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Jake Clifford has led the way for the North Queensland Cowboys as they recorded a tight six-point trial victory over a much-improved Gold Coast Titans on the Sunshine Coast.
» Click here for the full match report
Final score
Gold Coast Titans 16
North Queensland Cowboys 22
The Gold Coast Titans and North Queensland Cowboys will begin their final preparations for the 2019 NRL season when the sides clash on the Sunshine Coast. Join The Roar for live scores and coverage from 6pm (AEDT).
From a neutral observer’s point of view, this is going to be an intriguing battle and one of the better Week 2 trials.
The Titans and Cowboys both struggled throughout 2018, missing the top eight and finishing at the wrong end of the table.
And yet, both teams will have aspirations to finish higher this year. The Titans have spent time rebuilding nicely and have an exciting squad for 2019, while the Cowboys are beginning life in the post-Johnathan Thurston era, but have one of the best packs in the game.
That forward pack will be almost in its entirety for this game, with the only notable figures missing being Coen Hess and off-season signing Josh McGuire. Otherwise, this will be the first run for Matt Scott, Jordan McLean, Ethan Lowe and Jason Taumalolo, while players like Corey Jensen, Mitchell Dunn, Scott Bolton and Francis Molo compete for spots in the Round 1 team.
New recruit Jordan Kahu and star Michael Morgan both are out of this game, but that being said, the battle to join Morgan in the halves will heat up between young guns Te Maire Martin and Jake Clifford.
The Gold Coast come into this game with a significantly weakened spine. Nathan Peats, AJ Brimson and Ashley Taylor have all been left out, but this match will give us a look at Tyrone Roberts and back-up hooker Mitch Rein, as well as exciting youngster Jesse Arthars at fullback.
The battle for a vacant centre position will also heat up between Brenko Lee and Brian Kelly, while the pack features Bryce Cartwright and the damaging Moeaki Fotuaika.
Still, even the pack is weakened, and the Titans seem to be treating this game as purely experimantal.
Prediction
Predicting the results of trials is a silly game, but the Cowboys pack looks close enough to full strength, so they should get the job done here as Martin and Clifford fight for positions.
Cowboys by 8.
Be sure to join The Roar for live coverage of this NRL trial from 6pm (AEDT) and don’t forget to add a comment in the section below.
Kick-off: 6pm (AEDT)
Venue: CBus Super Stadium, Gold Coast
TV: N/A
Online: Live, NRL.com
Referee: Ashley Klein
Gold Coast Titans
1. Jesse Arthars 2. Anthony Don 3. Brenko Lee 4. Brian Kelly 5. Phillip Sami 6. Dylan Phythian 7. Tyrone Roberts 8. Jack Stockwell 9. Mitch Rein 10. Moeaki Fotuaika 11. Bryce Cartwright 12. Will Matthews 13. Max King
Interchange: 14. Christian Hazard 15. Morgan Boyle 16. Jai Whitbread 17. Leilani Latu 18. John Palavi 19. Darius Farmer 20. Jaxson Paulo 21. Kai O’donnell 22. Ben Thomas 23. Ioana Seiuli 24. Kea Pere 25. Treymain Spry 26. Jacob Hind
North Queensland Cowboys
1. Carlin Anderson 2. Gideon Gela-mosby 3. Enari Tuala 4. Javid Bowen 5. Murray Taulagi 6. Te Maire Martin 7. Jake Clifford 8. Matt Scott 9. Jake Granville 10. Jordan McLean 11. Ethan Lowe 12. Mitchell Dunn 13. Jason Taumalolo
Interchange: 14. Kurt Wiltshire 15. Corey Jensen 16. Shane Wright 17. Scott Bolton 18. Francis Molo 19. Thomas Gilbert 20. Reuben Cotter 21. Tom Opacic 22. Peter Hola 23. Dan Russell
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