Round 4: North Queensland Cowboys vs Gold Coast Titans

[Sydney Titans Fanatic]

What does the daily telegraph no....Absolute bull!!!

[DIEHARD]

You blockhead.

[daveyk]

the team lists on nrl.com dont state a capt at all

[teke]

Ive been browsing the Cowboys Forum and they are bickering like mad about the backline of their team poor fellas. Its not surprising when you have a look at it

[bigjim]

My tipping has picked up where last season left off, frustrating and confusing.

I'm trying to tip with my head and not my heart this week, but I just don't know who to pick in this game with the Titans minus Princey and playing in Townsville.

In my opinion, even without Prince we are a better team man for man but if Thurston fires we could be in trouble. The Cowboys feed of him and his enthusiasm.

[DIEHARD]

Prince backs Titans pals

SCOTT Prince walked out of hospital yesterday and, with his good hand, hit the reboot button.

"What else can you do?" he asked, nursing a broken thumb that will keep the Titans captain out of action for at least four weeks.

"Let's face it, it is not the end of the world. I'd rather not be injured, but if I had to be then this is the time for it to happen.

"We are three-zip. So I would prefer it happen now rather than when the pressure games come around."

Prince had two pins inserted at the base of his right thumb in an operation in Brisbane on Monday night. The surgery went to plan and the inspirational halfback was back home on the Gold Coast by mid-morning yesterday.

It has ended a tumultuous few days for Prince. Last Friday he was at the centre of salary cap rorting accusations made by disgruntled builder and former Titans sponsor Alex Simpson.

On Saturday night he orchestrated the Coast's 24-4 hometown win over the Raiders and by Monday his season had been put on hold with the injury.

Prince strenuously denies the cap allegations and yesterday was taking a philosophical approach to the on and off-field pain.

"Things happen for a reason," he said.

"The injury hurts that little bit more because I was really looking forward to this Saturday night's clash with the Cowboys (in Townsville) and coming up against JT (Jonathan Thurston).


"When you are up against the world's best it is an exciting challenge and something you lift for. But injuries are just part of the game. I certainly know that."

Prince, 30, has made comebacks from breaking his leg on two occasions and considers the broken thumb a minor hiccup.

He also has plenty of confidence the Titans have shaken the 'can't win without Prince bogey' and the strength of the squad will show.

"The boys have been down this road before," he said.

"This is far from a one-man band and it's just another challenge. Presto (Preston Campbell) will come in and do a great job. There is great depth in this club.

"Of course I am disappointed and of course Carty (coach John Cartwright) is disappointed, but the team is in a good position at the moment."

Prince said he injured his hand tackling Raiders fullback Josh Dugan about 30 minutes into Saturday night's game.

"I think I hit his elbow and I knew I had done something," he said.

"It is the same thumb I dislocated about nine years ago. I had it strapped at half-time. It was sore after the game but by the next morning it was swollen and just didn't improve."

The prognosis remains at four to six weeks out of the game. In that time the Titans play the Cowboys (away), Storm (home), Dragons (h), Sea Eagles (a), Panthers (h) and Knights (a).

The injury means he will be unavailable for the Australia v New Zealand Test match on May 7 and places him in jeopardy for the opening Origin clash in Sydney on May 26.

Prince has a burning passion to add to his representative credentials and hopes to have proven his fitness before Origin 1 this year.

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

[AmericanTitan]

I agree, the team even without Prince is very very good.

I think, as a previous poster said, these next few weeks will prove we aren't a one-man-band. Presto and the gang will be able to do it. Hopefully Bird is ok though. We could use his physical presense.


And I also agree about Friend. The shear amount of tackles he has makes him invaluable.

[DIEHARD]

Me, Goatus and Steve are going to Crushers Leagues to watch the game.

Any other fans in Brisbane are more than welcome to join in!

[DIEHARD]

Audio Link to Coach Neil Henry.
http://www.cowboys.com.au/site/_cont...357-source.mp3

Audio to Cowboys player Steve Rapira
http://www.cowboys.com.au/site/_cont...358-source.mp3

[Sydney Titans Fanatic]

Cut bird some slack says friend
nrl.com

Hooker Nathan Friend says the Gold Coast's perfect start to the NRL season should silence those criticising Greg Bird and the Titans' forwards.

Friend also believes Preston Campbell will slot into Scott Prince's halfback boots without a drama against Cowboys star Johnathan Thurston at Dairy Farmers Stadium on Saturday night.

Former Test and NSW representative Bird hasn't produced his best form in three games for the Gold Coast.

But given he was out of the NRL for a season and has a new set of teammates to get to know, Friend believes the ex-Cronulla star deserves to be cut a bit of slack.

"Just having his presence around the place makes a big difference," he said.

"I'm not sure what you guys (media) are searching for from him but he's a quality player who certainly does the little things that we require from him.

"If he scores a couple of tries then you guys might think he's had a wow of a game, but we all know he's doing his job.

"He produces some line speed and aggression in defence that we've probably lacked in the backs in the last couple of years."

Gold Coast have won both their matches at Dairy Farmers Stadium, including last year's 14-10 effort when Campbell played at No.7 in place of Prince.

Friend said little would change without their skipper.

"We'll have no problems at all and we're extremely confident with Presto there," he said. "Everyone knows he's a great player and that position is certainly not going to worry him at all.

"I'm more excited than anything to have the great man there."

Cowboys coach Neil Henry identified the joint danger of Campbell and Bird in the halves but queried whether the Titans could cover the loss of Prince's quality kicking game.

North Queensland have dropped Carl Webb off their interchange bench to give him much-needed match time with the Cairns Pride in the Queensland Cup.

Webb has been struggling with calf injuries to both legs and Henry has opted to promote 20-year-old former NZ Warrior Leeson Ah Mau on to the bench.

Fullback Ty Williams (biceps) underwent a Friday morning fitness test but is expected to line up.

St George-Illawarra carved up the Cowboys right-side defence in Wollongong last week, and rookie five-eighth Ray Thompson will have his work cut out to help fix their communication problems.

The Titans viewed some video of Thompson but all eyes will be on Johnathan Thurston and his "show and go" dummy play.

"We played them (Cowboys) in the trials and they beat us convincingly," said Friend.

"They're very dangerous around the middle with Thurston and Aaron Payne and they've got a large pack."

[RichOs69]

ok ..lotsa talk about presto replacing prince .....but whos gonna take the full back spot, im guessing probly zillman but does anyone have a better idea

[AmericanTitan]

ok ..lotsa talk about presto replacing prince .....but whos gonna take the full back spot, im guessing probly zillman but does anyone have a better idea

Zillman will be taking the 1. He played well when he was in for Presto when he was injured.

[titansrawesome]

all i can say is 18-6 titans over storm olympic park 2009 - minus prince

[Cowboy Titan]

Carl Webb is out for the Cowboys and Leeson Ah Mau is in. That leaves us with 2 debutants for the Cowboys and one who has only played 20 minutes in the NRL last year.

Looking forward to seeing how they go.

[Sydney Titans Fanatic]

With the dragons lost today....Titans win tommorow will secure us TOP OF THE TABLE....CMON YOU MIGHTY TITANS TAKE IT TO THE TOP