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Cowboys and Tigers 'desperate' game: Henry
Wayne Heming
July 15, 2011 - 7:09PM
AAP
North Queensland coach Neil Henry has labelled his team's home clash with fellow 2005 NRL grand finalists Wests Tigers the "battle of the desperates".
"They'll be very keen to get some points," warned Henry, who has been unable to settle on his final squad until game day.
"We need to defend our position on the table and play well at home which we've done for the last seven games.
"They're desperate to get some momentum to climb up the ladder and we're desperate to stay in the top four (just ahead of Brisbane)."
Questions marks remain over the fitness of hooker Aaron Payne and centre Willie Tonga.
"Willie Tonga is running at about 80 per cent so Will Tupou's been training with us," said Henry.
"Our halves are fine, Ray Thompson and Michael Morgan.
"Brent Tate comes in on that right edge and everybody is very excited about him playing his first game for the club on Saturday night."
Young giant Tariq Sims could start or feature off the bench while Corey Paterson will be in the squad with Ah Mau Leeson in some doubt.
Payne trained on Thursday for the first time in weeks and is a good chance of playing despite a limited preparation.
"It's been three weeks with Payne now so he's a reasonable chance but he hasn't done any defensive work," said Henry.
The Cowboys missed an alarming 45 missed tackles in their upset win over Newcastle last weekend but Henry said that statistic was a little misleading.
"That's a lot of missed tackles but to only concede 12 points it shows how well we scrambled and how hard we worked on our try line," he said.
Henry has done his homework on the lethal Wests Tigers left side attack which hasn't fired recently with the Tigers scoring just 16 points from their last three games.
"Robbie Farah gets out of dummy half with his left foot kick, Chris Lawrence will be better for the run after 12 rounds out with his hip injury and so will Benji (Marshall) who missed a few weeks with a knee.
"They'll be better for the run and their combination on the left side of the field is very dangerous."
Tigers coach Tim Sheens said while Johnathan Thurston was the world's best halfback the Cowboys showed against Newcastle they can still win without him.
"Last week to beat Newcastle in Newcastle without JT was a great result and I think they've got (Brent) Tate back and Tariq Sims back and Matty Bowen is on fire.
"He (Bowen) is always been a worry for any team, let alone up there.
"They're a strong outfit and not in the position they are in by fluke so we're in for a tough game."
Wayne Heming
July 15, 2011 - 7:09PM
AAP
North Queensland coach Neil Henry has labelled his team's home clash with fellow 2005 NRL grand finalists Wests Tigers the "battle of the desperates".
"They'll be very keen to get some points," warned Henry, who has been unable to settle on his final squad until game day.
"We need to defend our position on the table and play well at home which we've done for the last seven games.
"They're desperate to get some momentum to climb up the ladder and we're desperate to stay in the top four (just ahead of Brisbane)."
Questions marks remain over the fitness of hooker Aaron Payne and centre Willie Tonga.
"Willie Tonga is running at about 80 per cent so Will Tupou's been training with us," said Henry.
"Our halves are fine, Ray Thompson and Michael Morgan.
"Brent Tate comes in on that right edge and everybody is very excited about him playing his first game for the club on Saturday night."
Young giant Tariq Sims could start or feature off the bench while Corey Paterson will be in the squad with Ah Mau Leeson in some doubt.
Payne trained on Thursday for the first time in weeks and is a good chance of playing despite a limited preparation.
"It's been three weeks with Payne now so he's a reasonable chance but he hasn't done any defensive work," said Henry.
The Cowboys missed an alarming 45 missed tackles in their upset win over Newcastle last weekend but Henry said that statistic was a little misleading.
"That's a lot of missed tackles but to only concede 12 points it shows how well we scrambled and how hard we worked on our try line," he said.
Henry has done his homework on the lethal Wests Tigers left side attack which hasn't fired recently with the Tigers scoring just 16 points from their last three games.
"Robbie Farah gets out of dummy half with his left foot kick, Chris Lawrence will be better for the run after 12 rounds out with his hip injury and so will Benji (Marshall) who missed a few weeks with a knee.
"They'll be better for the run and their combination on the left side of the field is very dangerous."
Tigers coach Tim Sheens said while Johnathan Thurston was the world's best halfback the Cowboys showed against Newcastle they can still win without him.
"Last week to beat Newcastle in Newcastle without JT was a great result and I think they've got (Brent) Tate back and Tariq Sims back and Matty Bowen is on fire.
"He (Bowen) is always been a worry for any team, let alone up there.
"They're a strong outfit and not in the position they are in by fluke so we're in for a tough game."
