Wests Tigers NYC Holden Cup Coach Willie Peters has finalised his side to take on the South Sydney Rabbitohs today in their Round 9 clash at ANZ Stadium.
Kickoff is at 5:35pm, with all live scores and updates available by clicking here!
Coming into the match in second position on the Holden Cup ladder following a convincing last-start win over the Canberra Raiders, Wests Tigers boosted by the late inclusion of several players including Luke Sharpe, Jesse Jackson and Ryan Papenhuyzen.
A Balmain Tigers junior, Papenhuyzen will make his Holden Cup debut this week, with the 2015 Harold Matthews Player of the Year making his first appearance on the wing in place of Obed Karwhin while young centre Moses Suli also misses out after picking up an injury last week.
Wests Tigers Holden Cup Coach Willie Peters praised the depth of young talent available to the Club and said he was excited to see the trio back in action this afternoon.
“We had quite a few injuries from last week’s game, so there’s actually four guys who aren’t playing this week,” Peters said. “It’s great to be able to have the likes of Papenhuyzen and Jackson to call into the squad — it shows we’ve got great depth here at the Club.
"I'm really looking forward to seeing how those guys go today.
“Moses [Suli] has been outstanding since coming in so it’s a shame he’s unavailable. We’re not too sure of the extent of his injury but obviously we want to get it right. He’s going to be out for a little while but we’re hoping to have him back at some point.”
Undefeated since their Round 4 clash against the Parramatta Eels, Peters said he was pleased with the progression in the side at the moment, and said that Thursday’s game was an incredibly important one to win given the long turnaround ahead of them.
“I’ve been really pleased with what the guys have done since about half-time of the Newcastle game a few weeks ago,” he said. “We’ve had a big focus on this week’s game because of the short turnaround we face and also because we’ve got 17 days until our next game and we don’t want to be thinking about a poor performance for that long.
“Souths are a tricky opponent for us this afternoon. They’ve had some good wins and narrow losses of them so we’re wary of what they can do now they’re back at home.
“But we’re just focusing on ourselves and on that short turnaround.
“We had an 83 percent completion rate last week and our defence is getting a lot better every week, so if we just keep doing what we’re doing we’ll be right again this week.
See how Wests Tigers will line up for this afternoon’s clash against South Sydney below!
Be there as Wests Tigers wear their first ever Indigenous Jersey against the Bulldogs!
WESTS TIGERS
23. Luke Sharpe
19. Ryan Papenhuyzen
3. Ryland Jacobs
22. Jesse Jackson
1. Roman Ioelu
6. Veiru Mapesone
7. Thomas Bartley
8. Taniela Paseka
9. Jacob Liddle
10. Junior Tatola (capt.)
11. Jakob Giles
12. Esan Marsters
13. Ray Stone
Interchange:
14. Daniel Peck
15. Mark McCormack
16. Trent Pye
17. Jack Wheelhouse (capt.)
Coach: Willie Peters
