Wests Tigers Coach Jason Taylor says his side face a number of injury tests heading into this Friday night’s clash against the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs.
Having played a bruising encounter against the South Sydney Rabbitohs on Sunday, Wests Tigers have had to endure a less-than-ideal preparation for Friday’s match against the Bulldogs, with just four full days in between both games at ANZ Stadium.
As such, the likes of Dene Halatau and Kevin Naiqama — who were both strong against the Rabbitohs — are in some doubt for this week’s clash, while representative forward Aaron Woods has been ruled out of the match with a knee injury.
“Last Sunday’s game was really tough,” said Taylor this morning.
“We had a number of injuries around that, and Woodsy won’t make the game tomorrow night. He strained his knee. It’s not major and we’re pretty confident that he’ll play next round but it was a really big risk for him being out five or six weeks if we pushed him and he aggrevated it.
“We’ve got Dene Halatau as well who’s done a bit of a fitness test this morning.
"We want him to train and see how he is tomorrow morning.
“Kev Naiqama is the other one… He injured his hand early in the game last week and he got through the game, so we’re confident he’ll play, but again we just want to make sure he’s 100 percent to go tomorrow rather than risk him and make it worse.
“We’re a bit bashed up from last Sunday. It was tough, and backing up in five days to play last year’s runners-up after playing last year’s premiers is a great challenge for us.
Hear what Taylor had to say in full about this week’s match in the video above.
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