| Week 3 Preview | | Print | |
| Friday, 27 March 2009 18:51 | ||||||||||||||||||
 Round Three in the NRL has arrived. Can you believe it? We can't. It's the end of the week which means everything else in your life is put on delay to make time for your club in round three of the National Rugby League. It's the end of the week which means everything else in your life is put on delay to make time for your club in round three of the National Rugby League. FRIDAY MARCH 27 Wests Tigers V Sydney Roosters Sydney Football Stadium, 7:35pm Referees: Tony Archer & Gavin Badger GRL Tip: Sydney Roosters Head To Head: Played 13, Roosters 8 Tigers 5 At the SFS: Played 5, Roosters 4, Tigers 1 Lack of ball control was the worst offense committed by the Wests Tigers in Townsville last weekend after racking up 19 handling errors, the most for an individual NRL team in round two. The Sydney Roosters responded very well to their opening week carve up but they took twenty four minutes to score the first points. They'll need to go in for the kill early in the game otherwise the Tigers will make this a long, low-scoring night similar to what went down in the foundation cup during the off-season. Neither side really owns any boasting rights at the moment and in wet conditions don't expect much creativity or risk taking by the ball runners.. Sydney Roosters by 1-12. Wests Tigers: 1 Tim Moltzen, 2 Taniela Tuiaki, 3 Dean Collis, 4 Chris Lawrence, 5 Beau Ryan, 6 John Morris, 7 Benji Marshall, 8 Bryce Gibbs, 9 Robbie Farah [c], 10 Keith Galloway, 11 Gareth Ellis, 12 Chris Heighington, 13 Todd Payten. Subs: 14 Rhys Hanbury, 15 Dene Halatau, 16 Corey Payne, 17 Danny Galea. Sydney Roosters: 1 Sam Perrett, 2 Sonny Tuigamala, 3 Mitchell Aubusson, 4 Sia Soliola, 5 Shaun Kenny-Dowall, 6 Braith Anasta [c], 7 Mitchell Pearce, 8 Mark O'Meley, 9 James Aubusson, 10 Nate Myles, 11 Willie Mason, 12 Craig Fitzgibbon, 13 Setaimata Sa. Subs: 14 Frank-Paul Nuuausala, 15 Lopini Paea, 16 Shane Shackleton, 17 Anthony Cherrington, 18 Ben Jones, (one to be omitted). Gold Coast V Bulldogs Skilled Park, 7:35pm Referees: Jared Maxwell & Alan Shortall GRL Tip: Bulldogs Head To Head: Played 3, Bulldogs 2, Titans 1 At This Venue: Played 1, Bulldogs 1, Titans 0 Defensively the Gold Coast were more impressive in their opening half last Saturday night as they headed into the sheds behind by only two-points (6-4) whereas the Bulldogs outscored the Panthers three tries to one in the second forty. Canterbury won't be happy after losing two competition points due to an interchange bungle at the end of the game and should come out firing earlier in this contest. Whether Scott Prince plays will determine the size of the Bulldogs win. Last season after he got injured in the State of Origin decider, the Titans won only two more games. Canterbury by 1-12. Gold Coast Titans: 1 Preston Campbell, 2 Esi Tonga, 3 Josh Graham, 4 Brett Delaney, 5 Chris Walker, 6 Mat Rogers, 7 Scott Prince [c], 8 Luke Bailey [c], 9 Nathan Friend, 10 Michael Henderson, 11 Anthony Laffranchi, 12 Mark Minichiello, 13 Ashley Harrison. Subs: 14 Brad Meyers, 15 Matthew White, 16 Luke O'Dwyer, 17 Aaron Cannings, 18 William Zillman (one to be omitted). Bulldogs: 1 Luke Patten, 2 Hazem El Masri, 3 Josh Morris, 4 Jamal Idris , 5 Bryson Goodwin, 6 Ben Roberts, 7 Brett Kimmorley, 8 Ben Hannant, 9 Michael Ennis, 10 Chris Armit, 11 Gary Warburton, 12 Andrew Ryan, 13 David Stagg. Subs: 14 Lee Te Maari, 15 Greg Eastwood, 16 John Kite, 17 Ben Barba. SATURDAY MARCH 28 New Zealand V Brisbane Mt Smart Stadium, 5:30pm (7:30pm NZ time) Referees: Jason Robinson & Matt Cecchin GRL Tip: New Zealand Head To Head: Played 23, Broncos 14, Warriors 9 At This Venue: Played 12, Warriors 6, Broncos 6 I think this is the first real test for these two teams in 2009. Manly applied pressure on the Warriors for the full eighty minutes but they are a team whose mindset is not 100 per cent focused at the moment. Brisbane won 6 from 13 away games last season so their record on the road is a bit unconvincing. The Warriors are without Lance Hohaia and Manu Vatuvei due to injury while the Broncos lose Justin Hodges to suspension. Goal kicking should decide the final outcome as the Warriors head into this game with an 80% success rate while the Broncos have managed to convert only 42% of their attempted conversions so far this season. New Zealand by 1-12. New Zealand Warriors: 1 Wade McKinnon, 2 Denan Kemp, 3 Brent Tate, 4 Jerome Ropati, 5 Aidan Kirk, 6 Joel Moon, 7 Nathan Fien, 8 Sam Rapira, 9 Ian Henderson, 10 Steve Price [c], 11 Simon Mannering, 12 Jacob Lillyman, 13 Micheal Luck. Subs: 14 Stacey Jones, 15 Russell Packer, 16 Jesse Royal, 17 Ukuma Ta'ai, 18 Daniel O'Regan, (one to be omitted). Brisbane Broncos: 1. Karmichael Hunt, 2. Antonio Winterstein, 3. Steve Michaels, 4. Israel Folau, 5. Jharal Yow Yeh, 6. Darren Lockyer [c], 7. Peter Wallace, 8. Nick Kenny, 9. Aaron Gorrell, 10. Joel Clinton, 11. Sam Thaiday, 12. Ben Te'o, 13. Corey Parker. Subs: 14. Andrew McCullough, 15. Lagi Setu, 16. Dave Taylor, 17. Alex Glenn, 18. Josh McGuire, 19. Ashton Sims, 20. Michael De Vere, (three to be omitted). Parramatta V Canberra Parramatta Stadium, 7:30pm Referees: Steve Lyons & Chris James GRL Tip: Parramatta Head To Head: Played 43, Parramatta 23, Raiders 20 At This Venue: Played 18, Eels 12, Raiders 6. Canberra's only saving hope in this game is the fact that the Eels halves pairing of Jarryd Hayne and Brett Finch have yet to find their attacking rhythm. Then again all it takes is a few brilliant plays from Feleti Mateo or Krisnan Inu and the visitors could be in trouble early on. The new-found Parramatta defensive attitude suggests the home side will need to have a shocker to lose this one. The Raiders have already conceded 11 tries this year of which 64% of them were conceded inside their 0-20m zone.This gives the Eels good reason to believe they can score 20 points plus for the first time in 2009 on Saturday night at home. However the Eels will need to earn field position because the Raiders gave away the least amount of penalties in round two. Parramatta Eels: 1 Luke Burt, 2 Joel Reddy, 3 Ben Smith, 4 Krisnan Inu, 5 Eric Grothe , 6 Jarryd Hayne, 7 Brett Finch, 8 Nathan Cayless [c], 9 Matthew Keating, 10 Fuifui Moimoi, 11 Nathan Hindmarsh, 12 Joe Galuvao, 13 Feleti Mateo. Subs: 14 Kris Keating, 15 Todd Lowrie , 16 Tim Mannah, 17 Broderick Wright. Canberra Raiders: 1 David Milne, 2 Brett Kelly, 3 Jarrod Croker, 4 Joel Monaghan, 5 Justin Carney, 6 Terry Campese, 7 Marc Herbert, 8 David Shillington, 9 Stuart Flanagan, 10 Josh Miller, 11 Joe Picker, 12 Bronson Harrison, 13 Alan Tongue [c]. Subs: 14 Tom Learoyd-Lahrs, 15 Trevor Thurling, 16 Glen Turner, 17 Nigel Plum. North Queensland V Melbourne Dairy Farmers Stadium, 8:30pm [QLD Time] Referees: Shayne Hayne & Gerard Sutton GRL Tip: Cowboys Head To Head: Played 18, Storm 13, Cowboys 5 At This Venue: Played 10, Storm 7, Cowboys 3 Melbourne traditionally struggle to score a lot of points in their first few games of the new season. At the moment they are struggling to score back to back tries. The penalty discipline of both these teams is pretty good and the Storm can consider themselves unlucky not to be two from two after a controversial knock-on in the lead up to a try was ignored by match officials. The Cowboys key playmakers were a little quiet in their big win over the Tigers and they'll need to step up against a victorian outfit that is always challenging themselves to improve. North Queensland Cowboys: 1 Matt Bowen, 2 John Williams, 3 Ashley Graham, 4 Ty Williams, 5 Ben Farrar, 6 Travis Burns, 7 Johnathan Thurston [c], 8 Shane Tronc, 9 Aaron Payne, 10 Antonio Kaufusi, 11 Carl Webb, 12 Ben Harris, 13 Luke O'Donnell. Subs: 14 Grant Rovelli, 15 Scott Bolton, 16 Matt Scott, 17 Manase Manuokafoa, 18 Clint Amos, 19 Shannon Hegarty (two to be omitted). Melbourne Storm: 1 Billy Slater, 2 Steve Turner, 3 Will Chambers, 4 Willie Isa, 5 Anthony Quinn, 6 Greg Inglis, 7 Cooper Cronk, 8 Jeff Lima, 9 Cameron Smith [c], 10 Adam Blair, 11 Wairangi Koopu, 12 Ryan Hoffman, 13 Dallas Johnson. Subs: 14 Ryan Hinchcliffe, 15 Kevin Proctor, 16 Aiden Tolman, 17 Scott Anderson, 18 Sika Manu, 19 Joseph Tomane (two to be omitted). SUNDAY MARCH 29 South Sydney V Newcastle Bluetongue Stadium, 2:00pm Referees: Ashley Klein & Brett Suttor GR Tip: South Sydney Head To Head: Played 28, Knights 23, Rabbitohs 5 At This Venue: Played 2, Rabbitohs 1, Knights 1 Newcastle defeated a Sharks outfit that were missing their preferred fullback and halfback due to injury and suspension. This week they'll be denied that luxury when they come up against a team featuring three proven premiership winning stars in numbers 1, 14 & 10. The Rabbitohs should win this battle in the fitness stakes, allowing them to dominate field position from the easy metres gained. South Sydney by 1-12. South Sydney Rabbitohs: 1 Rhys Wesser, 2 Shaune Corrigan, 3 Colin Best, 4 Beau Champion, 5 Fetuli Talanoa, 6 John Sutton, 7 Chris Sandow, 8 Luke Stuart, 9 Issac Luke, 10 Roy Asotasi (c), 11 Ben Lowe, 12 Shannan McPherson, 13 David Fa'alogo. Subs: 14 Craig Wing, 15 Eddy Pettybourne, 16 Jaiman Lowe, 17 David Kidwell. Newcastle Knights: 1 Kurt Gidley [c], 2 James McManus, 3 Junior Sau, 4 Adam MacDougall, 5 Akuila Uate, 6 Ben Rogers, 7 Scott Dureau, 8 Mark Taufua, 9 Isaac De Gois, 10 Ben Cross, 11 Chris Houston, 12 Cory Paterson, 13 Zeb Taia. Subs: 14 Matt Hilder, 15 Keith Lulia, 16 Richie Fa'aoso, 17 George Ndaira. St George-Illawarra V Cronulla Win Jubilee Stadium, 3pm Referees: Gavin Badger & Tony De Las Heras GRL Tip: Dragons Head To Head: Played 22, Sharks 13, Dragons 8, Drawn 1 At This Venue: Played 5, Dragons 3, Sharks 2 Trent Barrett returns to Kogarah Oval in a Sharks jersey for the very first time and will be hoping to snatch a try at the expense of his former club. He shouldn't hold his breath. Five dragons players are averaging more than 100 metres a match while only one has cracked the century for the Sharks..Paul Gallen (124 metres). St George have only 1 major injury (Justin Poore) while the Sharks have four including poor old Brett Kearney who can't get a break, Ben Ross and Brett Seymour. Short preparation due to their Monday night clash against the Knights is the final ingredient for a big win by the Dragons. St George-Illawarra by 13+ St.George-Illawarra Dragons: 1 Darius Boyd, 2 Jason Nightingale, 3 Beau Scott, 4 Matt Cooper, 5 Wendell Sailor, 6 Jamie Soward, 7 Ben Hornby [c], 8 Jarrod Saffy, 9 Dean Young, 10 Michael Weyman, 11 Matt Prior, 12 Ben Creagh, 13 Jeremy Smith. Subs: 14 Dan Hunt, 15 Neville Costigan, 16 Mathew Head, 17 Luke Priddis. Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks: 1 David Simmons, 2 Misi Taulapapa, 3 Ben Pomeroy, 4 Blake Ferguson, 5 Luke Covell, 6 Trent Barrett, 7 Blake Green, 8 Kade Snowden, 9 Corey Hughes, 10 Luke Douglas, 11 Reece Williams, 12 Anthony Tupou, 13 Paul Gallen [c]. Subs: 14 Reni Maitua, 15 Grant Millington, 16 Bryan Norrie, 17 Tony Caine, 21 Mitch Brown (one to be omitted). MONDAY MARCH 30 Manly V Penrith Brookvale Oval, 7:00pm Referees: Ben Cummins & Phil Haines GRL Tip: Manly Head To Head: Played 70, Sea Eagles 45, Panthers 24, Drawn 1 At This Venue: Played 34, Sea Eagles 26, Panthers 8 The last time Manly lost two consecutive home games was in round 17, 2006. If they repeat that record on Monday night, I'll go skinny dipping with Great White Sharks. That's how confident I am they will beat the Panthers who were unlucky not to win in round two. Penrith haven't been terrible in their first two games and have improved each week but not enough to beat the Sea Eagles this early in the season. Or have they? Don't touch your sets, don't touch your dial, don't you touch anything. Stay tuned. Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles: 1 Michael Robertson, 2 Michael Bani, 3 Jamie Lyon, 4 Steve Matai, 5 Shane Neumann, 6 Chris Bailey, 7 Matt Orford (c), 8 Brent Kite, 9 Matt Ballin, 10 Josh Perry, 11 Anthony Watmough, 12 Glenn Hall, 13 Glenn Stewart. Subs: 14 Heath L'Estrange, 15 Jason King, 16 Adam Cuthbertson, 18 Jared Waerea-Hargreaves, 21 George Rose (one to be omitted). Penrith Panthers: 1 Lachlan Coote, 2 Michael Gordon, 3 Michael Jennings, 4 Brad Tighe, 5 Shane Elford, 6 Luke Lewis, 7 Jarrod Sammut, 8.Frank Puletua, 9 Paul Aiton, 10 Petero Civoniceva [c], 11 Trent Waterhouse, 12 Matthew Bell, 13 Nathan Smith. Subs: 14 Masada Iosefa, 15 Frank Pritchard, 16 Tim Grant, 17 Adam Woolnough, 18 Wade Graham, 19.Joseph Paulo (two to be omitted).
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