Titans allowed home to GC

Gold Coast will be able to fly home today and can host Newcastle on Saturday after the NRL cleared their region following COVID-19 concerns.

The Titans were forced to rush to Sydney last Wednesday, with the club fearing Saturday’s ‘‘home’’ game against Canberra at Kogarah, which they lost 20-4, would be the first of many on the road. But coronavirus numbers in Queensland have subsided significantly in recent days, with no new locally-acquired infections announced yesterday.

‘‘We’re thrilled that the team is coming home to the Coast,’’ Titans CEO Stephen Mitchell said.

‘‘The NRL has today informed us that we can head back to Queensland and we are preparing to play in front of a big crowd at Cbus Super Stadium on Saturday.

‘‘Justin (Holbrook) and the team love playing in front of The

Legion and we hope that a huge crowd will turn out to support the team against the Knights.’’

The decision allowing the Titans to fly home doesn’t have any immediate impact on the Brisbane Broncos, who are happy to stay in Sydney given they play Souths on Thursday night.

But with the NRL’s Apollo committee meeting regularly on the situation, it does boost Brisbane’s hopes of returning home on Friday morning.

The Broncos are due to play at home in round six, hosting frontrunners Penrith on April 15.

Meanwhile, the Titans are hopeful a cork suffered by halfback Jamal Fogarty won’t rule him out of the Knights clash.

Already without Ash Taylor for another week because of a broken hand, Gold Coast desperately need Fogarty’s playmaking in attack with Eric Clark and Tyrone Peachey the other options.

The Titans failed to make use of their opportunities in the loss to the Raiders, with three clear trysavers denying them while they completed just 67 per cent of their sets. ‘‘It was a bit of a shambles all round,’’ Holbrook said of the loss.

‘‘We’ve played well the last couple of weeks (against Brisbane and North Queensland) and we had to play better (against Canberra). ‘‘We missed our chances ... That made it a tough night.’’

● John Morris hopes more wins like Saturday’s record thumping of North Queensland will mean he doesn’t have to plead as one of just two unsigned coaches in the NRL seeks a new deal with Cronulla.

The Sharks beat the Cowboys

48-10, scoring six tries in a ruthless first half despite missing six frontline players through injury and suspension and then dealing with the early losses of Josh Dugan (HIA) and Ronaldo Mulitalo (knee).

Morris and Melbourne’s Craig Bellamy are the only coaches without a 2022 deal.