NYC Round 18: TITANS vs WARRIORS

Round 18 NYC Preview: Titans v Warriors

Round 18, 2012 NYC Premiership
Saturday, July 7th, 2012
NYC Kick-Off 5:15pm
Skilled Park, Gold Coast
Referees: Nick Morel

ROUND 18 GAME PREVIEW

Coming In To Round 18
- Gold Coast Titans are 2-2 in their last four games, and are coming off an 26-16 victory over the St George Illawarra Dragons at WIN Stadium in Round 16, before a bye last week.
- They have averaged 24.0 ppg since Round 13, and have conceded 25.8 ppg in that period.
- They sit 15th on the competition ladder, 4 points from the 12th placed Broncos.
- Warriors are 3-1 in their last four games, and are coming off an 48-16 win over the North Queensland Cowboys at Mt Smart Stadium in last Sunday.
- They have averaged 28.0 ppg since Round 11, and have conceded 14.0 ppg in that period.
- They sit 3rd on the competition ladder, 2 points from the 1st placed Panthers.

Last Time They Met
Round 4, 2012 - Titans 6 Warriors 30

Team Changes and Late Mail

Find all the Titans NYC Team and Injury News from Tuesday and full Round 18 Lineup here.

Gold Coast Titans
T Chadburn, T Guymer, H Hunt, M Ardler, J Teo, K Elgey, J Fogarty, T Laurenson, S Irwin, C Binge, N Harrold, S Gee, D Hartin.
Bench: O Percy, Z Friend, J Durheim, M Hall.

Warriors
P Hiku, V Lolohea, N Laumape, N Hukatai, S Feao, C Tuimavave, M Lino, L Sao, S Havili, N Peteru, R Faitala-Mariner, J Palavi, D Bhana.
Bench: T Bishop, T Likiliki, S Fotofili, J Taylor, E Malu.

Bottom Line

A slow start to the year hasn?t stopped the Titans from showing their true quality in the past month. With victories over the Sharks and Dragons, both away from home, they are starting to prove that they can cause some damage in 2012.

This week is close to their toughest test of the season though, in defending premiers the Warriors. Boasting one of the biggest forward packs in the competition and a disregard for safety first football, the Warriors are one of the hardest teams to deal with in defence.

Kayne Elgey was one of the stars for the Titans against the Dragons two weeks ago, setting up two tries and controlling the play. He and Jamal Fogarty have shown the skills and perseverance which could be seen in glimpses early in the year, and guided the Titans away from the bottom of the ladder. However they face premiership winnings five-eighth Carlos Tuimavave and halfback Mason Lino, who has shown similar qualities to NZ Test half Shaun Johnson. They will be a very tough task, but building on what the Titans have done recently there is every reason they could get on top of them.

In the back-row, Dylan Hartin has been a pillar of strength for Gold Coast all year, averaging 35 tackles per game, and running for just under 100m per game. Warriors second rower John Palavi has shown his powerful running game of late, with over 100m gained and 12 tackle breaks last week against the Cowboys. Hartin will need to shut these power-running backrowers down if the Titans are to be a chance.

In the end, the key to shutting down the Warriors is in their offloads. Much like their NRL counterparts they feed of second phase play, and if the Titans can prevent many of these, then they will also prevent the Warriors gaining momentum and scoring points.

How do you see the Titans NYC match playing out this Saturday? Will you be there? Let us know in the comments below.

http://www.titans.com.au/