Saturday’s NRL 2018 Round 19 match is between Newcastle Knights and Gold Coast Titans. The opening kick is set to commence at 15:00 local time with the game to be played at McDonald Jones Stadium, Newcastle. The home team Newcastle Knights are the favourites for the match.
View our preview and teams for the game between Newcastle Knights and Gold Coast Titans.
When: 15:00 | Saturday 21/07/2018
Where: McDonald Jones Stadium, Newcastle
Preview:
Mitchell’s Pearce again showed his worth in this hardworking honest footy team.
Provided a match-winning try for his team after three months off due to injury.
He has a calming presence about him and the control to really help his side.
He will again be at the front of the charge for his team up against Ash Taylor who had admitted recently that he hadn’t really handled the Origin talk well and is down on confidence.
His performance against the Roosters had some positives to take out of it though.
Will the old bull show his class or the young pup rise and answer his critics.
His team needs him at his best if they are a chance.
There is something about the Knights that you just got to gravitate to.
They work hard and play an honest style that satisfies most.
At home, they are hard to beat and the locals will again show their support and rally behind their side.
The Verdict
The Titans have the team to get the job done but you just don’t know what side will turn up and for that, I’m going for the Knights.
Newcastle are 9-9-0 (50.0 percent) in day matches since 2017 in the “First Half (Highest Scoring Half) market.
Unibet Odds:
Newcastle Knights at $2.00
Gold Coast Titans at $1.82
Odds:
Tip: Newcastle Knights at $1.81
Value Tip: First Try Scorer: Ken Sio at $12.00
More Info:
Teams:
Newcastle Knights:
1 Nick Meaney, 2 Ken Sio, 3 Cory Denniss, 4 Shaun Kenny-Dowall, 5 Nathan Ross, 6 Connor Watson, 7 Mitchell Pearce (c), 8 Josh King, 9 Danny Levi, 10 Daniel Saifiti, 11 Aidan Guerra, 12 Mitch Barnett, 13 Herman Ese’ese
Interchange: 14 Jamie Buhrer (c), 15 Chris Heighington, 16 Lachlan Fitzgibbon, 17 Jacob Lillyman
Reserves: 18 Brent Naden, 19 Sam Stone, 20 Jack Cogger, 21 JJ Felise.
Gold Coast Titans: 
1 Michael Gordon, 2 Anthony Don, 3 Konrad Hurrell, 4 Brenko Lee, 5 Phillip Sami, 6 AJ Brimson, 7 Ashley Taylor, 8 Jarrod Wallace, 9 Nathan Peats, 10 Ryan James (c), 11 Kevin Proctor, 12 Keegan Hipgrave, 13 Jai Arrow
Interchange: 14 Mitch Rein, 15 Moeaki Fotuaika, 16 Jack Stockwell, 17 Will Matthews
Reserves: 18 Leilani Latu, 19 Brendan Elliot, 20 Jai Whitbread, 21 Morgan Boyle.
NRL News:
Newcastle coach Nathan Brown has poured cold water on superstar Kalyn Ponga’s plan to return to the NRL paddock against the Gold Coast next weekend.
Ponga’s influence was sorely missed as the Knights lacked attacking spark in their ugly yet tense 18-16 victory over a hapless Parramatta at McDonald Jones Stadium on Friday night.
The 20-year-old sat on the sidelines after being struck down by a hamstring injury which also kept him out of State of Origin III.
After going down against Canterbury a fortnight ago, he was slated to miss three to four weeks and eyeing off next Saturday’s home clash with the Titans as a possible return date.
However, with the side’s finals chances evaporated, Brown said they would not be risking long-term injury.
“I’d be doubtful,” Brown said.
“If it was a grand final, you’d probably say yes. But he’s too important for the club’s long-term future to be risking him with a hamstring at this stage.
“I’d be surprised if he made next week. He’ll be touch and go. But I’d be surprised, we’re not going to push him at this stage.”
In Ponga’s absence, debutant Nick Meaney did a commendable job in the No.1 jersey against the Eels.
After losing seven of their previous eight, the Knights were a far more organised outfit with Mitchell Pearce playing his first game since April because of a pectoral injury.
As well as scoring what turned out to be the game-winning try early in the second half, he controlled field position as the home side took advantage of an error-riddled Eels.
Parramatta were lucky to be in the contest after making 14 errors and completing at just 61 per cent on the back of a litany of cardinal errors.
Asked if his side should have won by more, Brown said: “Anytime you win you’ve got to be happy.
“We had a player make his debut today, Nick Meaney and he’s one of the only debutants at the club in the past couple of years to have won (in his debut game).
“Everytime you win you’ve got to have an element of happiness.
“We played like boneheads in the last 15 minutes but it’s been 12 weeks since Junior (Pearce) has played.
“When we did lead by the small margin in the latter part of the game, we could have done things a lot smarter, which I would expect after going through what we went through.”