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INSIDE ❘ TEAM LISTS ❘ STAT ATTACK ❘ NRL FANTASY ❘ CLUB NEWS DYLANWALKER ❘ DEANWHARE❘ BEN HUNT ❘ TRYLESSTRADITIONS❘PANTHERSPOSTER+MORE ROUND 23 Volume 99. No.23. August 16-22 2018 Twitter & Facebook: @bigleaguemag o ex ONE OF .. Makeshift e a Wests Tigers.. the back in .... game.. of the season.. KICKIN DID On-fireRoostershave OFF PIEPERS room to improve PAREathoughtforDragonsfansatthis Stime of year – they must currently be HE Roostersmaybesittingatthe that’s disappointing, but it’s something having the least-enjoyable déjà vu in the topofthetableafteragrittywin tobecomebetterat,sothat’sastart.” NRLcommunity.Justwhenitseemedlike Tover fellow minor premiership One area the team have been they’dshakenoffthescarsoflastyear’s contenders the Rabbitohs, but injured focused on is improving their final-day heartbreak and secured their spot propJaredWaerea-Hargreavesadmits defence and this was evident in in the finals, they’ve now lost five of their theteamaren’tattheirbestyet. Friday’s match. Waerea-Hargreaves last six, lost both the leader of their forward “Obviouslywe’vebeenplaying racked up 33 tackles, which was more packandtheircaptainandkeyplaymaker some good footy, but we know we’ve thanhisoppositionpropsThomasand toinjury,andfacewhatcouldbeatricky stillgotalottoimproveon.Thelast GeorgeBurgess,whomade22and runhomeagainstsidesthathaveregularly threeweekswe’veconceded14or By DARCIE 24 tackles respectively. causedthemtroublenomatterwhere 20points,sowe’vegottocontinueto McDONALD “Inthepastthreeweekswe’ve theysitontheladder.Shouldtheyloseto @DarcieMcDonald workandtakeeachweekasitcomes,” been isappointed going into the WestsTigersthisweekend,they’llbejust ood to come away onemorelossawayfromfallingoutofthe eight,andwiththeirfinaltwogamesagainst eciallyindefence. Canterbury – the bogey team who ended roughout the their dream last year – and the Knights, it’s thetypeofpressuretheywouldn’twantto feel.Awin,ontheotherhand,willsecure New theirspotwhilelikelyendingthehopesof ned for the ninth-placed Tigers. Both sides have ribs, a recent history of heartbreak and we take ry, alookattheround’sbiggestgameandhow ole in muchitmeanstothethemonPages16-17. essive has ITHsomuchoftheoff-fieldfocus Won coaches lately, it’s worth taking slotted a moment to remember the captains. Though ea- they don’t face the same accountability and rfect scrutinythatcoachesdo,it’sstillnotarole Ienvy.Despitethetoughsloghisteamhave job there enduredonandoffthefieldthisyear,Josh ew weeks Jacksonisoneofthemostrespectedleaders hen he in the game, and deservedly so. He might not othat’s beasexperiencedastheSmithsandBoyds of the captain’s fraternity, but with a young rs’ teambehindhimandafantasticabilityto leadfromthefront,he’sthekindofplayer aclubcan,andshould,bebuiltaround. tor Wereflectonatoughseason–butavery ried bright future – with him on Pages 20-21. row, and ectively. atterson adley, ’s so wo or FEATURES ave 10 BEN HUNT guys 16-17 TIGERSvDRAGONS ust that 18 DYLAN WALKER 20-21 JOSH JACKSON 22 DEAN WHARE and 23 CUSTOM CUSTODIANS pof ence, eturn. UPFRONT 3-15 ves CLUB NEWS 26-29 s areal LITTLE LEAGUE 30-31 s. NRL TEAMS 36-51 idence OTHER COMPS 52-56 ins without RESULTS 56-57 bump up DRAW 62 es back Jason O’Brien/NRLPhotos.com eks,” COVER PHOTOS: NATHAN HOPKINS/NRLPHOTOS PHOTO: Round 23 BIG LEAGUE 2018 3 Sharks and Cowboys with plenty to play for By MARTIN GABOR ON’Tletladderpositionsfool Dyou; Saturday night’s clash between the Sharks and Cowboys isworthmorethanjustthetwo competitionpointsonoffer. Forthehosts,astrongfinishto theseasoncouldseethemjumpinto thetopfour,whilelastyear’sgrand finalistsareouttoavoidthewooden spooninwhatdoublesasJohnathan Thurston’sfinalgameinSydney. Throwinthefactthatthese teamshaveplayedoutsome dramatic matches in recent years, IN COMMAND: and all things point to fireworks Thurston helped his at Southern Cross Group Stadium. Cowboys to a 20-14 The Sharks knocked the win in Round 1. Cowboysoutin2013inagame four years in a row,” injured Shark victory over the Storm, and that featured the infamous seven- Wade Graham said of the rivalry. theyputtheiranimositytoone tackle set, North Queensland “Similar to Melbourne, we’ve side as they farewelled retiring returnedthefavourin2015with playedthemalotinthepastfew starBillySlaterwithaguard a39-0thrashinginSeptember, years,andwhenyoufaceasimilar of honour. Cronulla cruised past their teamoverandoveragain,youdo Something similar is likely to rivalsin2016enroutetothe buildupabitofarivalry.It’sno take place this weekend as they premiership, while the Cowboys different with the Cowboys. pay tribute to Thurston, but for snuckhomeinextra-timeinlast “They’vegotalottoplayfor. Sharks enforcer Andrew Fifita, year’s finals series. It’s‘JT’’s last trip to Sydney, they’re gettingoneovertheCowboysis This year’s clash in Round 1 atthebottomofthetabletrying theirpriorityastheycontinue wasjustaselectric,withCowboys toavoidthespoonandthey’vegot their march towards September. back-rower Gavin Cooper accusing alotofpridetoplayfor.It’sabig “Wetookonafull-strength theSharksoftargetingteam-mate gameforusaswellathomeand Cowboys squad back in Round 1 MattScott’skneeinTownsville. we’relookingforwardtoit.” and they got us,” he said. “You “We’ve knocked each other TheSharksreturnedtowinning always want to win against teams out of the finals the last three or ways last week with a gutsy that have already pipped you.” Eels buoyed by changes on the field By MICHAEL BLOK and changing up his bench rotation been Nathan Brown playing big with the big men. minutesandrackingupsome UT of contention with With several positional gigantic stats. The Eels lock Othree weeks remaining in switches and a club review asked his coach whether he the regular season, it would seem underway,Arthurpraisedhis could become a full-game player theEelsdon’thavemuchtoplay players after the big win. and got the green light after “We’re going through a review impressing at training. forexceptavoidingthedreaded process, so to the boys’ credit “I want to be an 80-minute wooden spoon. they’ve continued to bounce player,” Brown told Big League. However,coachBradArthur into training,” he said. “I enjoy playing big minutes and planstousetheremainderofthe “There have been no shortcuts I don’t mind having a high work year to work on new combinations takenwiththeirpreparationand rate.IknowIcandothejobfor andbuildtowardsnextseason. performance and we need to the team. As much as I’m enjoying Arthur revolutionised his team continue to do that because that’s myrole,Ijustwanttodothebest last weekend against St George theteamwewanttobe.Ialsothink for the team.” Illawarra, shifting Corey Norman doingthatwillgiveussomething “Brad[Arthur]saidIhadto NRLPhotos.com: Scott Davis (Thurston), Grant Trouville (Hoffman), (Hoffman), Trouville Grant (Thurston), Scott Davis NRLPhotos.com: to fullback in rotation with to build on for next year.” work on a few things at training, winger Jarryd Hayne, starting Oneoftheotherbigchanges and now he’s given me a shot at PHOTOS: Robb Cox (Dragons) Jaeman Salmon in the halves over the past few weeks has playing big minutes. Panthers winger Dallin Watene-Zelezniak has scored five tries in his past four games against Newcastle. UU Eels forward 4 BIG LEAGUE 2018 Round 23 ISSN: 0311-175X Editor: David Piepers Subeditor: Bronwyn Thompson Staff Writers: Michael Blok, Martin Gabor, Darcie McDonald Contributors: Rikki-Lee Arnold, Will Evans,BenEverill,BenHunt,Adam Long, David Middleton, Andrew Voss Art Director: Craig Loughlin-Smith Designer: Tina Colwell General ManagerRetailand Circulation: Brett Willis National Advertising Manager: Bowie Phillips (02) 8045 4779 Marketing and Circulation Executive: Nick Tsolakis Production Director: Mark Moes Production Manager: Chrissy Fragkakis BIG LEAGUE Level1,2HoltSt, SurryHills,NSW2010 Phone: (02) 9288 3000 Email: bigleague@newslifemedia. com.au Back issues: Digital versions at Zinio: zinio.com/bigleague Facebook: facebook.com/bigleague Twitter/Instagram: @bigleaguemag Subscriptions: magsonline.com.au/ big-league Distributed by Gordon & Gotch Australia Phone: 1300 650 666 BIGLEAGUEispublishedforthe NationalRugbyLeaguebyNewsLifeMedia PtyLtd(ACN088923906),2HoltSt, SurryHills,NSW2010.NewsLifeMediais wholly owned subsidiary of News Limited (ACN007871178).Copyright2013 by NewsLifeMedia Pty Ltd. 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