for those of us who aren't completely knowledgable about NRL (ok, just me lol) who are Canberra's top players/players we should worry about as Titan fans?
"You make sure they remember, *forever*, the night they played the Titans!"
Canberra are a big team, and they get physical. They like to play fast and come straight at you!
Titans need to match there intensity for the first 20 min, after that we can run them around and get over them. When they get matched with physicality they start to get easily aggravated, and this is the key to beating Canberra, because they start to self destruct, giving away penalties, and using too much niggle and forgetting there basic game plan.
There main players to watch IMO is Campese and Dugan, both capable, but both have flaws. The idea with Campese is pretty straight forward, get in his face all night but refuse to get involved with his dirty tactics. Dugan is best suited to playing on the back of good offloads, so this means shut there forwards down, and he stays fairly quiet.
They are a young team, and a big crowd giving them hell will not suit them, plenty of abuse from the crowd at players like Campese will get him to try to much and make mistakes.
This is a game that the Legion will help win, i have flown back from Melbourne today, so i will be there to help our boys get home.
. . . . Q U E E N S L A N D E R . . . .
well anyways i expect us to march over the top of them easily.
Titans v Raiders
Skilled Park
Saturday 8.30pm (Qld time)
Can the Gold Coast remain undefeated, or will the Raiders make it two Queensland scalps in succession?
Most would answer in the Titans’ favour as they gear up to take on Canberra, but one thing about the Raiders is their unpredictability – they can knock you off a pedestal if you’re not careful.
Sure, the Titans are near unbeatable at home and will take deserved favouritism into this match but Canberra will fancy themselves against a side whose two wins are masking obvious inadequacies.
A late home win against the Warriors and a golden point win over the Rabbitohs is hardly form to write home about; the Titans will need to show improvement to keep the win column growing while the loss column contains a duck egg.
They welcome back Preston Campbell at fullback with William Zillman moving to the bench against his former club and Riley Brown missing out.
The Raiders come off a gritty 22-14 win against the Broncos, a result that lifted them from last to 12th on the ladder.
They have kept the same side for the match with the only change being David Shillington named to start for Dane Tilse after they reversed roles last Monday night.
Shaun Fensom, the young tyro second-rower has escaped suspension with an early guilty plea and will keep his place in the side.
Watch out Titans: The Raiders are sending most of their traffic to the right side in attack, so the Gold Coast’s left-side defenders better be on their games.
Six of Canberra’s seven tries scored so far this season have been on the right side of the field and the Titans have conceded four of six tries in the same area. This will be enough of an invitation for David Furner to spend the week fine-tuning his side’s plays with a focus on the right edges.
Look for the edge-running Green Machine forwards to target the fringes on the right before getting a quick-play-the-ball to hit the ‘keep going’ into the corners.
They may also opt for the ‘double shift’ – that is, send the ball far left before turning around and going far right in successive tackles to have the defenders scrambling.
Watch out Raiders: The Titans plan to launch a bombing raid should they not breach the line before the last tackle.
In the opening two matches Canberra has only successfully defused one of eight bombs launched against them, for a dismal 14 per cent success rate. With a young and inexperienced back three, the Raiders are subject to targeting and both Scott Prince and Greg Bird have the ability to hoof the ball quite high.
Preston Campbell also has an impressive bomb in his bag of tricks. Sound the air raid alarm!
Where it will be won: Possession. There is no way the Raiders will be given the luxury afforded them by Brisbane last Monday. The Broncos had 59 per cent of the ball in the match but still found a way to lose.
If Prince and co are given the same amount of time with the ball, it will be good night nurse!
A 53 per cent completion rate this week will likely turn into a 20-point loss, so error-free football is called for.
So far in 2010 the Raiders have 31 errors while the Titans are only slightly better with 28 errors. Both coaches will be stressing the basic philosophy of completions and building pressure. It’s a ploy that has worked for the Melbourne Storm for four years and the Dragons are backing up last year’s minimal-error season with another – with great early success.
The Raiders will look to target the likes of Luke Bailey to force an error (he has a loose carry), while the Titans will put plenty of pressure on the Raiders’ young players in the heat of battle.
The History: Played 6; Titans 3, Raiders 3. The two teams have split results since the Gold Coast entered the competition – but all wins have come on home turf.
Canberra are yet to beat the Titans on the holiday strip, with the average score being 25-10.
Conclusion: It would take a brave person to tip against the Titans at home – but they haven’t looked impressive this year, despite notching two wins.
Countering that, they come up against a Raiders team who have been pretty dismal in both opening games, even though they managed to win one.
Take the easy way out and tick the Gold Coast on your form – at least you know you’ll be with the majority whatever the result.
Match officials: Referees – Ben Cummins & Chris James; Sideline Officials – Grant Atkins & Luke Phillips; Video Ref – Chris Ward.
Televised: Fox Sports – Delayed 9.30pm (AEDT).
Cartwright: Don't forget club goals
GOLD Coast Titans coach John Cartwright has urged his side to remember the necessity of reaching internal club goals 'every week' if they are to perform up to expectations in the competition.
Cartwright believes Saturday's clash with the Canberra Raiders will be the perfect example.
Canberra defeated Brisbane on Monday night but the Titans will start raging favourites against the poor travelling Raiders and Cartwright is only too aware it's a low-profile club that has given his charges trouble.
"We seem to struggle a bit against them, especially down there, but up here we've had some close games against them," he said.
Cartwright said the physicality of Canberra was often difficult to contain, but admitted the Titans now laughed when questions were raised about its pack, particularly after wins over the Warriors and Souths.
"The players treat it as a joke now when people say our pack is under size and we can't compete with them," said Cartwright.
"They don't get any bigger than the Souths pack in size or in name and we got the better of them, I admire our boys, they work hard every week ... but it's got to be every week, if you slip up it's a loss."
The Titans and Raiders are 3-3 in all-time head-to-head results.
http://www.goldcoast.com.au/article/...st-titans.html
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Cartwright: Don't forget club goals
GOLD Coast Titans coach John Cartwright has urged his side to remember the necessity of reaching internal club goals 'every week' if they are to perform up to expectations in the competition.
Cartwright believes Saturday's clash with the Canberra Raiders will be the perfect example.
Canberra defeated Brisbane on Monday night but the Titans will start raging favourites against the poor travelling Raiders and Cartwright is only too aware it's a low-profile club that has given his charges trouble.
"We seem to struggle a bit against them, especially down there, but up here we've had some close games against them," he said.
Cartwright said the physicality of Canberra was often difficult to contain, but admitted the Titans now laughed when questions were raised about its pack, particularly after wins over the Warriors and Souths.
"The players treat it as a joke now when people say our pack is under size and we can't compete with them," said Cartwright.
"They don't get any bigger than the Souths pack in size or in name and we got the better of them, I admire our boys, they work hard every week ... but it's got to be every week, if you slip up it's a loss."
The Titans and Raiders are 3-3 in all-time head-to-head results.
http://www.goldcoast.com.au/article/...st-titans.html
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Four hopefuls but Presto's still No.1
PRESTON Campbell knows there are four players in the Gold Coast Titans' squad who could wear his famed No.1 jumper and do it justice.
With a Dally M, a premiership and more than 200 games on his tiny shoulders, there is unquestionably no need to speculate as to whether Campbell still is the king of the fullback castle.
Campbell knows it, coach John Cartwright knows it and boss Michael Searle knows it.
Despite the resume, Campbell was still asked at yesterday's media conference whether he would be able to stave off William Zillman for his spot in the starting side.
In typical down-to-earth Campbell fashion he wasn't offended and didn't turn up his nose, replying 'not yet' when asked if he knew who would wear the No.1 jumper.
Such is the humility of the man, he then went and made a case for how talented the fullbacks in the Gold Coast squad are.
"Will put in a good performance last week," he said.
"We've got potentially four people that could play (fullback), there's young Shannon Walker, David Mead said he would play there and has put his hand up, really any one of us four would do the job there."
Campbell trained strongly yesterday but will still need a clearance from club doctors before taking on the Raiders.
"It's up to the doc, obviously I'll liaise with him," he said.
"I feel all right, a lot better than last week.
"I got through the session all right today, it's just a matter of monitoring what's going on now."
Cartwright said he was looking forward to getting Campbell back in the team, but conceded he would not be prepared to risk the club's inaugural signing if he was not 100 per cent fit to play.
Campbell still has the flair of a youngster, so much so that this may be his last season or he could possibly play until he is 40. The latter is very possible. He still loves the game and would play wherever Cartwright puts him.
"It was really painful watching the boys play last week, even though they won, I just don't like sitting at home watching them play on TV, so it'd be great to get back out there," he said.
That's how much Campbell loves the game, that's why he still has 'it'.
It is the reason that, doctors pending, Campbell will definitely wear the No.1 jersey against Canberra this Saturday night.
And that's why a class act like Zillman will have to bide his time a little longer.
Campbell is still one of four.
Source: http://www.goldcoast.com.au
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Titans proof size does not matter
UNLIKE many of the top Gold Coast Titans forwards, not many people stood above Sam Backo on the rugby league field.
But the former Maroons forward believes the Titans pack has little to worry about despite their small stature and claims they're not big enough to push for the title.
"It's not about their size, just have a look at the size of their hearts," said Backo, the 135-game star who played seven times for Queensland.
"People will always talk it up and say you have to be big, but you're talking about some class players there who never shirk any of the tough stuff and the season still has a long way to go but they have held off two of the biggest packs in the competition."
Opening their year with back-to-back wins over the Warriors and Souths, who boast arguably the competition's biggest pack, life gets no easier with the Titans drawn to face the Raiders, Cowboys, Storm and Dragons over the next month.
And when you have a pack, which based on the sides in their opening two encounters averages about 98kg per player, it could be a little daunting especially considering the Raiders pack named to start on Saturday night carried an extra 2kg per man, including monsters David Shillington (111kgs), Dane Tilse (112kg) and Scott Logan (108kg).
But not according to Backo and his former Broncos, Queensland and Australian teammate Gene Miles.
"See how they're going half way through the season," said Backo, of the Titans' rivals.
"When some of the big guys from other clubs, who we have heard so much about, when they are out of puff the Titans will still be running around strong."
Miles, who finished his career in the forward pack after more than a decade as a wide-running centre, said the Titans had something to be envied by their rivals
"When they say they're not big, well they may not be but geez they are durable," he said.
"You have guys like (Anthony) Laffranchi, (Ashley) Harrison and (Mark) Minichiello in the back-row and they can all play 80 minutes."
"That is something you cannot coach and I think as the season goes on that durability and the versatility of the guys around them ... could be one of their real strengths."
Source: http://www.goldcoast.com.au
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