THAT’S GRAND
Wounded Titans give up 1000 NRL games to high-flying Roosters
BANGED up, bruised and battered – the Gold Coast Titans will give up more than 1000 games of NRL experience to the high-flying Sydney Roosters when the two sides square off for the final round of the NRL regular season.
Titans coaching staff have called on Kevin Proctor to lead the patchwork team, which features big man Leivaha Pulu in a makeshift centre-pairing with rookie Phillip Sami and unheralded under-20s talents filling out the bench.
Proctor was removed of the co-captaincy earlier this year after being embroiled in a drug scandal after playing for the New Zealand team.
But the Titans had little choice but to turn to the Test star with their side for Saturday boasting just 1063 total NRL games. In comparison, the Roosters roster has 2098 NRL games to their name, giving the boys from Bondi an enormous edge when it comes to experience.
“It’s not easy … I just want them to give 100 per cent and play for the 80 minutes and we’ll see where that takes us,” interim co-coach Terry Matterson said. ■
GOLD Coast’s season from hell could well hit rock bottom on Saturday when a patched-up outfit with just 1063 games of experience limp into battle against the high-flying Sydney Roosters at Allianz Stadium.
Kevin Proctor has been reinstated as captain because there was next to no other option following Nathan Peats’ shoulder injury and Jarrod Wallace’s three-game ban.
Forward Leivaha Pulu will be pitched into the centres due to the club simply running out of outside backs.
The five players brought into the top 17 this week are either off-contract or have been told they are not wanted for next season.
And the possibility remains for the Gold Coast’s number of players used in 2017 to rise to 34 or more, with multiple in doubt and the extended bench (numbers 18 to 21) made up solely of rookies yet to taste first grade.
The Titans would have even named 17-year-old Moeaki Fotuaika in the No.20 jersey if not for NRL rules prohibiting players younger than 18 from playing.
Their combined 1063 games is not the lowest tally in their history – that was in Round 6 this year (837) – but to put it in perspective, they are up against a Roosters 17 almost twice as experienced with 2098 NRL games.
It’s a grim situation that has left co-coach Terry Matterson unsure what to expect.
“It’s not easy … I just want them to give 100 per cent and play for the 80 minutes and we’ll see where that takes us,” he said.
He believes they can take inspiration from their Round 26 opponents to rebound with a big 2018 season.
“The Roosters have shown that this year, they came 15th last year and they have turned that around,” he said.
Proctor’s promotion back into the captaincy is controversial given he was stripped of the role for his part in a cocaine scandal.
But Titans boss Graham Annesley has been pleased with the second-rower’s actions since the incident and was happy to back the decision of Matterson and cocoach Craig Hodges.
“He has done a lot of work with the local community, with the Salvation Army and so ultimately it is a decision for the coaches based on who they have got available,” Annesley said.
Gold Coast will drop to 15th on the ladder if they lose on Saturday and Wests Tigers defeat the Warriors the following day.