Round 4: TITANS v RAIDERS (2021)

[DIEHARD]

Latest issue of League Unlimited magazine
https://indd.adobe.com/view/52a77534...0-e73634949690

[DIEHARD]

Titans v Raiders: Kelly named; Kris, James cleared
https://www.nrl.com/news/2021/03/29/...-tapine-scott/

The Titans and Raiders will square off in neutral territory in Sydney after Queensland's COVID-19 outbreak resulted in the game being moved from Cbus Super Stadium to Kogarah.

Raiders coach Ricky Stuart praised the bravery and resilience of his players in their heart-breaking loss to the Warriors and you can be sure whoever he names in the match-day 17 will be primed to deliver a repeat performance.

The Gold Coast have put their round one hiccup against the Warriors in the rear-view mirror and will be looking to consolidate their status as the No.1 team in Queensland.

The Titans will stay in Sydney post-game on Saturday before hopefully heading back to the familiar surroundings of Cbus Super Stadium in round five to face the Knights.

Queensland's lockdown ended on Thursday but the Titans will need NSW Government approval for clubs to travel freely to and from the Sunshine State for that game to be given the go ahead.

The rundown

Team news

Titans: Centre Brian Kelly (broken hand) has been included on the reserves and could be a late addition to the line-up.

As it stands, Gold Coast have been named 1-17 with last week's pre-match swap, which saw Tyrone Peachey come into the team at lock and key recruit Tino Fa'asuamaleaui go to prop, confirmed in this week's initial team release.

The Titans can achieve their best start to a season after four rounds in five years.

Raiders: Centre Sebastian Kris and bench prop Ryan James have passed concussion protocols after suffering head knocks last week.

Kris will replace Curtis Scott (ribs) in the starting team.

Dunamis Lui and Hudson Young return in a boost for a pack that was bruised and battered in last round's heart-breaking loss to the Warriors.

Lui will come in at prop with Ryan Sutton sliding back to lock as the replacement for Joseph Tapine (ankle).

The Raiders have won their past four games against the Titans.

Match: Titans v Raiders
ROUND 4 - SATURDAY 3RD APRIL

Venue:Netstrata Jubilee Stadium, Sydney

Match Officials
Referee: Adam Gee
Touch Judge: Ziggy Przeklasa-Adamski
Touch Judge: Nick Beashel
Senior Review Official: Steve Chiddy
Last updated: 10:45 am Friday 2nd April 2021

Key match-up

Mo Fotuaika v Josh Papali'i: The young bull and the old bull go head to head in a clash that could shake the grandstand foundations. Fotuaika has already impressed in his young career, winning the club's best and fairest award, the Paul Broughton Medal, as a 19-year-old and gaining Origin selection in 2020.

The Raiders veteran, now in his 11th season in the lime green, easily outpointed the youngster in key statistical categories such as post-contact metres, offloads and run metres in 2020 and will be looking to exert his authority from the kick-off.

Stat attack
Both sides have shown a talent for breaching defensive lines with the Titans tops for line breaks (20) in 2021 and the Raiders equal with the Panthers and Roosters in second place (16).

The sides are also neck and neck in missed tackles, with Canberra (81) ninth and the Gold Coast (79) 10th, so whoever does the best job of plugging leaks will go a long way towards securing victory.

[Titanic]

Titans gold with Fogarty’s “I’m fast” ... must view:
https://www.nrl.com/news/2021/04/02/...palii-rematch/

[DIEHARD]

Titans gold with Fogarty’s “I’m fast” ... must view:
https://www.nrl.com/news/2021/04/02/...palii-rematch/

That's so good. Thanks for posting because I hadn't seen it.

Never seen such humour used at our club or any.

Was so surprised to see Patrick Johnson! Australia's fastest ever sprinter.



Great and refreshing way to promote the game. And great way to have the fans enjoy the players and give the players a chance to dump on a teammate. Good sport Jamal!

[DIEHARD]

Here are some reactions to the Titans' Fogarty video by Raiders fans.

https://www.thegh.com.au/forum/viewt...84364#p1784364

[DIEHARD]

Young, James and Kris all fit to play the Titans: Canberra Raiders coach Ricky Stuart
https://www.canberratimes.com.au/

Canberra Raiders coach Ricky Stuart says that Ryan James, Sebastian Kris and Hudson Young have been cleared to take their places in the side to face the Gold Coast Titans at Kogarah Oval on Saturday night.

James and Kris clashed heads in the 13th minute of last Saturday's clash with the Warriors - and were ruled out of the rest of that game because of concussion. Joe Tapine (ankle ligaments) and Curtis Scott (ribs) were also amongst the casualties in Saturday's match - and were ruled out on Tuesday for one to two weeks.

"Fortunately the guys who suffered the head knocks last week have been cleared to play," Stuart said.

"Unfortunate news with Curtis Scott and Joe Tapine. They're probably a couple of weeks away from being cleared again, but we're going to be playing it safe so early in the season."

Hudson Young suffered a knee problem late in the Round 2 win over the Sharks, and was rested from the Warriors match. He's now right to go.

"He was very close last week," Stuart said.

"Again, protecting Hudson from wanting to play [against the Warriors], where he just wasn't 100 per cent fit was a little bit too much of a risk.

"I didn't want him to re-injure it and then be a longer period on the sideline. So one week out got him back to play this week."

Stuart is happy with the depth that he has been able to draw upon, but admits he'd like to see some better form from some of the players who find themselves outside the top 21.

"The players that are back in NSW Cup, they have to be better too," Stuart said.

"We played very poorly last week in NSW Cup and they have to show some responsibility there towards aiming up to play well, to force their way back into the top squad."

"Dunamis Lui did that. Dunamis comes back into the squad for Joe Tapine."

The Raiders had a very tough afternoon against the Warriors, after being reduced to 14 men - and 13 fit men. Stuart says that he's given his players some time to recuperate this week.

"We've trained well and we've had a pretty good week of preparation," he said.

"We took different measures at the start of the week in our Tuesday session. It was a lot lighter."

"We looked at the load of the players and made sure that we didn't burn them out early in the week, in regards to their workloads at training."

"We had to make sure that mentally and physically we were going to be right at the end of the week."

One positive from Saturday's the last gasp loss to the Warriors, was way in which hookers Josh Hodgson and Tom Starling worked together. Starling was a late inclusion on the bench, and made a good impact when he was injected into the game - with Hodgson then taking on the role of a roving forward.

"It's a good little combination, with the speed of the game, having the two No. 9s being able to back each other up in their periods of play at dummy half," Stuart said.

"Tommy's a great addition to our club and our squad. He's electric out of dummy half. He's a tough defender in the middle. It always excites me when I get Tommy out on the field with the way he attacks."

The Raiders were scheduled to play the Titans at Robina this weekend - and to travel to the Gold Coast on Thursday. However, the Titans have temporarily relocated to Sydney due to the COVID situation in south east Queensland. The match will now take place at Kogarah as part of a double header.

The Raiders held their captain's run at Kippax on Good Friday morning.

"Travelling yesterday to the Gold Coast was the plan," Stuart said.

"Obviously staying back training here and now busing to Sydney is the only change. It won't affect our preparation at all."

Stuart is wary of the in-form Titans.

"They're another big team. They've got some big wide runners. They're a very good attacking team, a lot of speed," he said.

"Again, defensively we've got to be up and we've got to score our amount of points."

"I was really happy with our attack last week, I thought we attacked very well. We stuck to a solid plan."

"We've just got to probably tighten up our defence a little bit. Last week there was certainly an excuse there, with the amount of fatigue we had because of the very unique scenario of only having one player left after 13 minutes of play."

[DIEHARD]

Here is an epic preview thread from the Raiders Greenhouse forum
https://www.thegh.com.au/forum/viewt...84074bbbddee4c

Has some nice player match up graphics.

[Mr Bods]

BK has made the 19.

[Menoitios]

Tino excited for Raiders challenge.

Titans firebrand Tino Fa'asuamaleaui says he 'can't wait to test himself against the best' when he and his teammates take on the Canberra Raiders tomorrow evening.

"It is going to be a big a big step up, they are obviously one of the top teams in the comp, but we are excited and can't wait to get out and see how we go against the best," Fa'asuamaleaui said.

"They are always good, they always start well. They have been a very tough team and were a bit unlucky with their injuries last weekend, but hopefully we can give it to them and stick it to them tomorrow.

"There focus will be to not go back to back losses and they will be ready for this game, but this just makes us more excited to compete with them to see how we go and where we are at with our game.

"I am excited to go out there and test myself and test ourselves against the best (teams).

Asked about his own game and strong start to the season, Fa'asuamaleaui still wants to improve on his first few rounds that have featured an average of 157 running metres and 29 tackles.

"Just to improve on the little things - my defense and my ball handling last week wasn't too good, so I want to improve on them and do the boys proud," he said.

"It's been good (the move to the Gold Coast) and I am enjoying it a lot and I am close to all the boys now and I just can't wait to keep playing more footy with them and keep creating better combinations, so I have been enjoying it a lot.

"We have got a lot of improvement in our game for all of us, we are heading in the right direction which is good, but we need to keep going with the little things."

The Titans had been slated to play the Raiders at Cbus Super Stadium this week but after a COVID breakout in South East Queensland the team has been moved temporarily to Sydney, but Fa'asuamaleaui says that isn't going to be used as a distraction for the side.

"It's been a bit different. We are all settled down at the hotel and everyone is looking after us," he said.

"It isn't the ideal preparation but that is the world we are living at the moment - you have just got to adapt and overcome whatever happens and we are doing that at the moment and I just can't wait to get out there tomorrow."

The Titans clash with the Raiders has re-ignited the talk about Josh Papalii chasing down Jamal Fogarty in last years match and the team and club have had some fun with the concept this week - something Tino says the team have enjoyed as well.

"That was pretty funny ('I. AM. FAST.' below) and I had a bit of a giggle to that, pretty creative from our media team and good banter," he said.

"Just a bit of banter between the boys and a bit of fun, I reckon."

https://www.titans.com.au/news/2021/...ers-challenge/



Holbrook looking forward to playing Ricky's Raiders.

It's Justin's Titans against Ricky's Raiders in a Saturday night blockbuster in Sydney.

While disappointed that the game won't be in front of Gold Coast fans at Cbus Super Stadium, Coach Justin Holbrook says his side will be ready for the challenge that Ricky Stuart's Raiders present.

"It is a good test," Holbrook said.

"We've had a couple of good wins but we will be facing stiffer opposition.

"I think that is good for us and I think we are ready for that

"They've been good for a few years now and we know that."

The Raiders were beaten by the Warriors in round three, but Holbrook isn't reading too much into that result after the Canberra side were decimated by injury.

"Everyone saw what they had to deal with last week (with injuries) and they just got run down but otherwise they have a comfortable win last week."

There's key match-ups all over the park, with Holbrook saying while the Titans will need to control the Raiders stars, it will also be about his side improving.

"The key guys - the halves obviously, Hodgson at 9, Papalii, CNK, they've got some really top line players and we've got to nullify their impact.

"It's up to us, we've got to keep getting better ourselves.

"I think it is important we control the ball a bit better.

We've been able to get away with that by having a couple of good leads the last few weeks but we've got to continue on getting better."

Tanah Boyd will get his second start in the five-eighth jersey and Holbrook expects him to be better for the run last week.

"He was great Tanah last week and he will only get better as well."

After training at Homebush and Leichardt Oval this week after the NRL decided to move the game to Kogarah Oval to reduce the risk of the game being impacted by Queensland's COVID situation, Holbrook says the team won't be using that as an excuse.

"We get on with it," he said.

"It is just like playing an away game for us so there's no real big drama.

"You don't want to lose a home game and we are the only side losing a home game so that's not ideal but we'll get on with it we are still playing a game of footy and that's what we are going to do."

https://www.titans.com.au/news/2021/...ickys-raiders/

[Mr Bods]

What a huge day for our club.
Spewing it’s not on at Robina.

[DIEHARD]

Titans humming with Brimson back
https://www.nrl.com/news/2021/04/03/...-brimson-back/
With back-to-back wins, the Gold Coast Titans are approaching the form that saw them string five straight wins together to finish the 2020 season. Robbie Farah and Brett Kimmorley say AJ Brimson is a big reason for their current form

[DIEHARD]

Holbrook looking forward to playing Ricky's Raiders
https://www.titans.com.au/news/2021/...ickys-raiders/

It's Justin's Titans against Ricky's Raiders in a Saturday night blockbuster in Sydney.

While disappointed that the game won't be in front of Gold Coast fans at Cbus Super Stadium, Coach Justin Holbrook says his side will be ready for the challenge that Ricky Stuart's Raiders present.

"It is a good test," Holbrook said.

"We've had a couple of good wins but we will be facing stiffer opposition.

"I think that is good for us and I think we are ready for that

"They've been good for a few years now and we know that."

The Raiders were beaten by the Warriors in round three, but Holbrook isn't reading too much into that result after the Canberra side were decimated by injury.

"Everyone saw what they had to deal with last week (with injuries) and they just got run down but otherwise they have a comfortable win last week."

There's key match-ups all over the park, with Holbrook saying while the Titans will need to control the Raiders stars, it will also be about his side improving.

"The key guys - the halves obviously, Hodgson at 9, Papalii, CNK, they've got some really top line players and we've got to nullify their impact.

"It's up to us, we've got to keep getting better ourselves.

"I think it is important we control the ball a bit better.

We've been able to get away with that by having a couple of good leads the last few weeks but we've got to continue on getting better."

Tanah Boyd will get his second start in the five-eighth jersey and Holbrook expects him to be better for the run last week.

"He was great Tanah last week and he will only get better as well."

After training at Homebush and Leichardt Oval this week after the NRL decided to move the game to Kogarah Oval to reduce the risk of the game being impacted by Queensland's COVID situation, Holbrook says the team won't be using that as an excuse.

"We get on with it," he said.

"It is just like playing an away game for us so there's no real big drama.

"You don't want to lose a home game and we are the only side losing a home game so that's not ideal but we'll get on with it we are still playing a game of footy and that's what we are going to do."

[DIEHARD]

Coach's Comment: Stuart on injuries, travel and Hudson Young
https://www.raiders.com.au/news/2021...-hudson-young/
Canberra Raiders coach Ricky Stuart spoke about last weekend's game against the Warriors and how the injured players from that match are faring. Stuart also spoke about the last-minute change in venue for this weekend's game as well as Hudson Young and whether or not he will be fit for thsi weekend.

[DIEHARD]

OK it's betting time. Big spending DIEHARD is going to open his purse and have a flutter.

$20 on Titans to win
$9 Brimson to score a try

I see this as being a tough and close match. I really don't underestimate these guys. And after what happened last game to them, they'll be firing. Hopefully we can dominate them in the first 20-40mins and get repeat sets. A lot depends on how our halves go. I've very excited about seeing Tanah Boyd again.

[GCTTSD]

I'm really excited and nervous for this one could the result could say alot about our top 8 expectations, first time watching them live for the year I'm yet to see them win here in Sydney hopefully that changes tonight