Round 2: St George-Illawarra Dragons vs Gold Coast Titans

[DIEHARD]

Well he is playing he had been cleared today...

Awesome news. Now we have a full team, hopefully we can beat the Dragons and it'll be a sweet sweet victory! I want vengence!!

St George Dragons?! isn't St George a DRAGON SLAYER!?!

[Boofhead]

Will be a MASSIVE confidence booster if we walk away with a win against the Dragons.

[DIEHARD]

PREVIEW: DRAGONS V TITANS - 2009 NRL ROUND 2

The Titans are well aware that they are custodians of one of the worst away records in the NRL but they will have their work cut out trying to make amends for it against the Dragons in Wollongong.

Since joining the NRL in 2007, the Titans have won only four of 21 games south of the Queensland border and in two matches at WIN Stadium they have been sent packing with embarrassing defeats on both occasions.

Their record against St George Illawarra is four games for four losses.

The NRL's newest outfit would have drawn confidence from their 34-20 defeat of Newcastle last Sunday afternoon but until they can consistently win on the road, punters are likely to avoid them in droves.

The Dragons looked a vastly improved side under Wayne Bennett last Friday night; their forwards carried the ball purposefully across the advantage line and consistently placed their team in strong attacking positions.

There is still work to be done in a number of areas but they should be good enough to open their season's account here. Look to a St George Illawarra try as First Scoring Play ($2-05) and a home win by a 1-12 margin ($3).

First Tryscorer choices include Wendell Sailor ($13), Jason Nightingale ($11) or Matt Cooper ($13) for the Dragons or Esi Tonga ($13), Josh Graham ($17) or Brett Delaney ($17) for the Titans.

Saturday March 21, 2009
St.George-Illawarra Dragons vs Gold Coast Titans at WIN Stadium, Wollongong (NSW)

St.George-Illawarra Dragons
1 Darius Boyd, 2 Jason Nightingale, 3 Beau Scott, 4 Matt Cooper, 5 Wendell Sailor, 6 Jamie Soward, 7 Ben Hornby [c], 8 Jarrod Saffy, 9 Dean Young, 10 Michael Weyman, 11 Matt Prior, 12 Ben Creagh, 13 Jeremy Smith. Subs: 14 Dan Hunt, 15 Neville Costigan, 16 Luke Priddis, 17 Brett Morris.

Gold Coast Titans
1 Preston Campbell, 2 Esi Tonga, 3 Josh Graham, 4 Brett Delaney, 5 Jordan Atkins, 6 Mat Rogers, 7 Scott Prince [c], 8 Luke Bailey [c], 9 Nathan Friend, 10 Matt White, 11 Anthony Laffranchi, 12 Mark Minichiello, 13 Ashley Harrison. Subs: 14 Aaron Cannings, 15 Brad Meyers, 16 Luke O'Dwyer, 17 William Zillman.

Date: Sat March 21 2009, 5:30PM AEDT GMT+11 [Sat March 21 2009, 4:30PM AEST GMT+10] [Sat March 21 2009, 6:30AM GMT]
Referee: Ashley Klein, Alan Shortall

Predictions:
Matthew O'Neill: Dragons by 10
Adem Kolar: Dragons by 16
Paul Booth: Dragons by 4

OVERALL:
Total Games: 4
St.George-Illawarra Dragons wins: 4. [Pts: 104]
Gold Coast Titans wins: 0. [Pts: 62]
Draws: 0

Biggest wins:
St.George-Illawarra Dragons: 18 pts: 2008 NRL Telstra Premiership - Round 2 - Mon: St.George-Illawarra Dragons 30 d. Gold Coast Titans 12 [Crowd: 10521]
Gold Coast Titans: Nil

Biggest Crowd: 2007 NRL Telstra Premiership - Round 1 - Sun: Gold Coast Titans 18 l. St.George-Illawarra Dragons 20 [Crowd: 42030]

Last 50 games against each other form line (most recent matches at end of line):
St.George-Illawarra Dragons: WWWW
Gold Coast Titans: LLLL

Last 10 games:
2008 NRL Telstra Premiership - Round 16 - Sat: Gold Coast Titans 22 l. St.George-Illawarra Dragons 26 [Crowd: 26453]
2008 NRL Telstra Premiership - Round 2 - Mon: St.George-Illawarra Dragons 30 d. Gold Coast Titans 12 [Crowd: 10521]
2007 NRL Telstra Premiership - Round 10 - Fri: St.George-Illawarra Dragons 28 d. Gold Coast Titans 10
2007 NRL Telstra Premiership - Round 1 - Sun: Gold Coast Titans 18 l. St.George-Illawarra Dragons 20 [Crowd: 42030

Source: http://www.rleague.com

[curly_11]

All i can say is that records are meant to be broken! I really think we can break the drought this time and win more games away from home

Pity Conn isnt playing to put a hit or two on Weyman the loser! Maybe he'll have another brain snap and get sent off again....

GO TITANS

[patskE]

ill be there
checklist:
titans bucket hut
titans singlet
blue paint(now i need some help, going try n paint my left arm blue n a sorta patten, i got poster paint from when i made the king conn banner, will that work? or do i need face paint? wat do the smurfs use?

[Steel Dragon]

We own you guys. It'll be 0 and 5 after Saturday night. (And if it's not, I'll be back in here to accept the inevitable consequences )

[DIEHARD]

We own you guys. It'll be 0 and 5 after Saturday night. (And if it's not, I'll be back in here to accept the inevitable consequences )

92 93 96 99

We don't fear the Dragons! Titans to make it 2/2 so far!

[Coaster]

To me 4 games is not a bogey team, but they did rain on our parade a few times, what better way to shake off the on road issues, then to do something we havnt done before.

Great chance for the Titans to start fresh this year and let nothing stand in there way.

Titans by 20

[Steve]

ill be there
checklist:
titans bucket hut
titans singlet
blue paint(now i need some help, going try n paint my left arm blue n a sorta patten, i got poster paint from when i made the king conn banner, will that work? or do i need face paint? wat do the smurfs use?

Pretty sure the smurfs use face paint, just a crapload of it!

[patskE]

are members of the southen legion going? all my mates are saints followers and i dnt really wanna sit in their army with all titans stuff on ahah

[GCT_89]

yea we use ALOT of the Blue and White face paint.......the original blue colour is too dark and we like the lighter colour......

[DIEHARD]

Titans captain Scott Prince predicts brutal match against Dragons

TITANS co-captain Scott Prince last night warned his troops to expect engine-room fireworks in Wayne Bennett's welcome party at WIN Stadium today.

Gold Coast, shooting to give Prince's leadership buddy Luke Bailey a memorable 150th NRL game against his former club, have lost all four outings against St George-Illawarra ahead of tonight's clash in Wollongong.

Despite the head-to-head record, Prince says there is little point reaching for the history books.

The No. 7 declared his one-time Broncos boss had heralded a new on-field structure for the Dragons, based on forward-pack muscle and brute strength.

"They seem to rely on their strength and size up the middle. That's where they matched it with the Storm forward pack," Prince said.

"Then they rely heavily on Jamie Soward and Ben Hornby for their kicking game to pin you in the corner and make it difficult to get out of your own half.

"It's a very simple game plan but it showed last weekend it works effectively."

Despite being without big man Justin Poore (broken hand) for a month, the Dragons still boast Kiwi hitman Jeremy Smith, round 1 revelation Michael Weyman, and bookends Jarrod Saffy and Dan Hunt.

There is history between Weyman and the Titans, with the former Canberra prop sent off for a king-hit on back-rower Daniel Conn last season.

A war of words erupted after the match, with Bailey labelling Weyman - who was banned for six matches - a cheap-shot merchant and a liability, saying "he has a brain-snap whenever he gets tired, which happens quite regularly".

Tonight's game promises to be a brutal affair, with both camps yesterday pinpointing defence as the key to victory.

The Dragons hold another psychological advantage tonight over the visitors, given it is just six days since the Titans were forced to begin their season in a 1pm heatwave.

Source: http://www.thecouriermail.com.au

[patskE]

ahah i was pumped yesturday now iam scared casue if we loose iam going get hammered ahah
cant wait but
shall be a hek match

[Tamwelg]

Very disappointing game, I think we lost it rather than Dragons won.

[Coaster]

Attitude





















Thats all we miss.

Thats a massive loss, becuase we were a better team then them, we just played like tossbags.

Minochello gave away a dozen penelties, and then had the hide to winge about a desicion, Mark if you plainly dont know the rules of the game, dont open your mouth, just get back on side and make up for your poor play.

It was hot last week, but i hope they dont use that as an excuse, cause there is a deeper problem regarding preperation and disipline, that needs to be addressed. Add to that Carty's choice to play Zillman on the wing wowser, Your the city coach, hope you get the NSW gig soon.