ROOMMATES TO BATTLE IT OUT FOR TOP 8
Andrew Bryan
2008-08-11
They were roommates in State of Origin, but now Steve Simpson and Anthony Laffranchi are set to battle it out with the winner to propel his team into the top eight.
The Knights and Titans are locked on 22 competition points a win outside the eight and their clash at Skilled Park tonight is crucial to both teams finals aspirations.
Laffranchi has been a try scoring machine for the Titans this year, crossing the white strip 10 times, and Simpson knows stopping his Origin roommate will be key if the Knights are to move into finals contention.
Stopping him will definitely go a long way to winning us the match, Simpson said.
He is a good bloke, a great player and it was nice to meet him at that level and obviously it is going to be tough coming up against him tonight.
He is such a great player and he has been playing really well all year. He has probably been their best player week in, week out, so getting on top of him is probably all part of beating the Titans.
He is such a dominant player for them and he gets through a lot of work. He is a player we are going to have to watch pretty closely.
He is so dangerous close to the line, so we have done a bit of work on him this week at training.
The Knights go into the clash chasing their third victory in a row, which would be the first time this season they have achieved the feat.
We still have a lot of improvement in our side, Simpson said.
I think we have been a little rusty in some areas and we have been working pretty hard this week at training, so we are looking forward to playing well.
We are not getting ahead of ourselves by any means, we are just looking to improve with each performance. I suppose there is a bit of confidence there, but we know we have to keep winning.
We have worked pretty hard on our defence over the year, we want to pride ourselves in that area just like the leading teams in the competition, the Manlys and the Melbournes.
We still have a little way to go, but we have definitely improved a lot in that area.
Every game leading into the finals is crucial with only four rounds to go and just two points separating sixth from 13th.
It is a really important game and I think it will be pretty tough, he said.
It is obviously a very important game to try and cement ourselves in the eight, it is such a tight competition this year and we really need to win this game.
They have a lot of great players with (Nathan) Friend and (Mark) Minichiello coming back this week and I think that will be a real bonus for them.
Im expecting a really tough game up there and I am looking forward to playing at that new stadium as well.
Link
