Titans v Raiders preview

Gold Coast Titans v Canberra Raiders
Cbus Super Stadium - Sunday 2:00pm

Also-rans play for pride.

It's been another season to forget for the aqua gold and white, and this time they may have a title to show for it - wooden spooners. The men from the glitter strip currently sit last on equal points with the Knights and Wests Tigers with three rounds to go and will need every bit of luck to avoid the dreaded utensil. Losing Aidan Sezer won't have helped either.

Canberra on the other hand, well - they'd be at risk of the spoon themselves if their differential wasn't so good. Countless home losses by less than 10 points have the Raiders four points outside the eight going into this round, but only two from the bottom as well. They have the class and talent to win plenty of matches, but this season will go down as a failure simply due to their inability to close out close games. In fact, their only truly convincing home win came against this side - back in Round 9.

Last meeting: Round 9 2015 - Canberra Raiders 56 Gold Coast Titans 16

Who to watch: Neil Henry. One season into his tenure and the Robina boys are worse off. Not the ideal start. His chance to build for next season starts now. They've made some good signings but his game plans in these last few rounds need to deliver some results - both to avoid the spoon and to show the incoming players there's a good foundation to build on.

Canberra's Paul Vaughan always seems to be able to pull something out of nothing from up front and this week should be no different. The big bopper has some silky skills which Ricky Stuart will want to see on display if the Raiders are going to finish the season on a high.

The favourite: Canberra have actually performed admirably on the road - as a result (and the fact the Titans are spoon-bound), they are favourites.

My tip: Canberra should have too much class here. The Titans started courageously against Canterbury last week but simply lack the class, especially without Sezer going into this one. Raiders by 14.

1. David Mead 2. Leva Li 3. James Roberts 4. Nene Macdonald 5. Kalifa Faifai Loa 6. Josh Hoffman 7. Daniel Mortimer 8. Luke Douglas 9. Beau Falloon 10. Nate Myles 11. Ryan James 12. Agnatius Paasi 13. Greg Bird
Interchange: 14. Dave Taylor 15. Eddy Pettybourne 16. Matt White 17. Kierran Moseley 18. David Hala 19. Nathaniel Peteru

1. Jack Wighton 2. Edrick Lee 3. Jarrod Croker 4. Joseph Leilua 5. Sisa Waqa 6. Blake Austin 7. Sam Williams 8. Frank Paul Nuuausala 9. Josh Hodgson 10. David Shillington 11. Josh Papalii 12. Jarrad Kennedy 13. Shaun Fensom
Interchange: 14. Kurt Baptiste 15. Luke Bateman 16. Paul Vaughan 17. Shannon Boyd

Referees: Gavin Reynolds, Chris Sutton; Sideline Officials: Brett Suttor, Ziggy Przeklasa-Adamski; Video Referees: Steve Clark, Luke Phillips;

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