Round 20: Broncos v Wests Tigers preview
The Wests Tigers travel north again, this time to Brisbane, as they look to put Sunday's heartbreaking loss behind them.
It's fair to say that the Tigers were robbed of their first victory since May and unfortunately for the club, the result extends their current losing streak to seven games. However, the result aside, the performance from the Tigers was their best in a long time as they took it to the current second placed Cowboys, nearly walking away with a surprising victory.
Albeit a rather poor performance from the Cowboys who came up with 16 errors for the match, the Tigers still had to play some of their best footy to produce scoring opportunities. The Tigers outside backs and halves were at their best as they continually troubled the Cowboys line, something which we haven't seen much of from the Tigers this season. Luke Brooks came away with two try assists for his effort which should give him extra confidence heading into another big clash against the Broncos this Saturday. The player who'll take the most out of Sunday's match is Daine Laurie. In arguably his finest performance for the joint venture, the fullback assisted two tries, made two line breaks, ran for 184 metres and broke 12 tackles. It's of upmost importance for Laurie to pull out a performance of similar vein if they are to knock-off the in-form Broncos.
The Tigers will opt for a similar game plan this weekend, which saw the Tigers shift the ball wide and early with the inclusion of Jackson Hastings at lock. It's benefitted the team so far with two close losses since Hastings' move to the number 13 jersey and it's made the Tigers much better to watch as they've looked to utilise their players out wide more than they previously had been.
The biggest challenge for the Tigers is going to be containing the barnstorming Broncos forward pack. An extremely talented forward pack that gets through plenty of work and given the Tigers defence in the middle at times this season, it could be a tactic for the Broncos to try and tire the Tigers' middle forwards by directing their attack there.
The Tigers' middle remains the same for this weekends' clash with the only change to the line up seeing Alex Seyfarth move into the back row with Luke Garner dropping out of the side. Youngster Austin Dias fills in the empty spot on the bench. Meanwhile, the Broncos have made a few changes to their line-up. Billy Walters returns from injury and replaces Jake Turpin at dummy-half, Delouise Hoeter takes Jordan Pereira's spot on the wing due to illness and Deine Mariner makes his debut in the centres at the expense of Brenko Lee.
Speaking of the Broncos, Brisbane are coming of an emphatic victory over fellow top eight side, the Parramatta Eels, after defeating them by 22 points on Thursday night. As a result, the Broncos now sit in fourth spot on the competition ladder and a win against the last placed Tigers this Saturday will keep them there for another week. The game was played in rough conditions, but the Broncos' forward pack was more than up for the challenge with the likes of Payne Haas, Patrick Carrigan and Thomas Flegler all having fantastic games. Haas' in particular was superb, accumulating 225 run metres and breaking an incredible nine tackles to go along with a four pointer, his first of the year. Along with the forwards, Adam Reynolds was fantastic with the ball at his feet on Thursday as he has been all season and he could play a big role in this weekend's match. Reynolds will look to turn the Tigers around with his long kicking game and in doing so, attempt to reduce Laurie's impact on the game.
Reynolds will have a new weapon to utilise this Saturday. Debutant Deine Mariner will start in the centres after some strong performances for Wynnum-Manly in the Queensland Cup. Mariner ha scored eight tries in seven appearances this season and has broken 34 tackles to go with it. The Tigers won't know much about the young lad and that'll work into the Broncos favour. With Kotoni Staggs on one side and Mariner on the other, their could be some exciting second phase footy on display from the Broncos.
Last meeting: Round 18 2021 - Broncos 24 Wests Tigers 42
Who to watch: Two of the key players for Saturday's clash reside in the halves. For the Broncos, it's star halfback Adam Reynolds and for the Tigers', it's young Adam Doueihi who has only recently returned from injury. Firstly, Reynolds has been exceptional in his first year at the club and has impacted the club immediately as they surprisingly sit in the top four spots on the ladder after finishing 14th last season. The Broncos were desperate for someone of Reynolds' ilk and they finally got their man and the club has flourished with his arrival. So far this season, Reynolds has assisted 15 tries in just 14 games this season, on track for a career-high in that statistic and has forced seven dropouts to go with it. His performance will go a long way to determining the result of this fixture. His former teammate, Doueihi played just his fifth game of the season on Sunday and set up what would've been the match winning try with a great offload for Daine Laurie. The 25-year-old has been looking better with each match since returning from injury. Over the last two weeks since starting at five-eighth, Doueihi has ran for just over 200 metres and broken nine tackles showcasing his dangerous running game. His return gives Brooks another target for his cross-field kicks, which we saw on the weekend and it has been a source for points in the past.
The favourite: The Broncos enter this clash as favourites after a great victory over the Parramatta Eels and a successful season so far. The Tigers languish in 16th place but played their best football of recent times on the weekend, however, are they able to do it two weeks in a row?
My tip: Broncos should be able to knock-off the Tigers in this one and if they can hold the ball better than the Cowboys did on the weekend, then they should have no problems walking away with the two points. If they want to be a top four side, this is the sort of game you must win. Broncos by 12.
