Round 6
Tigers 42 d. Sharks 16

2006 NRL Telstra Premiership Index [Table] [Draw] [Player Stats] [Club Headlines]

Location: Aus_NZ > National > First Grade Competition: NRL Telstra Premiership

Wests Tigers
Brett Hodgson [FB] 12 Pts; 6/7g
Paul Whatuira [CT] 8 Pts; 2t
Michael Crockett [WG] 8 Pts; 2t
Ben Galea [SR] 4 Pts; 1t
Ryan O'Hara [PR] 4 Pts; 1t
Rocky Trimarchi [BE] 4 Pts; 1t
Scott Prince [HB] 2 Pts; 1/1g

Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks
David Simmons [FB] 4 Pts; 1t
Nigel Vagana [BE] 4 Pts; 1t
Luke Covell [WG] 4 Pts; 2/3g
Brett Kearney [F8] 4 Pts; 1t



Hodgson breaks hand and record as Tigers maul Sharks
Tue April 18, 2006
Wests Tigers fullback and captain Brett Hodgson will today undergo surgery on a broken hand that will sideline him for three weeks.

Hodgson suffered the injury in the 42-16 win over Cronulla Sharks at Campbelltown Sports Stadium on Sunday, April 16.

He now joins the likes of Benji Marshall (shoulder), Dene Halatau (shoulder), Liam Fulton (shoulder) and Shannon McDonnell (broken hand) on the sidelines.

The injury was the only lowlight for Hodgson and the Wests Tigers after a magical day at Campbelltown in which the star full-back broke the club points scoring record.

The captain kicked six goals in the win to pass the record of 526 points for the club set by Joel Caine in 75 games. Hodgson has now played 58 games for the Wests Tigers for 532 points.

It was particularly sweet for Hodgson to break the record at Campbelltown Stadium after coming through the grades at the Western Suburbs Magpies. He is one of seven players to live in the Campbelltown region.

"To be able to get the record in my third year here is very satisfying," Hodgson said.

"It is a great honour. It was good to break it at Campbelltown."

The big victory over the Sharks also helped to help put to sleep the theory that the Wests Tigers can't win without Marshall.

With halfback Scott Prince, Hodgson and the return from injury of hooker Robbie Farah sparking the attack, the Wests Tigers played an exciting brand of expansive football to dominate the game in front of a crowd of 15,550.

Winger Michael Crockett opened the scoring in the corner in the 2nd minute after finishing off a backline raid involving Prince, Hodgson and stand-in five-eighth Daniel Fitzhenry. Hodgson converted the try for a 6-0 lead.

A few minutes later, it became 12-0 when classy centre Paul Whatuira leapt high to defuse a Prince crossfield kick to score a converted try.

The Sharks hit back with a doubtful try to five-eighth Brett Kearney to trail 12-6 before full-back David Simmons scored out wide. Luke Covell converted to get the Sharks back to 12-12.

The visitors then jumped to a 16-12 lead when centre Nigel Vagana crashed over from dummy half to score a soft try 12 minutes before half-time.

Farah then took off from dummy half before offloading a great short ball for prop Ryan O'Hara to crash over to score his first try for the Wests Tigers for an 18-16 lead. Hodgson's conversion took him level to Caine's record of 526 points.

A minute before half-time, hard-working second-rower Ben Galea then dived on a spilt kick by Covell to score out wide. With Hodgson receiving treatment for a bleeding nose, Prince struck the ball sweetly from just inside the touchline for a 24-16 lead at the break.

Five minutes after half-time, Galea and Collis combined with Collis making a good break down the right side to offload to Galea, who sent Crockett over for his second try for a 28-16 lead.

Hodgson stretched the lead to 30-16 through a penalty goal. The goal saw him pass the record of 526 points with Hodgson receiving a standing ovation from the Wests Tigers faithful.

Whatuira then scored his second try when Farah put a smart grubber kick in behind the line for the ball to bounce perfect for Whatuira to score. Hodgson converted for a 36-16 lead.

As the Wests Tigers supporters celebrated, the party was not over just yet. Enter Rocky Trimarchi, the 100th player to represent the Wests Tigers club since the joint venture began in 2000.

A Western Suburbs Magpies junior, Trimarchi capped off a fairytale debut when he ran on to a superb pass by Hodgson to score in his first grade debut.

As Hodgson kicked the conversion for a 42-16 victory, all that was left for Wests Tigers supporters to do was to start the chant of "Rocky, Rocky" - something we may hear more of as the year progresses.

Sheens said his side kept its composure well to get back into the
game at the back end of the first half.

"We got away to a good start, they came back at us, and then we kicked again,"' Sheens said.

"I thought we had ourselves in a position to win the game at half-time if we knuckled down in defence. We came back out and played pretty well in the early part of the second half. The penalty count started to mount, we got more possession and so it finished up a really good score for us."

Sheens praised Farah for a solid return and said the talented hooker gives the side good direction.

"It was a good effort considering Robbie had been out for a few weeks," Sheens said.

"They kept him hounding him by making him do plenty of tackles and I thought he handled it really well."

Sheens also praised replacement prop Chris Paterson who only came into the side on the morning of the match after prop Bryce Gibbs strained his back at the team's final training session on Saturday morning.


Wests win without Benji
Sun April 16, 2006
Wests Tigers have proved a point to their critics that they aren't a one-man team and today convincingly defeated Cronulla 42-16 with Scott Prince, Brett Hodgson and Robbie Farah providing the attacking spark voided by the loss of superstar Benji Marshall.

Losses this year to Bradford in the World Club Challenge and in successive weeks to the Bulldogs and Warriors where the defending Premiers lacked any form of creativity, flair and imagination brought many critics out (including myself) that the Wests Tigers became a side that start and ended with the presence of the gifted and brilliant Marshall.

Fullback and captain Hodgson took far more control and responsibility with Marshall missing and combined brilliantly with Prince as the Wests Tigers scored seven impressive tries as they springboarded their Premiership defence in their first match at Campbelltown this season.

Tries in the opening stages to Michael Crockett and Paul Whaturia in the opening ten minutes to give Wests the perfect and confidence boosting start with Hodgson converting both tries for a 12-0 lead.

Cronulla bounced back with three tries in 14 minutes to Brett Kearney, David Simmons and Nigel Vagana to open up a 16-12 lead. Luke Covell who is only in the team for his goal kicking and makes both Daryl Halligan and Todd Byrne look like speedsters converted the opening two tries but missed an absolute gimme when Vagana scored. The missed goal dropped the Sharks confidence and Wests were never headed from that moment.

Ryan O'Hara crashed over in the 32nd minute to level up the scores and Hodgson converted to level up the scores. Wests were in again right on halftime when Hodgson put in a short kick that Covell fumbled with Ben Galea diving on the loose ball. With Hodgson feeling the effects from a late shot by Beau Scott, Prince took over the kicking duties and landed a fine goal to give the Tigers a 24-16 lead at the break.

Crockett scored his second try five minutes into the second in one of the best this season. Hodgson on the last tackle spun the ball wide where he linked with Prince who fed it out to Galau who put Dean Collis on the run and he offloaded on the inside to Galea who passed outside to Crockett who did the rest to score in the corner. It was a great try and excellent vision and long passing from Wests. Hodgson's conversion attempt was well wide but landed a penalty goal in the 51st minute to open up a 14-point gap. The penalty goal made Hodgson the all-time leading point scorer in Wests Tigers history ahead of Joel Caine.

Whaturia crossed for his second try in the 53rd minute when he charged onto a well-timed grubber kick from Farah. Hodgson converted to give the Tigers a lead of 36-16.

Rocky Tarmarchi charged onto a well-timed pass to score in his first grade debut with seven minutes remaining. The young forward enjoyed the moment and the 15,000-strong crowd started chanting "Rocky" in a sign that he'll soon be a crowd favourite with the Wests Tigers faithful.

Wests Tigers will be happy with the result and any victories they get whilst Marshall is on the sidelines will be a bonus and putting less pressure on their superstar when he returns from another shoulder injury. The result leaves Wests in a log jam with six sides on six competition points but are in 10th position on for and against differences.

Cronulla were very ordinary, they were completely disorganised without regular captain Brett Kimmorley and it appears it'll be a long season for the Sharks. They had chances to beat the Broncos and Sea Eagles in their opening two matches but this match showed they will struggle without Kimmorley who will be out of action for another three weeks. The depth and talent just isn't there to cover for such a loss.

The only two things more ordinary than Cronulla's performance was that of referee Jason Robinson who is fast becoming more dominant than the players on the field and those away grey and white jerseys of the Sharks were absolute shocking.

Advanced Search