You can’t keep a good hooker down – just ask Wests Tigers rake Salma Nour.
A foundation player with the club in 2023, Nour prides herself on reading the numbers and marker positions when she’s close to the tryline like every good dummy-half should do.
On Friday night Nour did just that to scoot over in the 61st minute only for the Bunker to reveal her opposite No.9 Chante Temara had slipped her hand under the ball to prevent grounding.
Not to be denied Nour dummied to her left then fended to her right from five metres out and scored from dummy half again – this time getting a tick from the Bunker.
Salma Nour Try
“I personally thought I got it down the first time, but when they kept reviewing it on the big screen I was thinking ‘maybe there’s something there I didn’t see’,” Nour told NRL.com.
“The bunker pulled it back but that’s alright – that’s the game, right? You can’t let things get you down or it’ll get into your head and you stop fighting back.”
Nour’s try got the Wests Tigers back into the game, trailing 16-10 before the Raiders scored once more through Jordyn Preston to secure the victory.
But Raiders coach Darrin Borthwick said in the post-match media that his team had spent part of the week warning about the dummy-half runs from Nour.
Wests Tigers v Raiders - Round 11, 2026
“With me it’s totally how the game goes and if an opportunity arises,” Nour said.
“A lot of it is back to the team, players like Sala (prop Sarah Togatuki) who always have such quick play-the-balls.
“It is a lot playing hooker because you hear voices from behind you, beside you, and I’m trying to look at what the markers are doing.
“But that’s what I love about it. It’s taking the opportunity because in a milli-second it might be gone.
“I’ve learned to back myself, that’s the main thing, never be in two minds.”
Wests Tigers approach the 2026 finals series on the back of two losses but Nour doesn’t see that as a major disadvantage.
“We are disappointed with those last two games in parts, but we know what we have to do to be better. We offer no excuses.”
Coach Craig Sandercock said he was hopeful skipper Kezie Apps (leg) and fullback Caitlin Turnbull (foot) would be back for week one of the finals to add some positive news after losing utility Faythe Manera last week to an ACL.
Shenai Lendill Try
The Wests Tigers will face the Raiders again this week.
“For us personally I don’t think it matters who we meet – we’ve waited a long time to get to the finals so no matter who is in our way we want to stay there,” Nour said.
“The games leading up to it weren’t our best but we’ve flushed them and we move on.”
