We've crunched the numbers and examined the history books as Wests Tigers get ready to take on the Melbourne Storm this Sunday afternoon at Leichhardt Oval.
And if there's ever a ground capable of helping the Club turn around a disappointing run of defeats, it's the suburban ground located in the heart of Sydney's Inner West.
In each of the last three seasons, Wests Tigers have gone to Leichhardt Oval in the middle of a losing streak and walked away with the two points.
In Round 11 of 2013, Wests Tigers went to Leichhardt Oval on the back of a seven consecutive losses — ending the streak with a thrilling 22-20 win over the Cowboys.
In Round 26 of 2014, it was a six-game streak that ended with a 26-10 win over the Sharks.
Just last year, Wests Tigers had been unable to get a win in five matches, before facing the Storm in Round 21 — producing a dominant performance to emerge 34-16 winners.
In fact, if we look back even further, playing the Storm at Leichhardt Oval could also prove to be the remedy, with a similar four-game losing streak broken in 2004 when Wests Tigers emerged with an upset 32-18 win over the men from Melbourne.
If history is anything to go by then, there’s certainly plenty of reasons to be confident ahead of this week’s game against the Storm, as we look at this week’s Key Numbers.
Be there for Sunday afternoon footy at Leichhardt Oval when we take on the Storm!
8
There’s no hiding the fact that Melbourne aren’t huge fans of playing at Leichhardt Oval, with Wests Tigers winning eight of the 11 times they’ve played there. On the last two occasions that the Storm have ventured to Sydney’s Inner West (in 2013 and 2015), Wests Tigers have scored comfortable victories by a combined scoreline of 60-20.
3
Breaking that down even further, Wests Tigers have won two of their last three games played against the Storm at Leichhardt Oval on a Sunday afternoon.
2
He’s got an equally-impressive record at Campbelltown Sports Stadium, but having scored two tries already at Leichhardt Oval this year, look for David Nofoaluma to cross the try-line again this week. The winger has scored eight tries in eight games at Leichhardt throughout his career, including two in two games against the Melbourne Storm.
6
With another try on the weekend against the Knights, James Tedesco continued his lead atop the NRL’s top try-scoring list (now with eight tries from seven games), and also broke the record for the most tries by a Wests Tigers fullback (39). The Camden Rams junior is capable of scoring tries on any ground in the NRL, but perhaps especially Leichhardt Oval, having picked up a hat-trick last time out against the Sea Eagles. In his last four games at the suburban ground, Tedesco has scored an impressive six tries.
