The score at the moment is 18-20 in the Tigers favour with half an hour left.
Wests Tigers Head Coach Tim Sheens says his side must be stronger this week than it was in the win over the Gold Coast as the pressure to secure fourth spot intensifies.
Sheens admits there is added pressure on his fourth place side to beat the lowly placed Cronulla Sharks following wins over premiership heavyweights Manly and St George-Illawarra.
“A month ago, we were tipped not to win any of those games (Manly and St George-Illawarra) and we did. Now we are tipped to win every game,’’ Sheens said.
“Everyone is waiting for us to slip up. Wests Tigers sides of old have slipped up. We haven’t so far.
“In ’05, we lost our last two games going into the semis but we won enough games and we fell into fourth place.
“I want us to maintain the momentum but I know we are in for a tougher game this week. This is a crucial game now we are fourth. We just can’t be happy to finish in the eight.
“With St George-Illawarra beating the Warriors last week, it gave us a great opportunity. We went into try and win the game against the Gold Coast and didn’t worry about the score line.
“All we knew was to keep winning and see what happens. Now there has been a window offered to us, it means a little more pressure against a near full strength Cronulla outfit.
“It’s a game we can’t afford to slip up on and start counting it as a win without doing the work.
“For the last 3 weeks, we have won under pressure and although we have been up and down in those games, we are going to have to go out and be a lot stronger this week.”
Sheens says the Sharks big forward pack will provide stiffer opposition after admitting things had, to a degree, fallen into place for his side in recent weeks.
“We’ve been a bit lucky with Scott Prince not in the side last week, Penrith were depleted, and Parramatta had a few out as well,’’ Sheens said.
“It will be Paul Gallen’s 200th game and we are facing a very strong Cronulla outfit who probably should have won last week against the Cowboys.”
by Buford Balony
