Eels v Titans preview

Parramatta Eels v Gold Coast Titans
Pirtek Stadium - Saturday 3:00pm

After an uninspiring performance against the Wests Tigers last weekend, the Parramatta Eels have named an unchanged starting 17 to face the Titans. Peni Terepo has been added to an extended bench. The Titans will also line up exactly as they did against the Broncos.

The Parramatta Eels were torn apart in the last ten minutes by an up-tempo passage of play from the Tigers. Leading 6-4 with just over ten minutes to go, the Tigers scored three quick tries to take the game away from the Eels. Brad Arthur accused his team of not going for the throat when they had a slight edge in possession.

"I just think we didn't play to win, we were trying to protect the lead, or play to not get beaten," he said.

The Eels will have spoken about playing for the full 80 minutes this week, and it will be necessary against a Titans side that keeps trying, even if they are behind on the scoreboard.

The Titans still haven't regrouped after a tough off season - their only win coming against the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks a few weeks ago. Their fortunes looked to be changing after that result, but the Gold Coast side has quickly fallen back into their rut. They're rapidly running out of time to put their season back on track.

Last week against the Broncos, the Titans barely seemed in the contest, despite their best efforts. The Broncos' defence easily accounted for wave after wave of attack from the Titans - and this is surely an area that coach Neil Henry would have addressed during the week. Of particular concern were the number of errors at the Broncos' end of the ground.

"We had a lot of attacking sets, I don't think we made an error in yardage sets, I think we were 20 from 20, but we made 10 errors in attacking zones", said Neil Henry.

Last meeting: Round 20 2014 - Gold Coast Titans 18 Parramatta Eels 24

Who to watch: The battle of the hookers. For the Eels, Nathan Peats has been good so far this season, last week racking up 50 tackles, a line break and a try. His running game was incisive, despite constant attention from the Tigers defenders. On the other side of the scrum, Kierran Moseley is starting to find his feet in first grade, and is proving a valuable asset to the Titans side, after only a handful of matches.

The favourite: Despite both teams coming off losses last start, the Eels will start as favourites at home.

My tip: If you were a betting man (and extremely silly) you'd be putting your house on the Parramatta Eels. So far this season, the Eels are undefeated at home, and yet to win away. I won't be putting my house down, but I'm pretty confident of an Eels win. Eels by 12.

1. William Hopoate 2. Bureta Faraimo 3. Ryan Morgan 4. John Folau 5. Reece Robinson 6. Corey Norman 7. Chris Sandow 8. Darcy Lussick 9. Nathan Peats 10. Tim Mannah 11. Manu Ma'u 12. Tepai Moeroa 13. Anthony Watmough
Interchange: 14. Isaac De Gois 15. Joseph Paulo 16. David Gower 17. Danny Wicks 18. Peni Terepo

1. Josh Hoffman 2. Anthony Don 3. James Roberts 4. William Zillman 5. David Mead 6. Aidan Sezer 7. Kane Elgey 8. Luke Douglas 9. Kierran Moseley 10. Nate Myles 11. Ryan James 12. Dave Taylor 13. Greg Bird
Interchange: 14. Eddy Pettybourne 15. Agnatius Paasi 16. Lachlan Burr 17. Ryan Simpkins 18. Matt White

Referees: Henry Perenara, Gavin Reynolds; Sideline Officials: Jeff Younis, Lawrence McDonnell; Video Referees: Matt Cecchin, Luke Phillips;

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