LUI AND ELLIS IN DOUBT FOR EELS BLOCKBUSTER
By Wayne Cousins
Sunday, 21 March 2010
Wests Tigers will assess the fitness of half-back Robert Lui and second-rower Gareth Ellis in the build up to the round three blockbuster against the Parramatta Eels at the Sydney Football Stadium on Friday, March 26.
Coach Tim Sheens admits Lui (ankle) and Ellis (cork) are in doubt after suffering the injuries in the round two loss to the Sydney Roosters.
Lui rolled his ankle early in the first half and could hardly run before having a needle at half-time.
“He was inconvenience by it. Robert went back out after half-time but it was not better, so I had to interchange him (in the second half),’’ Sheens said.
“He was a bit of a passenger in the first half which exposed our right edge a little bit.
“Gareth was the same. Gareth has got a bad cork which stopped him from running. He was really struggling.”
With Lui replaced in the second half, Sheens shifted full-back Tim Moltzen to half-back. Moltzen immediately sparked the attack and combined well with five-eighth Benji Marshall.
Moltzen played a major role in Wests Tigers’ charge to the finals late last season after moving from full-back to half and could be the early favourite to wear the seven jersey against the Eels should Lui not pull through.
The positive news for Wests Tigers is that prop Bryce Gibbs, second-rower Liam Fulton, prop Todd Payten and winger Beau Ryan should return for the Eels game.
A hamstring injury saw Gibbs miss the Roosters clash, allowing rising young prop Andrew Fifita to make his NRL debut.
Fulton was still named in the team an hour before kick-off before being ruled out by club doctor Donald Kuah through illness. It meant talented young second-rower Jason Schirnack, who played for Balmain in their NSW Cup win over Western Suburbs on Saturday, the chance to make his NRL debut.
Schirnack and Fafita - two of the gun players from the Wests Tugers U20s team last year - managed to score a try each in their NRL debut.
“Liam had been crook all week,’’ Sheens said.
“He became ill and we just couldn’t risk playing him in the conditions. He wanted to play but he was crook during the warm up.”
Payten will play his first premiership match for 2010 should he overcame a calf injury.
Sheens said he was pleased with the performances of the debutants as well as Englishman Mark Flanagan in just his second NRL match.
“I thought Fafita was fairly strong in his second stint,’’ Sheens said.
“Carrying the ball is one thing, defending is the thing that we want and we want people who can do both.
“I thought Mark Flanagan, thrown in at the last minute and considering the conditions and where the kid is from, did well. Mark put his body on the line defensively.”
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