Today’s team lists
St George Illawarra Dragons
1. Clinton Gutherson 2. Setu Tu 3. Mathew Feagai 4. Valentine Holmes 5. Tyrell Sloan 6. Daniel Atkinson 7. Kyle Flanagan 8. Loko Jnr Pasifiki Tonga 9. Damien Cook 10. Toby Couchman 11. Dylan Egan 12. Hamish Stewart 13. Ryan Couchman.
Bench: 14. Jacob Liddle 15. Luciano Leilua 16. Josh Kerr 17. Emre Guler 18. Jacob Halangahu 19. Lyhkan King-Togia
Wests Tigers
1. Jahream Bula 2. Sunia Turuva 3. Heamasi Makasini 4. Starford To’a 5. Jeral Skelton 6. Jock Madden 7. Adam Doueihi 8. Terrell May 9. Apisai Koroisau 15. Bunty Afoa 11. Tony Sukkar 12. Sione Fainu 13. Alex Twal.
Bench: 10. Fonua Pole 14. Josese Lanyon 16. Alex Seyfarth 17. Latu Fainu 18. Faaletino Tavana 19. Charlie Murray
Your say: Dragons or Wests Tigers?
Tigers boss hopes for a Leichhardt Oval final
Wests Tigers chief executive Shaun Mielekamp has had the “interim” tag taken out of his title, and one of his first acts in charge will be to lobby for the club to make an unexpected return to Leichhardt Oval this season if they host a home final.
After taking over from predecessor Shane Richardson in December on an interim basis, Mielekamp’s appointment to the position on a permanent basis was announced on Friday.
The former CEO of A-League club Central Coast Mariners took the helm at a tumultuous time as the club was riven by factionalism.
But Mielekamp has presided over a period of relative stability: the stakeholders in charge of the Tigers are on the same page; head coach Benji Marshall has extended his contract; key players Jahream Bula, Taylan May, Terrell May, Adam Doueihi, Sione Fainu, Sunia Turuva and Heamasi Makasini have recommitted; and the team is a chance of breaking a finals drought that stretches back to 2011.
“It is a good time for the club, and to be acknowledged that we are on the right track is probably what this is,” Mielekamp said.
Welcome
Hello and welcome to our coverage of Saturday’s clash between the Dragons and Wests Tigers at Kogarah. It’s Dom Brock with you on blog duties today, and Billie Eder will have a match report at the conclusion of the game.
There’s a couple of ways to look at how these teams are tracking this season. The positive: neither side has lost any players to State of Origin duty this week. The negative: in the past two months these teams have won three games between them.
The Tigers’ fast start to the year has faded with six losses from their past eight games, but they remain in the hunt for a finals finish and sit four competition points outside the top eight. They are without star playmaker Jarome Luai tonight due to concussion, with Jock Madden replacing him and Alex Twal and Bunty Afoa returning to the forward pack. Taylan May is out with a shoulder injury, replaced by Heamasi Makasini.
No such problems for the Dragons, who have the same squad that went down by eight points to Canberra last week. A month on from their lone win of the season, against premiers Brisbane, they can do real damage to the Tigers’ finals hopes here.
Kick-off is at 5.30pm.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: www.smh.com.au
