Wests Tigers winger, Sunia Turuva has no doubt about how far the team can go in their quest for finals footy, providing they fix their lapses in concentration.
A two-time premiership winner, Turuva knows what it takes to make the finals and despite the Tigers sitting two wins out of the eight on a congested NRL ladder, he firmly believes the team can make a strong run towards September.
“We know that we can match it with the ‘big dogs’ of the competition (with us) getting a few troops back now,’’ Turuva said.
“I think last weekend was a good example of that. The Knights have been playing some good footy. We just had little lapses and when you have players like Kalyn Ponga and Bradman Best on your team, they make you pay for that.
For us, it’s just staying locked in for the whole 80 minutes, which will help us in the long run
Sunia Turuva
Following the successful return of halfback, Adam Doueihi last weekend against Newcastle, the Tigers welcome back hard-working lock, Alex Twal for the vital clash with St George-Illawarra at Kogarah this Saturday.
Although the Dragons sit on the bottom of the ladder, Turuva knows how dangerous the red and whites will be on their home turf.
“They have played some pretty good footy lately. They haven’t got the results this year, but ever since they beat the Broncos a couple of weeks ago, they look like they are just getting better to be honest,’’ Turuva added.
“We’ve got ‘Twaly’ back this week. He has been ripping and tearing in the gym, and out on the field, so with someone like that, you just have to get him back playing.
“He was killing it for us until he got injured.
“It’s been a bit frustrating (with the injuries). We get Doueihi back and then we lose Taylan May last weekend.
“With the two tries Newcastle scored, it was just lapses…moments of concentration.
“It’s now just trying to learn from that and taking it into this week.
“I just know that when we put in an 80-minute performance with our best 19 players, I honestly reckon we're up there. I believe that.
“Like I said, we can match it with the ‘big dogs’ and we've seen that at the start of the year in our first six to eight weeks.
“We (then) hit a bit of a speed bump there, but that's just footy.”
