After a confidence-building victory over Parramatta, the Wests Tigers forward pack is eager to repeat their performance against the Rabbitohs on Saturday night.
The black-and-gold were able to match the output of the Eels’ representative-calibre pack and will need to do the same against the likes of Cameron Murray, Jai Arrow and Thomas Burgess from South Sydney.
Speaking to the media, Joe Ofahengaue stated that Monday’s victory was among the best of his career but knows that this week’s match will provide another tough challenge.
Joe demands repeat performance against Bunnies
“It was a great moment for the club, but it’s a new week and we’ve got another hard game against another possible top four team”.
“They’ve got a lot of strike, so we’ve got to shift our focus onto that”.
James Roberts echoed Ofahengaue’s thoughts and was extremely thankful for the efforts of his middle-men.
Roberts confident his forwards can fire
“Our forwards did a really good job for us. They won us the game”
“If they can win their battles each week, it makes it a lot easier for us to do our jobs on the edges. If we can do that again this week against their forward pack, I’m sure we’ll get the two points”.
Both Ofahengaue and Roberts pointed to the example of interchange prop Alex Twal, who ran for a game-high 160 metres and made 46 tackles in 63 minutes off the bench.
These statistics led interchange utility Jock Madden to label Twal as a ‘Terminator’ on both sides of the ball.
In response, Twal explained that he is humbled and thankful for the support but understands that the club must continue to build upon their strong performance.
Twal talks about wanting more
“The boys’ effort has been enormous. There was just a really good feeling out there on the weekend. I felt across the team, from one to seventeen, everyone was pushing and fighting for every scrap out there”.
“For us now, it’s just about making sure we can take that performance and use it as a template moving forward”.
When asked about the motivation behind his inspired performance, Twal stated that he just wanted to provide the club’s loyal members and supporters a game that they could be proud of.
“We’ve got the best fans in the competition. They’re so loyal and they were packed out there on Monday.”
It was such a relief, not only for us, but for them. Providing them with a performance like that, and to go and share that moment with them after the game, along with all my teammates, was enormous
Alex Twal
