13 Sep 2011

Tigers won't let guard down against Warriors

5:59 am on 13 September 2011

Having flourished from a similar seemingly dire situation in 2011, the Wests Tigers NRL coach Tim Sheens is not reading too much into the Warriors' 40-10 trouncing at the hands of Brisbane.

Last year the Tigers bounced back from a heartbreaking, 100-minute, golden-point loss to the Sydney Roosters in week one of the finals to beat the Raiders in Canberra.

From there they went on to be denied a grand final appearance because of a field goal to St George Illawarra's Jamie Soward.

So Sheens knows how easy it is to regroup in the space of seven days to get a season back on track.

The Tigers mastermind says the fact the Warriors lost means nothing adding that the Brisbane drubbing mean will give the Auckland club extra motivation.

The Tigers skipper Robbie Farah agrees saying it would be foolish to underestimate the unpredictable Warriors - or expect them to produce a similarly lacklustre effort at the Sydney Football Stadium on Friday.

Wests will receive one massive boost ahead of the do-or-die showdown however, with star centre Chris Lawrence declaring himself a certainty to take the field having recovered from a hamstring injury.

Lawrence, who has not played since suffering the injury in the Tigers' round 22 victory over St George Illawarra, says he was close to playing in last Friday's qualifying final with the Dragons but was a late scratching as a precaution.