On the surface first against 15th appears to be somewhat of a non-event however Sharks coach John Morris will be encouraging his team to forget the ladder positions and to treat their opponents with plenty of respect ahead of the game against the Tigers on Saturday night.
Sitting atop the Holden Cup ladder and on the back of a six-game win streak the Sharks have every right to go into the match full of confidence, where in comparison the Wests Tigers are languishing just one place from the bottom, however funny things can happen and upsets can and do occur on any given week in the under-20’s competition.
The young Sharks had to battle hard at their last start against the Storm, coming from behind to register a 28-20 win against a quality Melbourne side. The win saw them move to 23 competition points, level with the Panthers but in first position on for-and-against.
On the flip side, the Tigers slipped to a 42-28 defeat in a loss than showed an ability to score points however stopping them seemed to be another story.
Energetic Tigers hooker and captain Daniel Peck is one player the Sharks will need to keep an eye on should they hope to be successful on Saturday night.
As for the Sharks, the fact that Kyle Flanagan sits on top of the NYC points-scorers with 176, a massive 48 points ahead of the second-placed player on the list, while winger Sione Katoa is the competition’s leading try scorer, and it’s not hard to see why the Sharks are where they are on the NYC table.
Flanagan’s 72 goals from 85 attempts, for an 85 per cent success rate, is impressive by any standard. He has also scored eight tries in his 13 games so far this season.
While in relation to Katoa, in addition to his 13 tries he also leads the tackle-break statistic with 141 and line-breaks with 21, with those numbers indicating his worth to the NYC Sharks team.
The Sharks have trimmed the original 23-man squad down to 20 ahead of tomorrow night’s game, with the team list below.
The Sharks v Tigers NYC match is scheduled to get underway at 5.15pm at Southern Cross Group Stadium.
NYC Team List – Round 15
Sharks v Tigers
Saturday, June 17
Southern Cross Group Stadium
Kick-off – 5.15pm
1 William KENNEDY
2 Sione KATOA
3 Isaac LUMELUME
4 Bessie AUFAGA-TOOMAGA
5 Joshua TUILAGI
6 Jack WILLIAMS ©
7 Kyle FLANAGAN
8 Ryan KING
9 Blayke BRAILEY
10 Eddie FAALUA
11 Briton NIKORA
12 Tony MATAUTIA
13 Billy MAGOULIAS
Interchange
14 Zachary FAULKNER
15 Kalani PEWHAIRANGI-CHARLIE
16 Johnathan TUFUGA
17 Joshua CARR
18 Clayton UIA
19 Lane FERLING
20 James ROUMANOS
