Round 4: Canberra Raiders vs Gold Coast Titans

[DIEHARD]

Prince good chance to take on Raiders

TITANS skipper Scott Prince is considered a good chance of brushing aside an injury scare and taking his place against the Raiders for today's crucial encounter in Canberra.

The Gold Coast halfback sent a major fright through the Titans camp yesterday morning when he failed to finish the final training session at Robina.

In obvious discomfort, Prince abruptly left the field to seek medical treatment after feeling a twinge in his hamstring.

Following consultation with club medical staff, the decision was made that Prince would still travel to Canberra with teammates yesterday afternoon, with the final call on whether or not he plays to be made this morning.

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"They are not sure what the cause of the pain is," Cartwright said. "It could be neural and in that case he should be right.

"If it is neural it means it stems from the back and it is something they can treat.

"But if there is a strain there, more than likely he won't play.

"We will need 24 hours before we know."

Prince has been carrying a suspect hamstring through the early rounds and club insiders expect him to line up against Canberra. But if he does play, he will most likely abandon his goal kicking duties. This could create a new headache for Cartwright.

Veteran Preston Campbell is also an accomplished goal kicker, but in his new impact role spends large amounts of time off the field.

Greg Bird is the only other Titan with NRL goal kicking experience, but he has booted just six in his 131-game career.

If Prince is out, Campbell will slot straight into halfback, with four forwards to fill the interchange bench.

Compounding the Prince drama is the fact the club's top two tackling machines, lock Ash Harrison (hamstring) and Nathan Friend (shoulder), are also sidelined with injuries.

"There is 100 tackles right there," Titans prop Luke Bailey said. "Everyone knows what they bring to the table and we just have to each bring an extra 10-15 per cent."

Both Friend and Harrison are expected to return next week against the Cowboys in Townsville.

Maroons Origin lock Harrison has been the Titans best player so far this season, while tough hooker Friend has been widely heralded as the missing piece of the puzzle for the Coast.

The Titans are yet to win a game without Friend, losing seven from seven.

With Friend in the team the Titans have won 52 of 96 matches (54.2 per cent).

"He is like Cameron Smith and Robbie Farah, you take them out of the game and it makes a big hole," Bailey said.

"He is letting the boys know that we need him and he is using for his contract with Searley (Titans boss Michael Searle) as a bit of a bargaining chip.

"We are going to put in a good result this week and hopefully he will be right for the Cowboys."

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

[DIEHARD]

Bailey: Titans must lift

Gold Coast Titans prop Luke Bailey believes his team-mates must lift 10 to 15 percent to cover up the gaping holes left by injured duo Ashley Harrison and Nathan Friend, or risk seeing their season slip away.

The Titans begin a horror fortnight on the road on Saturday night against the Canberra Raiders, tasked with breaking their duck and reviving their premiership dreams.

Those three defeats on the trot were hard enough without the inspirational Friend but after Harrison twinged his hamstring in last weekend's loss to Brisbane, the outlook became even more barren for the Coast - particularly with a follow-up trip to Townsville next on the calendar.

Add in the injury cloud hovering over captain Scott Prince and their winless record in Canberra and the Titans look to be easy pickings for the Green Machine, but Bailey says the side will have to simply grin and bear their situation until names start to reappear on the teamsheet.

"You take out 100 tackles there (with Harrison and Friend injured). Everyone knows what they bring to the table. We're going to have to bring an extra 10, 15 per cent," Bailey said.

"Friendy is the missing link. It's hard to say and it's hurting inside but he is. He's like Cameron Smith, he's like Robbie Farah. You take them out of the game and it leaves a big hole. He's letting the boys know that we need him."

"Nobody has taken into consideration that we've had the 9, 6, 7 and 1 changing in the last couple of weeks. I thought we were almost there last week and the boys went well. Again, Harro was our outstanding player but with that little bit extra, we'll be sweet."

As bad as an 0-3 start looks for a side that was expected to go a long way in the finals, Bailey believes Gold Coast's fortunes can turn around if they continue to work hard.

Either side of Round 2's mauling by Melbourne lie two acceptable performances.

There were enough good moments in the Titans' season opener against St. George Illawarra to be satisfied with a loss against the club world champions, while they just could not make their dominance count against the Broncos a week ago.

But moral victories ultimately do little to suppress the hunger for premiership points and Bailey remains confident of springing a surprise or two in the nation's capital.

"It's going to be a tough one for us. We're none from three but I'm very confident that we can do some damage down there," he said.

"Call it an upset or whatever, we played good football against the Broncs and we're going to take it down to Canberra. Everything is against us but I'm fully confident that the boys can match it against their big pack."

"The boys are still pretty pumped. We've never won down there so hopefully that gives us more fire in the belly to prove a few people wrong."

http://www.sportal.com.au/

[DIEHARD]

Learoyd-Lahrs tipped to explode off bench

CANBERRA co-captain David Shillington has predicted a fired-up Tom Learoyd-Lahrs will wreak havoc on an unsuspecting Gold Coast outfit tonight.

Learoyd-Lahrs has been dropped to the bench for the pivotal round-four match at Canberra Stadium, with Raiders coach David Furner turning to the impressive Dane Tilse, who was easily the side's most damaging forward in last week's 34-24 loss to the Wests Tigers.

The move was somewhat of a surprise, considering Learoyd-Lahrs is an incumbent in the NSW and Kangaroos' forward packs.

Shillington expects the switch to produce fireworks when Learoyd-Lahrs takes on a weary defensive line.

''Often that's a tactic from coaches, to bring your power players off the bench,'' Shillington said. ''Tommy's fast and explosive. When the Titans get a bit tired, hopefully he can come on and start making some line breaks and tackle busts and get us rolling forward.''

Tilse was a revelation against the Tigers, running for 121 metres from 14 hit-ups and racking up 25 tackles, all in just 46 minutes on the field.

Shillington admitted himself and Learoyd-Lahrs had been guilty of some soft defence during Canberra's two-game losing streak. ''Tommy's a bit disappointed being on the bench but he's aware of where he's at with his defence, so am I,'' Shillington said.

''We're pretty similar in our defensive abilities at the moment. We've both got some stuff to work on, so we'll try and fix that up over the next week or two.''

Even this early in the season, victory is essential if the Raiders want to stay in touch with the top eight.

Seen as possible premiership contenders in the off-season, a blight of handling errors and missed tackles has hindered the Raiders' campaign so far.

Their opponents face a similar outlook. With the Titans anchored to the bottom of the NRL table, a fourth straight defeat would heap the pressure on John Cartwright's squad.

Raiders coach David Furner emphasised the importance of tonight's contest. ''It's nearly like a must-win game,'' Furner said. ''Last time we played at home we weren't at our best. We didn't give ourselves an opportunity last week, and that's disappointing.''

Furner has resisted the temptation to make mass changes. Hooker Glen Buttriss will join Learoyd-Lahrs on the interchange bench, with Indigenous All Stars representative Travis Waddell moving into the No.9 jersey. Trevor Thurling comes into the starting side for injured second-rower Joe Picker (ankle), with club stalwart Josh Miller called on to the bench.

''Trev provides a lot of energy for us and speed around the ruck,'' Shillington said. ''Hopefully he can run some good lines on the edge and catch them out a bit. He's pretty powerful. He's only 95 kilograms but he hits the line as hard as the 110-kilo blokes with his speed and power. He plays well above his weight range.''

The Raiders and Titans have split their eight previous meetings. However, the Queenslanders are yet to win in the national capital.

Shillington is wary of reading too much into the history books, after the Broncos tore apart the form book a fortnight ago, hammering the Raiders 20-4.

''The Titans will come down desperate,'' Shillington said. ''The Broncos did that the other week coming off a bad loss in round one, and we saw what sort of performance they put in.''

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

[DIEHARD]

Change of plans for me today, I didn't go down to Canberra for reasons out of my control, including having an assignment due on Monday and my group partner bailing on me and withdrawing from the course.

But there is a big couple of weeks for the Titans ahead and it means more time to work on Titans stuff.

But Ill be at the T Bar, leaving soon.

[isaiah]

One game at a time Brad.
Let's focus on knocking the Donkeys off first.

doing what to the donkeys?

[isaiah]

Oh I never underestimate the Broncos...

I see the NRL as a war, but the war against the Broncos is a whole new and independent battleground in my books.

thats why it was so good to see hodges go over for the match winner.
broncs upset raiders in canberra, lets see tonight if you are pretenders!

[isaiah]

1 William Zillman
2 Steve Michaels
3 Esi Tonga
4 Bodene Thompson
5 David Mead
6 Greg Bird
7 Scott Prince
8 Luke Bailey
9 Riley Brown
10 Matthew White
11 Anthony Laffranchi
12 Mark Minichiello
13 Ben Ridge
14 Michael Henderson
15 Sam Tagaetese
16 Ryan James
17 Preston Campbell
18 Brad Meyers

Per Titans Website.

the selection of this is a disgrace, didn't anyone who picked this see riley brown last week? oh well, 20 minutes till matt srama runs on in the 20's and kills it again.

[isaiah]

tits were only allowed to play as well as they did in attack last week by the best defence in the nrl.
raiders won't win with 40% possession

[gotitans101]

yea, I might have been a little more confident about today's game had Riley Brown not been named in this team again. ffs.

We need Friendy back asap. I was under the impression he was supposed to be back in round 3 but obviously he wasn't, and I haven't heard anything else.

[bigjim]

Toyota Cup team have caught the disease from the NRL team.
There is a real problem in the camp.
Nobody seems to know how to defend.

Harrison out, Friend out and now Prince. Have change all my tips to Canberra and if you think the week before last was embarrassing, watch out today.
I forecast a 40 point plus thrashing.

[Ryan]

thats why it was so good to see hodges go over for the match winner.
broncs upset raiders in canberra, lets see tonight if you are pretenders!

tits were only allowed to play as well as they did in attack last week by the best defence in the nrl.
raiders won't win with 40% possession

'The best defense in the NRL' conceded 1500mts to the 'tits' - the oldest pack in the NRL had the donkeys running backwards all night. It was nothing more than the 'tits' inability to attack that saved the donkeys ass by a mere 6 points, not to mention the 2 contentious disallowed tries.

Brisbane have been rubbish in the first 4 rounds, it is only sub-par opposition that has let them get away with wins. Cowboys missed 51 tackles against them and still won! And Canberra only had a 55% completion rate when you beat them. Last nights game was nothing to boast about. Donkey's are yet to play competitive teams like Dragons & Storm, the pretenders will be exposed soon enough.....

[Boofhead]

Calling it... First team to score wins.

[titansrawesome]

crap defence there by the backs there

[amaline]

Dugan will be a huge blow for them. We're looking pretty good.

[titansrawesome]

i think canberra are just very unmotivated compared to us, i like campbell at 5/8 next week too