Your team vs Titans

[stevied]

WESTS TIGERS​

1. Jahream Bula
2. David Nofoaluma
3. Starford To'a
4. Tommy Talau
5. Junior Tupou
6. Brandon Wakeham
7. Luke Brooks
8. Stefano Utoikamanu
9. Apisai Koroisau (c)
10. David Klemmer
11. Isaiah Papali'i
12. Shawn Blore (if injured, Bateman to second row, Pole to 13)
13. John Bateman

14. Jake Simpkins
15. Fonua Pole
16. Alex Twal
17. Asu Kepaoa

To those who suggest that Laurie should come in, I would say that they haven't been watching Cup. I noticed he scored 2 tries yesterday but, in the games I've watched, his form hasn't been good enough to displace Wakeham, who is steadily improving and provides stellar goal kicking. Also, we are only one game removed from scoring 66 points with this combination. I'm not a fan of Talau but you can't really justify dropping him for Naden, based on his performance on Friday night.

 

[jrtiger]

1. Bula
2. Nofoaluma
3. To'a
4. Talau
5. Tupou
6. Wakeham
7. Brooks
8. Utoikamanu
9. Koroisau
10. Klemmer
11. Papali'i
12. Kepaoa
13. Bateman

14. Simpkin
15. Pole
16. Twal
17. Blore

 

[Speed2burn]

WESTS TIGERS​

1. Jahream Bula
2. David Nofoaluma
3. Starford To'a
4. Tommy Talau
5. Junior Tupou
6. Brandon Wakeham
7. Luke Brooks
8. Stefano Utoikamanu
9. Apisai Koroisau (c)
10. David Klemmer
11. Isaiah Papali'i
12. Shawn Blore (if injured, Bateman to second row, Pole to 13)
13. John Bateman

14. Jake Simpkins
15. Fonua Pole
16. Alex Twal
17. Asu Kepaoa

To those who suggest that Laurie should come in, I would say that they haven't been watching Cup. I noticed he scored 2 tries yesterday but, in the games I've watched, his form hasn't been good enough to displace Wakeham, who is steadily improving and provides stellar goal kicking. Also, we are only one game removed from scoring 66 points with this combination. I'm not a fan of Talau but you can't really justify dropping him for Naden, based on his performance on Friday night.

Agree on wakeham … this halves pairing is pretty set in stone imo.

He seems to bring confidence in Luke’s play, the last thing he needs is another new halves partner. Not sure if it’s durable long term, but for now it seems to be doing just fine

 

[bptiger 0]

WESTS TIGERS​

1. Jahream Bula
2. David Nofoaluma
3. Starford To'a
4. Brent Naden
5. Junior Tupou
6. Daine Laurie
7. Luke Brooks (Goalkicker)
8. Stefano Utoikamanu
9. Apisai Koroisau (c)
10. David Klemmer
11. Isaiah Papali'i
12. John Bateman
13. Fonua Pole

14. Will Smith
15. Justin Matamua
16. Alex Twal
17. Aitasi James

I would make five changes to the top 17 for next week.
Naden For Talau
Laurie For Wakeham
Smith For Simpkin
Matamua For Kepaoa
James For Seyfarth

My reasoning for these changes is quite simple Naden is better than Talau, Laurie is better than Wakeham who is way to slow for a half, Smith has more utility value than Simpkin, Matamua can replace Pole more effectively than Kepaoa because lock is his position and James is better than Seyfarth.

Gee glad ur not on the coaching staff 🙄🥴

 

[TigerLouis]

Gee glad ur not on the coaching staff 🙄🥴

if I was, we will be in the top eight

 

[Todd Packer]

Time to stop giving games away by picking Simpkin on the bench.
If they insist on a hooker on the bench then pick Cherrington. He's not an NRL player either but for a 20 minute stint he's a much better option than Simpkin.

 

[The-moP]

I do not want to the Alex (the marshmellow / soft pillow) Seyfarth near our team again .. he must have pictures of Sheens in a compromising situation or something to that effect .. !! Too many soft give away penalties, brings nothing to the team off the bench .. i think you get it by now i dislike this guy in our side .. as soon as see his name .. i instantly think .. here comes another loss .. !! please .. Please .. PLEASE dont pick him .. !!

 

[barnzee]

I don’t see them removing Simpkin unless they’re going to run another dummy half, we will loose api to origin coming up so are definitely going to need to think about that. I get Simpkin wasn’t great on the weekend but we don’t have much other options at dummy half realistically

Jesus some of you blokes on here are harsh , apart from getting caught twice on the line what else did he do , the penalty was harsh they kicked it into him , I thought his defence was solid , service was good , the game didn’t really change when Api came on it only changed when Talau broke the line , plus they had 12 men , your comparing a state of origin hooker with a 21 year old who’s had zero minutes in 10 games, give the kid a break

 

[Asu Kepaoa's #1 Fan]

Do we think that Bateman can handle 80 minutes in the middle? Seems like a big ask for a smaller forward. Even Murray doesn't do it. There would need to be some crafty bench rotation to make it work.

 

[Lukic]

1. Jahream Bula
2. David Nofoaluma
3. Starford To'a
4. Tommy Talau
5. Junior Tupou
6. Brandon Wakeham
7. Luke Brooks
8. Stefano Utoikamanu
9. Apisai Koroisau
10. David Klemmer
11. Isaiah Papali'i
12. John Bateman
13. Fonua Pole

14. Jake Simpkin
15. Shawn Blore
16. Alex Twal
17. Asu Kepaoa

18. Brent Naden

 

[Todd Packer]

Jesus some of you blokes on here are harsh , apart from getting caught twice on the line what else did he do , the penalty was harsh they kicked it into him , I thought his defence was solid , service was good , the game didn’t really change when Api came on it only changed when Talau broke the line , plus they had 12 men , your comparing a state of origin hooker with a 21 year old who’s had zero minutes in 10 games, give the kid a break

Good point Jake's dad. He can play 80 minutes in reserve grade.
Win win for everybody.

 

[bptiger 0]

This just out of left field , would naden make a fist of playing at lock , I say this because he can of load , he runs hard , not to sure about him tackling forwards for long minutes , but he he was able to give the team 15 minutes a half , I think he would give us something different in attack . Just thinking outside the box 📦

 

[Jolls]

1. Jahream Bula
2. David Nofoaluma
3. Starford To'a
4. Brent Naden
5. Junior Tupou
6. Brandon Wakeham
7. Luke Brooks
8. Stefano Utoikamanu
9. Apisai Koroisau (c)
10. David Klemmer
11. Isaiah Papali'i
12. John Bateman
13. Fonua Pole

14. Jake Simpkin
15. Justin Matamua
16. Alex Twal
17. Asu Kepaoa

Despite his poor start Simpkin gets another run simply so we can look after Api over the SOO period. No need to burn him out.
Nado in for Talau - simply becasue we need to build out 24 squad and Talau is going.
Matamua in for Seyfath - time to blood the young fella - get him in and around the squad and learning.
Not giving up on 23 but certainly have an eye on developing towards 24 while still fielding a competitive team.

 

[barnzee]

Good point Jake's dad. He can play 80 minutes in reserve grade.
Win win for everybody.

Good point Jake's dad. He can play 80 minutes in reserve grade.
Win win for everybody.

Good one peanut

 

[carltonleach]

Jesus some of you blokes on here are harsh , apart from getting caught twice on the line what else did he do , the penalty was harsh they kicked it into him , I thought his defence was solid , service was good , the game didn’t really change when Api came on it only changed when Talau broke the line , plus they had 12 men , your comparing a state of origin hooker with a 21 year old who’s had zero minutes in 10 games, give the kid a break

I wasn’t harsh at all, I genuinely don’t think he played great but I also don’t believe he should be dropped. I was just replying to someone saying he should be dropped for Laurie I think it was. I didn’t say he played bad. I like Simpkin and think he’s a real talent.

 

[pawsandclaws1]

I do not want to the Alex (the marshmellow / soft pillow) Seyfarth near our team again .. he must have pictures of Sheens in a compromising situation or something to that effect .. !! Too many soft give away penalties, brings nothing to the team off the bench .. i think you get it by now i dislike this guy in our side .. as soon as see his name .. i instantly think .. here comes another loss .. !! please .. Please .. PLEASE dont pick him .. !!

Seyfarth played well when he came on. Not every player can be a superstar, the cap doesn't allow it. I'm sure his team mates rate him and know he will work. For the value of his contract, he does pretty well. There was also much criticism of Twal being one dimensional, but his game has come on under new coaching.

 

[tony soprano]

Time to question Jake simpkin spot in the 17?

 

[KingRobbie]

Time to question Jake simpkin spot in the 17?

We don't have any other backup hookers that are better (yet).

Da Silva obviously has more potential but needs a bit more time in reserve grade to get used to playing against men.
Even with that time, he's only recently turned 18 which is just so young to be defending in the middle of the field.
I do think he'll debut at some stage this year though.

Simpkin is better than Rua.

 

[tony soprano]

We don't have any other backup hookers that are better (yet).

Da Silva obviously has more potential but needs a bit more time in reserve grade to get used to playing against men.
Even with that time, he's only recently turned 18 which is just so young to be defending in the middle of the field.
I do think he'll debut at some stage this year though.

Simpkin is better than Rua.

Could consider playing 80 in NSW Cup to get ready for origin cover?

 

[sparci]

are we still a chance to make the 8 or is that just on some mathematical hypothetical now? I don't really pay attention to the ladder this year since it's confusing with the byes