Match Discussion: Round 13 vs North Qld @ Queensland Country Bank Stadium, Townsville / Wulgurukaba

[League Unlimited News]

NRL 2025 - Round 13
North Queensland Cowboys v Wests Tigers
Queensland Country Bank Stadium, Townsville / Wulgurukaba (TICKETS)

Saturday 31 May 2025
NRL kickoff 5:30pm.
Live on Fox, Kayo.

1. Scott Drinkwater 2. Robert Derby 3. Zac Laybutt 4. Viliami Vailea 5. Jaxson Paulo 6. Jaxon Purdue 7. Tom Dearden 8. Jordan McLean 9. Reece Robson 10. Sam McIntyre 11. John Bateman 12. Jeremiah Nanai 13. Reuben Cotter 14. Harrison Edwards 15. Kai O'Donnell 16. Griffin Neame 17. Coen Hess 18. Jake Clifford 19. Thomas Duffy 20. Karl Lawton 21. Thomas Mikaele 22. Braidon Burns 23. Kaiden Lahrs 24. Jamal Shibasaki

Out: Murray Taulagi (wing), Thomas Mikaele (bench to reserve)
In: Jaxson Paulo (wing), Reuben Cotter (lock)
Changes: Coen Hess (front row to bench), Sam McIntyre (lock to front row)

1. Jahream Bula 2. Sunia Turuva 3. Adam Doueihi 4. Starford To'a 5. Charlie Staines 6. Heath Mason 7. Jarome Luai 8. Terrell May 9. Apisai Koroisau 10. Royce Hunt 11. Samuela Fainu 12. Alex Seyfarth 13. Alex Twal 14. Brent Naden 15. Jack Bird 16. Sione Fainu 17. Tony Sukkar 18. Tristan Hope 19. Luke Laulilii 20. Charlie Murray 21. Kit Laulilii 22. Tallyn Da Silva

Out: Lachlan Galvin (five-eighth)
In: Heath Mason (five-eighth)

Referee: Gerard Sutton
Sideline Officials: Daniel Schwass, Jarrod Cole
Video Referee: Ashley Klein

HEAD TO HEAD - 2000 - 2024​

	TOTAL	NORTH QLD	WESTS TIGERS	DRAWN
ALL MATCHES	46	22	24	0
QLD C. BANK	4	3	1	0

LAST FIVE MEETINGS​

YEAR	ROUND	RESULT	VENUE	CROWD
2022	Round 19	NORTH QLD 27-26	QLD C. Bank	14910
2023	Round 12	WESTS TIGERS 66-18	Leichhardt	12247
2023	Round 18	NORTH QLD 74-0	QLD C. Bank	20535
2024	Round 12	NORTH QLD 42-28	QLD C. Bank	15957
2024	Round 22	NORTH QLD 48-30	Leichhardt	7231

BIGGEST WINS​

YEAR	ROUND	RESULT	VENUE	CROWD
2023	Round 12	WESTS TIGERS 66-18	Leichhardt	12247
2023	Round 18	NORTH QLD 74-0	QLD C. Bank	20535

NEXT FOUR MATCHES​

	Round 14	Round 15	Round 16	Round 17
NORTH QLD	MELBOURNE (A)	DOLPHINS (H)	SYDNEY (A)	GOLD COAST (A)
WESTS TIGERS	PENRITH (H)	(BYE)	CANBERRA (H)	MANLY (A)

LAST THREE MATCHES​

	Round 9		Round 10		Round 11
NORTH QLD	WARRIORS	L 26-30	PENRITH	D 30-30	MANLY	L 6-24
WESTS TIGERS	ST GEO ILLA	W 34-28	MELBOURNE	L 0-64	SOUTH SYDNEY	L 12-22

STATE OF PLAY: 2025 SEASON​

	POSITION	PLAYED	BYES	W-L-D	FOR	AGAINST
NORTH QLD	7th	10	2	4-5-1	228	260
WESTS TIGERS	12th	11	1	5-6-0	226	280

LOWER GRADES

Hostplus Cup: SUNSHINE COAST (MEL) v MACKAY (NQL), Sunshine Coast Stadium, Saturday, 5:00pm

Hostplus Cup: PNG HUNTERS v NORTHERN (NQL), Santos National Football Stadium, Sunday, 3:00pm

NRLQ Series (U20): NORTH QUEENSLAND v BRISBANE, QLD Country Bank Stadium, Saturday, 3:00pm

NSW Cup: NEWTOWN (CRO) v WESTERN SUBURBS (WST), Henson Park, Saturday, 3:00pm

Jersey Flegg: CRONULLA v WESTS TIGERS, Henson Park, Saturday, 12:50pm

 

[Tiger Ted]

We have to win this game & we will.I predict JL to be mom

 

[Nutz]

We have to win this game & we will.I predict JL to be mom

Perfect time for him mate as Payten seems to be losing the plot with his halves.

 

[Tigerm]

We get to see our new future, with Jerome and Latu.

 

[Tiger05]

We get to see our new future, with Jerome and Latu.

Is Latu available ? I hope so and I hope he is fit and raring to go.

 

[Tigerm]

Is Latu available ? I hope so and I hope he is fit and raring to go.

He's supposedly available for this week.

 

[Nutz]

He's supposedly available for this week.

The bye rd has come at a great time with Latu's recovery, recruitment and LG's offloading.
I'm hoping for a dominant middle with both halfs playing more direct.

 

[chunk]

Lets hope their origin players pull up lame.

 

[Vic Mackey]

He's supposedly available for this week.

Last injury report pushed Latu and Skelton back to round 14, however media reports had Latu back this week so who knows

If Skelton, Latu and Samuela are all out then we'll be really up against it with Pole already out and now Galvin gone.

 

[Tigerm]

Last injury report pushed Latu and Skelton back to round 14, however media reports had Latu back this week so who knows

If Skelton, Latu and Samuela are all out then we'll be really up against it with Pole already out and now Galvin gone.

Agree, I assume we let Galvin go this week, because Latu was ready.
With Skelton, did we bring him back too early?

 

[Vic Mackey]

Agree, I assume we let Galvin go this week, because Latu was ready.
With Skelton, did we bring him back too early?

Honestly it seems like our injuries go one of two ways:

1) They are out for 2-3 weeks longer then expected

2) They come back 1-2 weeks early, reinjure and then are out for half the season

We never just have a simple 3-4 week injury back at that time and then goes on as normal.

 

[TheDefinitionOfMadness]

Honestly it seems like our injuries go one of two ways:

1) They are out for 2-3 weeks longer then expected

2) They come back 1-2 weeks early, reinjure and then are out for half the season

We never just have a simple 3-4 week injury back at that time and then goes on as normal.

As a club we've always had no idea about any aspect of injuries. Most clubs would be (un)lucky to have 1 or 2 medically retired players in the NRL era, at most.

I can think of 4 straight off the top of my head from the Tigers. The way they picked up Dwyer after his injury rather than put him on a spinal board and medi-cab him off was almost criminal.

There's no doubt we must have some of the shittest medical / training people involved in the comp, which stands to reason because we're one of the shittest teams in the comp. But it goes beyond this. Did someone beat a leprechaun to death with a black cat, underneath a ladder, which fell over and broke a mirror on the day the Wests Tigers were formed. It would explain a lot

 

[Ron's_Mate]

There's no doubt we must have some of the shittest medical / training people involved in the comp,

Wasn't one guy nicknamed "Dr. Death"?

 

[TheDefinitionOfMadness]

Very well could have been mate. Although Dr Death was putting old people out of their misery if I'm not mistaken - albeit without their permission. Our staff are putting normal healthy athletes into their misery.

 

[Vic Mackey]

Reports today that Latu, Skelton and Samuela are out. However Samuela was training with the main group in the training pics. If all 3 are out I give us basically no chance, unless Dearden gets injured on Wednesday

 

[Das Hassler]

Mason in the halves.. please!!

 

[Crazyperpman]

Wasn't one guy nicknamed "Dr. Death"?

Dr Donald Kuah.

His specialty was giving pain killer injections in the wrong spot.

My personal favourites were the time when Liam Fulton never made it to kick off as he had no feeling on his right side of his upper body and Robbie Farah slapping his leg trying to get some feeling into it while lining up for kick off and coming off 3 minutes into the game.

Good times.

 

[Nutz]

Dr Donald Kuah.

His specialty was giving pain killer injections in the wrong spot.

My personal favourites were the time when Liam Fulton never made it to kick off as he had no feeling on his right side of his upper body and Robbie Farah slapping his leg trying to get some feeling into it while lining up for kick off and coming off 3 minutes into the game.

Good times.

He or his dad must have given Changa an injection into the white boot gate debacle.

 

[Nutz]

Reports today that Latu, Skelton and Samuela are out. However Samuela was training with the main group in the training pics. If all 3 are out I give us basically no chance, unless Dearden gets injured on Wednesday

AD is back so he'll play ⅝ outside Luai and DaDilva was seen also so he'll come on the give Api a spell.
Sukkar should replace Samuela Fainu. I like this as Tony runs and tackles harder....he may not be as talented as Samuela but he makes up for it with determination. After his recent extension he should come out all guns firing.

 

[Vic Mackey]

AD is back so he'll play ⅝ outside Luai and DaDilva was seen also so he'll come on the give Api a spell.
Sukkar should replace Samuela Fainu. I like this as Tony runs and tackles harder....he may not be as talented as Samuela but he makes up for it with determination. After his recent extension he should come out all guns firing.

Heard that Heath Mason is going to play 5/8, interesting