West Tigers v Newcastle Knights
Date: Saturday May 30
Venue: Campbelltown Sports Stadium
Kick off: 10.40am
Referee: Adam Cassidy, Assistant: Kasey Badger
Touch judges: James Vella and Martin Jones
Teams:
WESTS TIGERS
1. Luke Sharpe, 2. Ryan Papenhuyzen, 3. Toa Mata’afa, 4. Samuel DeFiddes
5. Roman Ioelu, 6. Veiru Mapesone, 7. Thomas Bartley, 8. Ray Stone, 9. Jacob Liddle, 10. Taneila Paseka, 11. Jakob Giles, 12. Mark McCormack, 13. Jack Wheelhouse ©. Interchange: 14. Daniel Peck, 15. Lenny Sauni, 16. Trent Pye, 17. Rhys Sciglitano.
NEWCASTLE KNIGHTS
1. Nick Meaney, 2. Dean Kouka-Smith, 3. Heath Gibbs, 4. Kainoa Gudgeon, 5. Brayden Musgrove, 6. Jake McNamara, 7. Hayden Herbert, 8. Eddy Tuilotolava, 9. Nick Newman, 10. Jamayne Taunoa-Brown, 11. Zac Hosking, 12. Sam Stone, 13. Jayden Butterfield. Interchange: 14. Ryan Glanville, 15. Tom Starling, 16. Pasami Saulo, 17. Brodie Jones.
Match Analysis:
Steely defence will be the name of the game for the NYC Newcastle Knights in their Round 11 match against the Wests Tigers on Saturday.
After a convincing win over the Cronulla Sharks at Hunter Stadium that boasted a good completion rate and defensive effort, the Knights look to replicate those principles against the Tigers who sit at second on the ladder.
“Everyone was pretty happy and it was one of our best performances of the year,” coach Todd Lowrie said about last weekend’s victory.
“We have gone through that week and are focusing on this week now,” he said.
“We don’t get too long to look back and have to do it all again this weekend."
This weekend’s opponent will be a decent test for the young side which features more new faces in the line-up.
“We are faced with the Tigers this weekend who are at second and have been doing really well,” he said.
“The Tigers are a really good attacking game and think in the last four games they have scored more than 30 points.
“Last week they scored 40 points in the second half. That means we have to be really good defensively.”
A common trend across the Club has seen players progress through the grades, meaning a number of NYC mainstays will play with the reserve grade Knights with under 20s halves Brock Lamb and Jack Cogger also named in the NRL squad.
“We have lost a couple of players with players who have gone up which makes the challenge all the more tougher, but so far all the boys have handled themselves really well,” he explained.
Some of the best performers from the Club’s U18s squad have received a call up to NYC, including Brayden Musgrove who will make his NYC debut on the wing.
“A couple of them, probably thought at the start of the year, they wouldn’t get much of a run,” he said.
“To all their credit when they’ve come in they’ve performed really well and everyone is doing really well at the moment."
While player progression has meant the NYC Knights have struggled with consistency, the fact young players are gaining experience bodes well for the team and Club’s future.
“It’s what we have to deal with every week. I don’t think we have had the same team on the park any week in a row,” he said.
“Hopefully everyone knows what they have to do and they have to work together on the weekend."
Where it will be won:
Defence.
“If we can defend well, I think we will be able to score enough points to win,” Lowrie said.
"As long as we can get our head around defending okay, we will be okay.
With a few new faces, we hope it comes together this week particularly against the Tigers who are a really good attacking team, it will be our defence that wins us the game.”
