Sea Eagles v Tigers: Gosiewski rewarded; Reynolds off bench
NRL.com Timestamp Tue 10 Apr 2018, 04:00 PM

A clash between one of the competition’s better attacking teams and one of the leading defensive teams.

Manly have looked like world beaters on their home ground one week and very ordinary away from home the next. It’s a frustrating trend that coach Trent Barrett is doing his best to eliminate. The Sea Eagles like to pile on the points but can they do it against a Tigers defence that seems to become more resilient every week?

We underestimated the Tigers in round one, round two, round three etc etc … but after yet another outstanding performance against a top-flight opponent, maybe it’s time to sit back and stop calling it a fluke. They are a good team with a good coach and it looks like they’re not going away quietly.

Manly Warringah Sea Eagles v Wests Tigers, 4.10pm Sunday at Lottoland

Sea Eagles: 1 Tom Trbojevic, 2 Brad Parker, 3 Dylan Walker, 4 Brian Kelly, 5 Akuila Uate, 6 Lachlan Croker, 7 Daly Cherry-Evans , 8 Addin Fonua-Blake, 9 Apisai Koroisau, 10 Martin Taupau, 11 Joel Thompson, 12 Jack Gosiewski, 13 Jake Trbojevic

Interchange: 14 Jackson Hastings, 15 Shaun Lane, 16 Lloyd Perrett, 17 Frank Winterstein

Reserves: 18 Matthew Wright, 19 Jonathan Wright, 21 Taniela Paseka, 22 Toafofoa Sipley

Tom Trbojevic returns after a week out with an ankle injury. Brad Parker was a very late scratching last week but has been named on the wing with both Matthew Wright and Jonathan Wright missing out. A strong club debut against the Titans means Jack Gosiewski will move into the starting side with Frank Winterstein dropping to the bench.

Wests Tigers: 1 Corey Thompson, 2 David Nofoaluma, 3 Esan Marsters, 4 Kevin Naiqama, 5 Malakai Watene-Zelezniak, 6 Benji Marshall , 7 Luke Brooks, 8 Alex Twal, 9 Jacob Liddle, 10 Ben Matulino, 11 Chris Lawrence, 12 Robbie Rochow, 13 Matthew Eisenhuth

Interchange: 14 Josh Reynolds, 15 Josh Aloiai, 16 Michael Chee-Kam, 17 Sauaso Sue

Reserves: 18 Tim Grant, 19 Chris McQueen, 20 Tyson Gamble, 21 Tuimoala Lolohea

Josh Reynolds is in on the bench for his first game of the year, with Jacob Liddle into the starting side and Pita Godinet out. Tui Lolohea has been dropped, with David Nofoaluma recalled on the wing and Corey Thompson back at fullback. Alex Twal starts at prop for Russell Packer (knee) with Sauaso Sue joining the bench. Elijah Taylor has still not recovered from a hamstring injury.

Head-to-head: Played 25; Sea Eagles 15 wins, Wests Tigers 10 wins

Matches at venue: Played 9; Sea Eagles 8 wins, Wests Tigers 1 wins

2017 results: Sea Eagles won 28-16 at Lottoland in round 19; Wests Tigers won 30-26 at Leichhardt Oval in round 23

Points per game: Sea Eagles 26 (2nd); Wests Tigers 13.6 (13th)

Points conceded per game: Sea Eagles 20.2 (9th); Wests Tigers 11 (1st)

Televised: Live on Nine, Fox League

Lottoland is a fortress… but so is our defence

It’s funny that NRL says Tigers are “one of the leading defensive teams”, something I’ve seen elsewhere as well.

Actually right now we are the best defensive side in terms of points, unless you start to worry about things like missed or ineffective tackles, on pure points conceded we are very clearly the leading team. And when you look at our opposition over 5 rounds, they aren’t poor attacking sides.

Why not just say “against the current best defence in the comp”?

@:

It’s funny that NRL says Tigers are “one of the leading defensive teams”, something I’ve seen elsewhere as well.

Actually right now we are the best defensive side in terms of points, unless you start to worry about things like missed or ineffective tackles, on pure points conceded we are very clearly the leading team. And when you look at our opposition over 5 rounds, they aren’t poor attacking sides.

Why not just say “against the current best defence in the comp”?

Because all things aren’t equal.

@:

@:

It’s funny that NRL says Tigers are “one of the leading defensive teams”, something I’ve seen elsewhere as well.

Actually right now we are the best defensive side in terms of points, unless you start to worry about things like missed or ineffective tackles, on pure points conceded we are very clearly the leading team. And when you look at our opposition over 5 rounds, they aren’t poor attacking sides.

Why not just say “against the current best defence in the comp”?

Because all things aren’t equal.

Yeah still playing us down… At least they’ve conceded we’re a good side now lol.

Gosiewski looked good

@:

Gosiewski looked good

He came out after half time looking to put some big hits on. Our guys are pretty tough though.
He could be a player of the future,