Dyldam Parramatta Eels Assistant Coach Pete Gentle expects today’s Easter Monday clash against the Wests Tigers at ANZ Stadium to be a tough encounter, with the Blue and Gold opposition earning plenty of respect from their past performances.
The Wests Tigers have played the South Sydney Rabbitohs and Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs in the last two weeks, and despite not coming away with the two points, Gentles knows the Wests Tigers will be formidable opponents this week.
“They are very dangerous,” Gentle said of the Wests Tigers.
“They have played last year’s grand finalists the last two weeks and pushed both those sides.”
“If a few of those passes stick, they probably get those results so we will be treating them with plenty of respect”
Whilst the Wests Tigers have plenty of strike across the park, Gentle says that the Blue and Gold forward pack will need to match the energy of the Tigers forwards, who have been putting their side on the front foot the past few weeks.
“If the forwards get those guys on the front foot, it’s very hard to defend going backwards.”
“So we need to be strong in the middle first then worry about James Tedesco, Luke Brooks, Mitchell Moses and Robbie Farah.”
With last year’s Easter clash against the Wests Tigers drawing a massive 50,000 crowd, Gentle is hoping for similar conditions this week.
“It would be fantastic to see a big crowd at ANZ Stadium. The atmosphere last year was unbelievable.”
“We have our style of footy and regardless of the conditions, we will stick to that.”
“They have a job to do and they go about it whether it is at a park anywhere or a big stadium. Once they run out, they just get into the game.”
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