Round 12: Roosters v Titans preview
The Central Coast gets NRL fever for the second time this season when the Sydney Roosters host the Gold Coast Titans at Central Coast Stadium in Gosford.
The Sydney Roosters will be looking to make amends for their heartbreaking defeat late last weekend against the Broncos and a battle against the thirteenth placed Gold Coast Titans could be what they need to bounce back. The Roosters led on three separate occasions in their clash against the Broncos including leading into the final ten minutes. The Roosters came into last weeks clash off back to back victories with wins over the Sea Eagles and Warriors before last week.
The Roosters coach Trent Robinson has kept the same team as the one that took on the Broncos side last week. The Roosters of 2018 haven't been anywhere near as clinical as they have been in recent years and it's shown in their attack of 2018 where they have scored just 214 points across the first eleven rounds of the season compared with 236 points in 2017.
The Gold Coast Titans come into the game with a confidence boosting win against the Knights last week having to play for a 20 minute period with 12 men on the field having two players sin binned early in the second half. The victory for the Titans was a massive confidence booster having lost their previous five matches leading into the match with the Knights.
The Titans season was one predicting to not push the top runners of the competition and despite a round one win, the Titans season was faltering and compounded by a 54-8 drubbing at the hands of the Dragons in Toowoomba. The Titans then started to ask questions with an upset victory over the Broncos and then again against Manly a week later. The Titans have the same amount of wins as they did in 2017 at the same point however the concern will be that both the attack and defence has been worse off than it was in 2017.
Last meeting: Round 26 2017 - Roosters 20 Titans 16
The two sides have actually played each other previously at Central Coast Stadium way back in 2009 with the Roosters winning that one with Jake Friend being the only player of the two sides to have played in that clash.
Who to watch: Latrell Mitchell - The Roosters centre had a big battle last week against potential Origin teammate James Roberts last week and it will be important that Mitchell backs it up to confirm his selection for State of Origin 1 in a few weeks. The game is important also for Latrell Mitchell to stand up as well because although he had a big game against James Roberts, he was stood up in the battle on a number of occasions and needs to show he can bounce back and play consistent footy.
Jarrod Wallace - Having recently committed to staying with the Titans, Jarrod Wallace needs to prove that he is a leader of this Titans side now and for the future leading a solid pack forward across the park. The Titans forward has averaged nearly 115m per game and although this is solid, he will need to produce a performance like this to give the Titans a big chance up against the Roosters.
The favourite: The Roosters superior form in the past few weeks as seen them locked in as heavy favourites against the Titans side who only broke a five game losing streak against a poor Newcastle side.
My tip: It's too hard to go past the Roosters, there wasn't a lot to complain about the Roosters performance last week in a big game against the Broncos at Suncorp and key players will be fired up to make amends and put some commenters in their place. Roosters by 18.
Sydney Roosters Form Guide
