Finals Week 2: Parramatta Eels vs Gold Coast Titans

[DIEHARD]

As Syl says...

Bay 39: Category 2 (Adults = $45, Concession = $30) [NB. these will be reserved seats);

OR

Bay 40: General Admin right next to the allocated Titans bays (Adults = $30, Concession = $20)



GOOD LUCK and please Titans fans, join us in Sydney! We need you!

[Boofhead]

Parramatta Eels vs Gold Coast Titans
Friday 18 September 2009 - Sydney Football Stadium



Gates: 5:00pm
Toyota Cup: Canberra vs West Tigers

Buy tickets here:
http://www.ticketek.com.au

Need Flights?
http://www.jetstar.com.au

[Boofhead]

Rogers a certain starter against Eels
Luke Turgeon September 14th, 2009

TITANS playmaker Mat Rogers yesterday declared himself a certain starter against Parramatta this Friday, less than 12 hours after being knocked unconscious and taken to hospital in an ambulance.

The gutsy dual international, who landed on his head after jumping to field a kick in the dying minutes of the Titans' loss to the Broncos on Saturday night, has been cleared of serious injury to his neck.

While still feeling a bit dazed at yesterday's recovery session at Currumbin, Rogers said he was otherwise fine.

"My right shoulder is a bit stiff from the knock," said Rogers.

"I went straight to the hospital and got a precautionary cat scan to clear me of anything.

"Fortunately everything is good so I will be right to go.

"Physically there is nothing wrong with me.

"All things being equal I will be right to play this week."

The incident sparked fears at the Titans as Rogers has a history of neck problems.

In 2007 he had to fork out $30,000 of his own money for career-saving neck surgery to replace a bulging disc in his neck with a prosthesis.

Rogers said he remembered nothing of the incident and only found out the Titans lost the match in heartbreaking fashion 40-32 when he was in the ambulance on the way to hospital.

"I came down pretty hard apparently," he said.

"I had really no idea where I was to be honest, from the minute I woke up.

"I don't remember anything. Bits and pieces of the game are coming back to me.

"The scans cleared any damage or any movement of the disc that I had replaced."

With Rogers determined play, the Titans will be at full strength for the Eels clash, with regular fullback William Zillman returning from a four match suspension for biting.

Cartwright will name his side tomorrow.

It remains to be seen if Rogers will return to the centres, to make way for Zillman at the back, or if the former Canberra Raiders speedster will start from the bench.

The Titans have been at their best this season when Scott Prince is at halfback, Preston Campbell is at five-eighth, Rogers at left centre and Zillman is wearing the No.1 jumper.

http://www.goldcoast.com.au/article/...st-titans.html

[amaline]

Heard on the radio that prince and mead are in doubt for thus weekend. Anyone else hear that?

[mikeyba]

Heard on the radio that prince and mead are in doubt for thus weekend. Anyone else hear that?

yep I heard that as well... Prince with a 'calf strain' and Mead a 'hip' issue... sure they will give both till 5 minutes before kickoff to be fit... if mead is out walker will go to wing, rogers to centre with zilly back at FB. prince out reckon presto to 7, rogers 5/8 , zilly to FB.. walker to stay in centres.. lets hope they are ok....but we have depth..

[karnage]

Prince will play. I have no doubt at all. Even 85 or 90% percent fit he will be better off on the field than in the stands.

[Steve]

Hopefully they're niggling injuries that will clear before friday.
With Zillman back I'd love to see Walker and Rogers in the centres.

[TITAN PETE]

Hopefully they're niggling injuries that will clear before friday.
With Zillman back I'd love to see Walker and Rogers in the centres.

I'm with you Steve & that will be our best ever attacking backline

[Steve]

Just checking out the odds on Sportsbet.

Melbourne Storm 3.25
Canterbury Bulldogs 3.75
Parramatta Eels 4.00
St George Illawarra Dragons 6.00
Brisbane Broncos 6.50
Gold Coast Titans 31.00

would be worth dropping a couple bucks on us i reckon.

[bigjim]

Those Titan odds are downright disrespectful.
I don't mind being at the longest odds, maybe even $9 or $10, but $31.

I think playing the Eels this week could be a blessing.
Me thinks their hot run is about to come to a crashing end.

Then we'll see who gets respect.

Go Titans!!!!

[teke]

Dont fear ppl, Prince and Mead will be playing this week i guarantee.

Those odds are terrible, i hope Titans shove their ##### in the mouths of the nay sayers.

[Coaster]

Just checking out the odds on Sportsbet.

Melbourne Storm 3.25
Canterbury Bulldogs 3.75
Parramatta Eels 4.00
St George Illawarra Dragons 6.00
Brisbane Broncos 6.50
Gold Coast Titans 31.00

That is downright disrespectful

[DIEHARD]

Can't wait to see Zillman return. Rogers to centre, which has been a weak spot on us lately.

[DIEHARD]

Titans 'won't die wondering' in NRL final

GOLD Coast have vowed they "won't die wondering" in Friday night's do-or-die semi-final visit to Sydney.

Unbowed by two Broncos intercept tries that helped condemn them to a fiery qualifying final loss, the Titans will continue to live on the edge.

And their hunger to play exciting football will intensify with speedy fullback Will Zillman set to return from a four-week biting ban.

"We didn't die wondering," co-captain Scott Prince said. "The most satisfying thing is we didn't lock up.

"We still played footy, we really tested them across the park.

"Even though we can play the grinding-type game, we just can't die wondering. We can't not try it. If we try it and it doesn't come off, we'll defend the next set.

"When you're struggling ? you have to fall back on Plan B. We just can't go into doing the negative football, one-out. We've got to throw football at them."

Prince, who led Wests Tigers to the 2005 title, says both his side's semi-final rookies and past premiership players have benefited from last weekend's derby thriller.

"It's all about momentum," he said. "You have to just be prepared to hang on and the momentum will swing. It did in the second half and we were able to score points.

"It didn't take long to swing back from our ill-discipline and our mistakes. That really cost us in the end. The first half was where the damage was done."

Zillman is set to slot straight into the No. 1 jumper against the Storm with Preston Campbell likely to remain at pivot.

On Saturday night, the Broncos revealed their game plan was to expose the Titans' desire to play razzle-dazzle.

Brisbane skipper Darren Lockyer declared his side had hoped to grind and let John Cartwright's troops "fall on their own sword".

But a defiant Cartwright yesterday rubber-stamped a plan to fight fire with fire against the electric Eels.

"When the game opened up a bit, we freed ourselves up a bit," Cartwright said. "That's when we play our best football. As the game wore on, it opened up, at stages it was as good as we've played all year."

If Zillman gets the nod at fullback, one scenario is that veteran Mat Rogers will move into the centres at Jordan Atkins' expense.

Rogers, 33, is suffering concussion but is expected to be fit after being cleared of major neck damage.

Cartwright's plans will be dictated by injury clouds over backline duo Prince (calf) and David Mead (hip), and the potential return of Brett Delaney (hamstring).

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

[DIEHARD]

Just a week to whip Titans into shape

GOLD COAST coach John Cartwright has had his say. Now he has to put the blinkers on and do all he can to stop the Titans from going out the back door of this competition.

Passionate is a good way to describe Cartwright. Watching him in the coaches box during games, he's not from the Wayne Bennett school of calmly taking everything in and not letting the television cameras get an insight into how the ups and downs are affecting you. He's from the Ricky Stuart and Craig Bellamy school of wearing your heart on your sleeve.

The rule limiting the number of times a jockey can hit a horse with a whip that has caused uproar in the world of racing should be applied to Cartwright, so he doesn't hurt himself when he rides his players to the line from behind the glass at the back of the grandstand.

Cartwright got stuck in to the match officials after Gold Coast's 40-32 loss to Brisbane at Skilled Park. He described their performance as ''disgraceful'', adding: ''Some decisions that went against us definitely cost us the game. They scored a lot of points off the back of the things that went against us.''

Sometimes, in the past, Cartwright has been critical of match officials, and at other times he has bitten his tongue and refused to cut loose, even though his furrowed brow has given away how he feels. On this occasion, he didn't hold back. It was his biggest day as a coach, with the Titans making their finals debut, and he obviously believed he needed to say what he felt. But he has to move on now and Cartwright will know that. Gold Coast have done a great job to get to the finals in only their third year. And they didn't just sneak in, they got there in third place.

But now that they are there, it is important they make an impact. It wouldn't be the end of the world if they were eliminated via another loss next weekend, but it would be a bitter disappointment.

There is no point going on and on about match officials. It just becomes a distraction for your own team. Cartwright vented his spleen immediately after the game, and that will presumably be it. He'll realise he can't afford to waste time and energy on that front, when he now faces the challenge of getting his team up for a must-win game.

The Titans started well enough. They led 6-0 on their home ground, where they had won 11 out of 12 regular-season games this year. But then the Broncos came back at them, hard, and had built a 30-10 lead by early in the second half. The Titans showed tremendous character to fight back to 30-26 down, and then come back again to 34-32 down, but that was where their run ended.

Gold Coast need to address what they did wrong in that period when the game got away from them. The experience of playing finals football will be good for them as a team, but they have injuries to Mat Rogers and Josh Graham on top of the loss. It is going to take an enormous effort for them to prove they are not just making up the numbers.

Unlike the Titans, the Bulldogs don't have to worry about playing next weekend. They weren't brilliant in beating Newcastle 26-12 at ANZ Stadium, but they were very effective. Most importantly, they were tough, in the true Bulldogs mould. They did it without injured playmaker Brett Kimmorley, and now he's set to return for their next game, in week three. Everything's looking rosy for them.

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