Wests Tigers Holden Cup Coach Chris Hutchison has confirmed a 20-man squad for his side’s season opener against the South Sydney Rabbitohs on Friday night.
Kickoff for the match is at 5:50pm AEDT from ANZ Stadium as Wests Tigers look to build on a strong season in 2016 that saw them reach the finals series once again.
Hutchison confirmed that first year player Ben Powers (originally named in 24) will not feature in the final 17, which will be confirmed one hour prior to kickoff at 4:50pm tomorrow.
The first-year Head Coach said he was looking forward to seeing how a new-look outfit comes together after plenty of changeover from the side that featured in 2016.
“I’m excited to see how we’re going to come together after a good preparation,” he said.
“We had a pretty poor result in our last trial so I’m looking forward to seeing how the guys will bounce back from that and gel together in their first game as a team.
“We’ve got nine debutants and an inexperienced squad, so I’m really excited about that.
“We know we’ll probably play our best footy from the middle of the year onwards once those guys get a bit of experience and we can start to get some consistency in our team but at the same time, it’s exciting to see how they’ll progress throughout the year.
“Every training session, they seem to get better and more aware with what’s required, so I’m excited to see how they perform on Friday as a platform for the rest of the year.”
Be there for our first home game of 2017 when we take on the Penrith Panthers!
WESTS TIGERS
1. Ryan Papenhuyzen
2. Jamin Williams
3. Liam Pakau
4. Toa Mata'afa
5. Connelly Lemuelu
6. Hosea Leuea
7. Blake Higgins
8. Taniela Paseka
9. Daniel Peck (capt.)
10. Siaosi Nasilai
11. Corey Kurnoth
12. Royce Tout
13. Rhys Sciglitano
Interchange:
14. Jake Scott
15. Lenny Sauni
16. Thomas Mikaele
17. Trent Pye
18. PJ Mati-Leifi
20. Niall Walker
22. Jarrod Tompkins
Coach: Chris Hutchison
