Dragons v Titans preview

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St George Illawarra Dragons v Gold Coast Titans Friday 6:00pm at WIN Stadium, Wollongong / Dharawal

Friday night NRL action hits Wollongong as two teams looking for consistency in form do battle as the St George Illawarra Dragons take on the Gold Coast Titans.

The Dragons have won just one of their four matches to start 2025 and sit in 12th spot thanks to a bye helping them off equal last spot. The big thing though for the Red ‘V' is that their only win in 2025 came at home a fortnight ago when they beat the Melbourne Storm 14-8.

2025 was meant to be a revival for the Red ‘V' with big recruits such as Clint Gutherson, Valentine Holmes and Damien Cook amongst others but they just haven't found form and despite that win against Melbourne, things just don't seem to be clicking for the Dragons. Although losing 3 matches, the Dragons biggest losing margin was 8 points which came in Round 1 against the Bulldogs so there are signs and they only lost by a point to South Sydney and Parramatta respectively although last week was a concerning performance.

Despite some criticism on key players not delivering at key moments, Dragons coach Shane Flanagan has elected to keep the same 17 as last week meaning Lachlan Ilias who has come under a fair bit of scrutiny keeps his spot despite a potential game deciding error last weekend.

The Gold Coast Titans have looked both excellent and poor at times this season none more so than their past fortnight where they picked up an impressive win against the Roosters before a performance against the Dolphins last week where the Titans looked about two grades lower than their opponents last week.

The Titans season was meant to be one of improvement but so far in 2025 it has looked very similar to previous seasons where the Gold Coast side couldn't find consistency during the individual games let alone across the season. The Titans had moments of good against the Bulldogs during their first game of the season in Round 2 after the bye but were outplayed for the majority of the contest before a strong performance against the Knights and the Roosters. The game last week, the Titans showed very little energy and their play didn't show anything from their wins.

A suspension to captain Tino Fa'asuamaleaui has forced Gold Coast coach Des Hasler into a number of changes with players also returning from injury. Chris Randall moves into the vacant lock position with Sam Verrills returning to the hooker role. Jojo Fifita also returns to the side after missing last week with injury seeing Beau Fermor move back to the second row after playing at centre last week.

Last meeting: Round 24 2024 - Dragons 32 Titans 16

Who to watch: Coming up against his old team for the first time last week, Clint Gutherson has been under pressure in the Red ‘V' and a performance where he failed to get the two points will drive Gutho this week. The performances from Gutherson have been strong but inconsistent as he hasn't probably fully delivered what the Dragons have wanted from him. After last weeks, defeat it feels hard not to see Gutherson firing up again this week.

After last week's disappointment, Gold Coast halfback AJ Brimson will need to step up as he has done in the performances that saw the Titans get their two wins so far this season. The performance from Brimson last week looked uninspired and just bereft of ideas where as the Titans in their win has had strong attack. Brimson pulls out a big performance and the Titans can do things in attack that get them the win.

The favourite: The Dragons are strong favourites for the contest

My tip: This is a hard game to decide because both teams bring their own pros and cons to the game. Consistency has been a problem for both sides and as much as I draw myself to tipping one way, it doesn't feel right which is the problem with this game. The Dragons being in Wollongong I think just holds sway but I hold almost zero confidence in it. Dragons by 4.

1. Clinton Gutherson 2. Tyrell Sloan 3. Moses Suli 4. Valentine Holmes 5. Christian Tuipulotu 6. Kyle Flanagan 7. Lachlan Ilias 8. Toby Couchman 9. Damien Cook 10. David Klemmer 17. Dylan Egan 12. Jaydn Su'A 13. Jack de Belin 11. Luciano Leilua 14. Jacob Liddle 15. Blake Lawrie 16. Hamish Stewart 18. Mathew Feagai

1. Jaylan De Groot 2. Tony Francis 3. Brian Kelly 12. Beau Fermor 4. Phillip Sami 6. AJ Brimson 7. Jayden Campbell 8. Moeaki Fotuaika 9. Sam Verrills 10. Reagan Campbell-Gillard 11. Klese Haas 15. David Fifita 13. Chris Randall 14. Arama Hau 16. Jaimin Jolliffe 17. Brock Gray 22. Allan Fitzgibbon 18. Tom Weaver

Referees: Chris Butler; Sideline Officials: Daniel Luttringer, David Munro; Video Referees: Liam Kennedy;