders at the resurgent Tigers. The Magpies continue to put in honest performances of late and are starting to put together a backline that is capable of troubling the scoreboard with players like Millard, Naiyaravoro and Aiga all playing well. Wests will be hopeful of getting Everingham back in the coming weeks which will only make them even stronger while for Balmain they lose Al Schirnack for this one which hands Pearn an overdue chance to start.
**Game Breaker:**
Nathan Waters – After Blake Lazarus departed for France last summer the Tigers made the decision to bring Waters over from Campbelltown. While that decision hasn’t reaped instant rewards things appear to be headed in the right direction now. The addition of Rhys Jack in the six jersey along with the added time to form combinations on the park now appears to be paying off for the Tigers with Waters showing the form last week that saw him handed the NSW Residents jersey in 2010\. If Waters and the players around him stay injury free for the remainder of the year, his best is still definitely yet to come.
**Prediction:**
The Magpies continue to put in gutsy performances but a rejuvenated Tigers side should be packing too many punches for them here.
