It was a winning weekend all up for Wests Tigers with the club's Jersey Flegg and Canterbury Cup sides joining the NRL side in recording wins to close out the pre-season campaign.
After a good win over the Penrith Panthers last weekend, a new-look Jersey Flegg side made it three wins from three in the pre-season campaign with a strong performance over the North Sydney Bears on Friday night.
William Kei was a standout for the side in the 30-10 win, bagging three tries, but the way Wayne Lambkin's side finished the match will have no doubt impressed the coach most — finding their rhythm more and more as the game continued.
Felix Smith showed positive good signs in his first game back from injury, while Ben Stevanovic wrapped up a good pre-season for him with some nice touches.
Not selected last week with Jake Simpkin dropping back, Rua Ngati's return at hooker was another positive sign for the club with the experienced number nine showing his craft around the ruck to stake his claim for Round 1 selection.
Post-Match: Ben Stevanovic
On Saturday, it was the club's Canterbury Cup side who got the job done over the Panthers with a come-from-behind 18-14 win at Panthers Stadium.
Fielding a young side with a number of Jersey Flegg-eligible players, the Magpies posted two early first half tries through Development Players Jock Madden and Zac Cini, before then home side hit back to take a 14-8 lead in to the break.
A sustained period of pressure throughout the second half proved the difference for the visitors, however, with Kei and Brendan O'Hagan — who had spent time with the NRL squad in the pre-season — both crossing for second half tries.
Madden's strong conversions late on saw the Magpies re-take the lead by four points while his good kicking game ensured there would be no late resurgence from the Panthers to preserve victory for Western Suburbs.
Both sides will now enjoy a well-deserved weekend off, before kicking off the 2020 season on Sunday, March 15 against St. George-Illawarra. Wests Tigers Jersey Flegg side will run out at Ziems Park at 1:00pm while the Canterbury Cup boys will feature at WIN Stadium at 3:45pm as a curtain-raiser to the NRL game.
