NRL Round 10 Preview - Tigers v Cowboys @ Leichhardt Oval

lWests Tigers v North Queensland Cowboys @ Leichhardt Oval
 
Preview - The Tigers will be desperate to avoid a 4th straight loss when they host the Cowboys at Leichhardt Oval on Thursday night. The Tigers suffered by far their heaviest defeat of the season, as they went down 26-4 in Auckland, dropping to 7th on the table after a 5-1 start to the season. The Cowboys finally gave their season a boost with a 26-20 win over the Panthers in Bathurst and will now be aiming to win back-to-back games for the first time this season. 
 
Wests Tigers’ Scouting Report - The Tigers welcome back one of their key forwards with Russell Packer returning at prop. Sauaso Sue moves to the bench, with Tim Grant dropping out of the 17. Young hooker Jacob Liddle returns on the bench in place of Pita Godinet. Chris Lawrence has been named, but must pass concussion protocol to take the field on Thursday night. 
 
North Queensland Cowboys’ Scouting Report - The Cowboys are unchanged from the side that beat Penrith, with Scott Bolton named despite facing assault charges. Jason Taumololo was back to his rampaging best against the Panthers, running for over 200 metres in their much needed victory. 
 
Verdict - Cowboys by 1-6 in a low scoring game

Very hard game to call here with both team’s form not convincing me, however they are both likely to be very desperate for victory. I’ll lean towards the Cowboys as I just think they have a better roster than the Tigers, and if both sides are equally desperate, the Cowboys have more quality and, despite being at Leichhardt, will scramble over the line. However, it must be said their record there is diabolical, having lost on their last 7 occasions there. The Tigers bubble has burst in a big way to me, and they look like a tired side banged up with injuries at the moment, without the class to pick things up quickly, now the form has settled down and we are into the grind of the season.