Props keen for forward battleSharks props Bryce Gibbs and Andrew Fifita are both looking forward to the challenge of the sizable Raiders forward pack when they meet at Canberra Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
Gibbs and Fifita, who both joined the Sharks at the start of the year from the Tigers, have been in brilliant form throughout 2012 and see the big Raiders pack as a great challenge for them.
“They’re pretty monstrous,” Gibbs said,
“They’ve had a big pack for the last 10 years or so, ever since I’ve been playing. So this week, I’ll just have to go around the legs I reckon.”
Fifita agreed, saying the game is likely to be won and lost in the middle.
“I remember when I debuted, and I looked at Dane Tilse, he’s just a giant,” Fifita said.
“They’ve got some of the Australian props in their team, even my fellow Indigineous All Stars prop Tom Learoyd-Lahrs is a big fella. To stop them, I guess it’s going to be a big game for our middle, to come off the bench and our starters.
“I reckon they’ll try and run through our middle, and it’ll be a good competition to show going to win it.”
Both props were also undeterred by the Sharks form leading into the semi-finals, saying that it is a whole new ball game.
“We’ve been competitive in all our games, apart from the weekend,” Gibbs said.
“Our defence was disappointing, letting in 18 points in the first half, so we’ll change it around this week.
“We knew we had a good team at the start of the year, hopefully we can get a win this week and move onto next week.”
“It’s do or die time now,” Fifita added. “And I guess going down to Canberra it’s going to be a big opportunity for us to try and get a bounce back. We went down their earlier in the year and touched them up, then they came up here and touched us up.”
“We’ve had our (fair) share on a run, and we’re looking for (another) run now. There’s still a lot of time and this is the right time of the season. The season is the season, and it’s finals footy now.
“It doesn’t matter what everyone else ended up, this is where we’ve got to be.”
Source: http://www.sharks.com.au/news-display/Props-keen-for-forward-battle/63489
Topic: #Sharks Props Looking Forward to Battle Against "Monstrous" Raiders
