Expert
The Sydney Roosters were too good for the Gold Coast Titans on Sunday, winning by eight points.
Final score
Gold Coast Titans 12
Sydney Roosters 20
The Gold Coast Titans will be attempting to get back to their best when they host the Sydney Roosters. Join The Roar for live scores and coverage from 6:30pm (AEST).
The Titans were showing some signs of life after the representative round, but that all disappeared in a horrific performamce last week.
Despite South East Queensland rivals the Broncos not having their Origin stars, the final scoreline went on to read 34-0 in favour of big brother.
Before last week though, the Titans had beaten the Tigers and Bulldogs with commanding performances.
It was the best their attack had looked all season and gave a brief – albeit small – hope the club had genuinely turned a corner.
Being brought back down to Earth last week though proved their defence still isn’t up to scratch.
It’s their defence which is a major stumbling block, given the young talents of AJ Brimson and Ashley Taylor in the halves.
The duo sparked the Titans during their run of wins, but for them to play that well again they need the forwards to dominate proceedings.
Possession and territory have only been part of the defensive problem though. If the Roosters can stay on top of the game from the get go, they could run up a big score here.
Of course, the tri-colours have questions still to answer of their own.
While they are indeed sitting within the top eight, they don’t exactly look like world beaters.
In saying that, they have won five of their last six during the Origin period, which was somewhat unexpected.
Speaking of Origin and they could be without some stars for the trip north as Trent Robinson weighs up resting some of his players.
The Roosters did fall by a point last week to the Storm in what was an extremely scrappy encounter, but it’s hard to know whether anything should be really made of the result given how understrength the two sides were.
Prediction
Despite their potential lack of Origin players and what happened last week, the Roosters should come out all guns blazing and pick up an impressive victory away from home.
Roosters by 16.
Join The Roar for live coverage of the final match this weekend from 6:30pm (AEST) and don’t forget to add a comment in the section below.