The Roar
The Roar

Advertisement

Will the Titans thwart Penrith’s golden chance to win three in a row?

The Titans host the red-hot Eels in Round 3. (AAP Image/Dave Hunt)
Roar Guru
21st May, 2016
3

Two teams coming off last-start victories come together at the foot of the Blue Mountains looking to generate some winning momentum, as the Penrith Panthers finally return home to prepare for their clash with the Gold Coast Titans.

Penrith’s slightly more comfortable looking 30-18 score-line over the Warriors in Christchurch belies the fact that yet again the game was in the balance heading into the final ten minutes and a win here will see them achieve three successive wins for the first time in 2016, despite taking back-to-back home games to Bathurst and Christchurch.

In fact, before last week’s blow out, Penrith’s biggest margin came way back in Round 1 when late points enabled the Raiders to escape with an eight-point win, highlighting that so far in 2016 the Panthers are able to compete against any side.

Yet with a 5-5 record, the Panthers are now in the top eight and a win over the Titans this Sunday will send the Panthers into the bye round with momentum and confidence.

A win may also cement positions for many if not all of Penrith’s State of Origin hopefuls, namely Matt Moylan, Josh Mansour, Bryce Cartwright, Trent Merrin and Tyrone Peachey.

The Titans also come to Pepper Stadium buoyed by their biggest win of the season, 26-6 versus the Sydney Roosters on Monday Night Football, snapping a five-game losing streak in the process.

Having been earmarked by most experts as certainties to win the wooden spoon, Gold Coast have been somewhat of a surprise packet in 2016 on the back of a never-say-die attitude installed by underrated coach Neil Henry, and their results to date have largely made a mockery of apparent ‘mismatches.’

While the Titans have claimed three wins from six at home, their Achilles heel remains their away form, having won just one from four in 2016.

Advertisement

But when both sides are compared, the only real difference is their ladder position given that the Panthers have scored just one more try and conceded 20 points less and while they lead the competition for offloads, the Gold Coast are no slouches in this department, ranking fifth.

Both Penrith and the Gold Coast are ranked among the NRL’s worst teams for missed tackles, ranked 16th and 14th respectively. The team that muscles up in defence and stops the other from employing their second phase play will go a long way towards deciding the result in this clash.

Team news
Penrith have named an unchanged 17 for this clash although they have officially named Tyrone Peachey at centre, having played there for the past two weeks despite being named at game-time as hooker.

While James Segeyaro has again been named to start at hooker, it will not surprise if the trend of starting Peter Wallace at hooker, James Fisher-Harris in the back-row and Bryce Cartwright at five-eighth continues against the Titans.

With that being the case, it remains to be seen whether Griffin will utilise Peachey on the left as was the case against the Warriors or reunite him with Cartwright on the right, where they created havoc both against Canberra and Country.

While Peachey has yet to nail a permanent spot in the team, there is no doubt he represents a far more dangerous proposition when he starts a game and at the moment playing in the centres has eased the pain associated with Dean Whare’s season-ending injury.

For the Titans, Nene Macdonald returns from a calf injury to replace the injured David Mead (knee) on the wing, but it’s the inclusion on the bench of mid-season buy from Parramatta, hooker Nathan Peats, that holds the most intrigue as there will be plenty of interest to see whether he can put the disappointment surrounding his departure due to the Eels’ salary cap dramas behind him.

Advertisement

Peats’ inclusion pushes former Panther Kierran Moseley on an extended bench along with Eddy Pettybourne, who could be a late inclusion if David Shillington withdraws with injury.

While there are some great match-ups across the park, none arguably better than the battle of the respective No.13s, Trent Merrin and Greg Bird, especially given that with Origin selections to be announced less than 24 hours later, both players are potentially battling for the same spot in coach Laurie Daley’s team.

Both forwards are pivotal to their team’s desire to play second-phase footy with Merrin providing 16 offloads to supports while Bird isn’t far behind with 13, while both players provide plenty of aggressive running churning out 142 metres and 121 metres respectively.

While the Panthers are still the worst defensive team in the NRL for missed tackles, the Titans will need to muscle up on the edges particularly on the right with Macdonald and Don both tackling at less than eighty per cent accuracy.

The key match-ups
Trent Merrin vs Greg Bird
Peter Wallace vs Ashley Taylor
Reagan Campbell-Gillard vs Ryan James

The key stats
Played 13 – Panthers 8, Titans 5.

Although the Titans were convincing 32-6 winners when they last met at Robina, the Panthers boast wins in five of the last six clashes and have won four of the six games played at either Penrith or Bathurst including that 40-nil drubbing in Bathurst just five rounds earlier.

Advertisement

Illustrating the level of player turnover at the Gold Coast, just seven players return from that 32-6 win over the Panthers in 2015 while ten players return for the Panthers in 2016.

The last time the Gold Coast won in Penrith was back in 2013 when they won 28-10.

11 of the 13 matches between these two teams have been decided by 13 points or more.

Gold Coast have won just one of their past ten away matches since a win against the Wests Tigers back in Round 13, 2015.

Greg Bird is looking for his 50th NRL win as a Gold Coast Titan.

Last meeting: Titans defeated Panthers 32-6 (Round 7, 2015).

Panthers last three games: 30-18 versus Warriors, 19-18 versus Raiders, 18-20 versus Sharks.

Advertisement

Titans last three games: 26-6 versus Roosters, 0-38 versus Storm, 20-21 versus Bulldogs.

Under this week’s referees, Henry Perenara and Chris James, surprisingly it’s the Gold Coast who enjoy the better record.

The Gold Coast have a combined 17-15 win-loss record under either referee while the Panthers have won just 13 of 34 games controlled by either referee.

This will be Penrith’s first game in 2016 (in fact first since the 2014 qualifying final against the Roosters in Perenara’s case) under either referee while the Gold Coast have won four, lost two when either referee has officiated their games in 2016.

In games between the pair officiated by either referee, honours are even with one win a piece for the Panthers and the Gold Coast.

Teams
Penrith Panthers
1. Matt Moylan (c) 2. Josh Mansour 3. Tyrone Peachey 4. Peta Hiku 5. Dallin Watene-Zelezniak 6. Jamie Soward 7. Peter Wallace 8. Sam McKendry 9. James Segeyaro 10. Reagan Campbell-Gillard 11. Bryce Cartwright 12. Isaah Yeo 13. Trent Merrin

Interchange: 14. Suaia Matagi 15. Jeremy Latimore 16. Leilani Latu 17. James Fisher-Harris

Advertisement

Gold Coast Titans
1. William Zillman (c) 2. Anthony Don 3. Josh Hoffman 4. Nathan Davis 5. Nene Macdonald 6. Tyrone Roberts 7. Ashley Taylor 8. David Shillington 9. Nathan Friend (c) 10. Ryan James 11. Zeb Taia 12. Chris McQueen 13. Greg Bird

Interchange: 14. Luke Douglas 15. Leivaha Pulu 16. Agnatius Paasi 17. Nathan Peats 18. Eddy Pettybourne 19. Kierran Moseley (two to be omitted)

Match officials
Referee: Henry Perenara.
Assistant Referee: Chris James.
Touch Judges: Jason Walsh, Dave Ryan.
Review Officials: Bryan Norrie, Jason Robinson.
Senior Review Official: Luke Patten.

Stew’s view
Apart from sizeable losses both home and away to the Melbourne Storm, the Titans have been ultra-competitive in 2016, losing by an average of less than five points per game against the likes of Cronulla, Canterbury, Brisbane and St George-Illawarra.

The Panthers come into this game as heavy favourites, something they have not been accustomed to so far in 2016 despite their well-documented ability to stay in the contest until the final minutes of all their games.

With Origin suddenly a realistic proposition for many Panthers, it represents an unwelcome distraction at a time where club still needs to come first, despite the hype.

But the Titans’ convincing win over the Roosters should ensure Penrith come into this clash with no false sense of security or complacency as they aim to win three straight before the bye.

Advertisement

With the Panthers finally at their spiritual home for the first time in six weeks, they should prevail but not before the Titans have their moments in the sun in what should be a far more entertaining affair then most predict.

It could be case of having your debrillators by your sides yet again Panther fans, with both sides more than capable of scoring more than twenty points in a match expected to be played in unseasonably warm conditions at Pepper Stadium, before Penrith prevails late by eight points.

Penrith Panthers v Gold Coast Titans
Pepper Stadium, Sunday 22 May 2016
Kick-off at 2.00pm (AEST)
Televised: Fox Sports 1, coverage from 1:30pm (AEST).

close