Skipper Robbie Farah says the NRL is starting to sit up and take notice of a Wests Tigers side rated as pre-season wooden spoon fancies, after a comprehensive win over Manly at Leichhardt Oval on Sunday.
The Tigers completely dismantled last year’s grand finalists in driving rain, leading 26-0 after 34 minutes before running out 34-18 victors.
Coupled with a gritty round three win over South Sydney, the round five defeat of the Sea Eagles has heralded the Tigers as genuine finals contenders.
“I think they (other teams) will be taking notice,” Farah said.
“It was another good win for us, and it is a step in the right direction. We were really disappointed with our loss to the Warriors last week and the challenge for us now is to be consistent.
“I think there’s a quiet confidence already within the squad and within the joint. We’ve had a couple of losses this year but in those losses, it’s been more that we threw the game away rather than us playing poorly.
“I thought last week the score didn’t reflect the way we played, so we took some positives out of that. Knocking off one of the premiership favourites is a big win for us.”
First half tries to Farah, David Nofoaluma, Chris Lawrence, and Aaron Woods blew Manly away. The Tigers dominated to such an extent that Manly didn’t play the ball in the Tigers 20m zone until the 35th minute.
Jamie Lyon crossed just before halftime before Nofoaluma’s double in the 53rd minute sealed the win before Manly centre Steve Matai scored a late double.
Farah rated the win one of the joint venture’s best at the famed venue.
“That was right up there,” he said.
“It was a real tough one. Manly is a great side, so whenever you beat a team like them – I don’t think we’ve beaten them in a while – it’s always a good win. We’ve had some special nights here and special afternoons, so it’s another one to add to the list.”
Woods led the way up front for the Tigers with Farah awarded man of the match for his controlling performance around the ruck.
Manly coach Geoff Toovey said his side struggled early and never recovered.
“The out-enthused us,” he said.
“They got the momentum and it was very hard to stop.”
When asked if Manly suffered any injuries Toovey replied: “just our pride”.
There are injury concerns for the Tigers with fullback James Tedesco leaving the field in the second half with an ankle injury. He was scheduled for scans on Sunday night, the results of which should be known on Monday afternoon. However Tigers medical staff said the injury wasn’t thought to be serious.
Fullback Brett Stewart had a game to forget in his return from a hamstring injury suffered in round one, dropping a number of balls.
His brother Glenn was ruled out (concussion/ankle) but Toovey said he would be fit for Manly’s round six clash against Cronulla on Sunday.
Liam Fulton and Tim Simona were both impressive in their return from concussion for the Tigers.
