Tigers deal with Teddy, Braith blows

Sunday's mightily impressive victory over Manly at a rain sodden Leichhardt Oval has come at a cost for the Wests Tigers with two blows for the 5th placed side. Fresh from "ambushing" the Sea Eagles at the Tigers spiritual home came news that fullback James Tedesco has ligament damage in his ankle and faces a minimum 4-6 weeks on the sideline.

Further scans and consultation with a surgeon today could lead to a longer layoff for the in form fullback with some estimates suggesting he could miss between 8-10 weeks with what could be diagnosed as an ankle syndesmosis injury. Either way it appears likely he'll miss between 4-10 weeks regardless.

The Tigers were dealt a second blow yesterday with news that the experienced Braith Anasta could miss between 1-2 games after being charged by the NRL's match review committee for a shoulder charge. He'll need to successfully challenge the charge to have any hope of playing on Saturday night versus the Cowboys.

There is however better news with prop Ava Seumanufagai and Tim Simona appearing to pull up relatively well, despite picking up knocks on Sunday afternoon.

So with Tedesco and Anasta likely missing for the return to Campbelltown Stadium on Saturday night, attention turns to the men most likely to replace them.

James Tedesco - 

With Tedesco out the Tigers have a few ways they can go here. Most of these though involve the shifting of players from other positions. At the top of my queue is Tim Simona. Simona filled in at fullback when Tedesco left the field on Sunday afternoon. He has the pace, the footwork and strength to do a job here but is certainly not in the same class as Tedesco. Simona does have recent experience at fullback having spent time there for the Tigers in NSW Cup in recent seasons.

By Moving Simona to fullback coach Mick Potter would then most likely call in the reliable Keith Lulia to fill the vacated centre position.

Option number 2 appears to be to move David Nofoaluma from the wing to fullback. Nofoaluma does have some junior football experience at the back. Ironically he played fullback in a team where Tedesco played wing. Nofoaluma is safe under a high ball, seems to have good positional play and could be a good short term fix.  To be honest he or Pat Richards could probably both do a job although Richards appears a better fit on the wing.

If Nofoaluma moves to the back then the Tigers have a couple of ways they could go here. One would be to bring in Marika Koroibete to the wing. The other involves again shifting Tim Simona to the wing and bringing in Keith Lulia. This however appears a little less likely but one that shouldn't be ruled out.

The extreme long shot involves bringing in NSW Cup fullback Kurtis Rowe in a straight swap for the injured Tedesco. Many believe Rowe is still a fair way off the top grade currently but with Potter already down on troops, i suppose there is the possibility he'll look to stabilize the back line where possible and opt for the minimal disruption in bringing in Rowe.

Braith Anasta - 

This one is a lot more straight forward. There appears only one realistic option here and that is to bring in NSW Cup five eighth Blake Austin. Austin has been a dominant force in the opening month of the season and with his confidence up, there's no better time to bring him in. It's hard to see Potter opting for anything but Austin really.