Friday’s second NRL Round 17 match is between Cronulla Sharks and Wests Tigers with the opening kick to commence at 7.35pm local time. The game is to be played at Sharks Stadium which see’s home team Cronulla Sharks hold favouritism in the market. View our NRL live scores, odds and results for the game between Cronulla Sharks and Wests Tigers.
WHERE AND WHEN: Sharks Stadium, Friday 7.35pm
Opening odds comparison:
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| Cronulla Sharks | 1.50 | 1.53 | 1.53 | 1.53 | 1.50 | 1.54 |
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Wests Tigers
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2.60 | 2.50 | 2.55 | 2.50 | 2.60 | 2.63 |
Preview:
Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks vs Wests Tigers takes place on Friday night, 7.35pm at Sharks Stadium. The Sharks should be able to win this one at home, although with an even record of wins and losses in 2013, they have not exactly set the competition on fire. Wests have also been disappointing this season, but managed to snatch a victory against the defending premiers Melbourne last round. While last week’s upset will give them extra confidence going into this game, the Sharks will not go down easily.
Teams:
Cronulla Sharks:
Michael Gordon, Sosaia Feki, Luke Lewis, Jonathan Wright, Beau Ryan, Todd Carney, Jeff Robson, Andrew Fifita, John Morris, Sam Tagataese, Anthony Tupou, Wade Graham, Chris Heighington. Interchange: Isaac De Gois, Jayson Bukuya, Bryce Gibbs, Ben Ross, Stewart Mills (one to be omitted).
Wests Tigers:
James Tedesco, David Nofoaluma, Blake Ayshford, Chris Lawrence, Tim Simona, Benji Marshall, Curtis Sironen, Aaron Woods, Robbie Farah (capt), Adam Blair, Liam Fulton, Bodene Thompson, Suaso Sue. Interchange: Ava Seumanufagai, Jack Buchanan, Ben Murdoch-Masila, Shaun Spence.
Flanagan wants ex-Tigers focused on Sharks
Cronulla coach Shane Flanagan wants his batch of ex-Tigers driven by the NRL jumper they are wearing now – not the one they used to wear.
Six former Wests Tigers players will wear the blue, white and black of Cronulla in Friday night’s clash at the re-named Remondis Stadium, with the clash having taken on derby-like feeling due to the intimate connections between the rival camps.
Few of the `Tiger Sharks’ – Beau Ryan, Andrew Fifita, John Morris, Chris Heighington, Isaac De Gois and Bryce Gibbs – left the joint-venture of their own volition, but Flanagan said revenge should not be a motivator when they take on their old club.
“I’ve spoken to those boys just like I spoke to them in round one – they’re Cronulla Sharks players now and they are proud of that,” Flanagan told AAP.
“They will always have a little spring in their step no matter what club you come from, you always love playing your old club.
“But those boys have got to concentrate on our team first rather than the team that they’re playing.”
Tigers skipper Robbie Farah said there had been no social media banter between the former teammates in the lead-up to the clash.
Given a few of the main protagonists are some of the game’s more prolific tweeters, the silence speaks volumes of the importance of the match.
“They’re probably pretty serious about the game and I don’t want to speak to them to be honest,” Farah said.
“I’ll speak to them after the game.
“Once you cross that white line, you’re not mates. They’re the opposition and you get on with it.”
Eight ladder positions separate the sixth-placed Sharks from the Tigers, but the visitors are one of the form teams of the competition having won four of their last five games, including a last-start win over premiers Melbourne.
The Sharks have lost two of their last three, playmaker Todd Carney adamant the side can bounce back from a disappointing last-round defeat to North Queensland.
“There’s no hiding the fact that we played poor on Sunday,” Carney said.
“Coming back after our last bye we played Melbourne and we were poor and we turned it around when we played Parra a week later.”