{"id":741458,"date":"2026-06-17T02:45:19","date_gmt":"2026-06-17T02:45:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/741458\/"},"modified":"2026-06-17T02:45:19","modified_gmt":"2026-06-17T02:45:19","slug":"titans-dangerous-but-panthers-should-be-too-strong-the-western-weekender","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/741458\/","title":{"rendered":"Titans dangerous, but Panthers should be too strong \u2022 The Western Weekender"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Penrith fullback Dylan Edwards. Photo: NRL Photos.<\/p>\n

Penrith travel to the Gold Coast this Saturday with a six point gap on second place and an absolute stranglehold on the competition.<\/p>\n

But with their State of Origin stars likely to miss this clash, ruling out the Titans completely would be a fool\u2019s game.<\/p>\n

Gold Coast\u2019s performances this season aren\u2019t reflected by their position on the ladder. They have shown significant improvement and certainly don\u2019t deserve to be sitting in second last spot.<\/p>\n

But with just three wins, that is their current fate \u2013 and a spot in the Finals is looking more and more unlikely.<\/p>\n

Had Josh Hannay\u2019s side done a couple of things differently in some close matches this year they may sit significantly closer to the top eight. Losses like the four-point defeat at the hands of the Dolphins in Round 2 and the eight point loss to the Warriors in Round 7 are examples of games where a bounce of the ball could have changed things.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Paul Alamoti silences the Warriors fans. Photo: NRL Photos.<\/p>\n

They should have beaten the Tigers at Leichhardt Oval last week too, but again they just aren\u2019t an 80 minute team at the moment and that\u2019s something Hannay will be working on for next year \u2013 to get more consistency out of his side.<\/p>\n

Penrith proved against the Warriors last month that even without their Origin stars, they are a tough side to contend with. The likes of Jack Cogger, Paul Alamoti and Dylan Edwards really stood up, and you\u2019d expect the same thing here.<\/p>\n

Penrith are such a systematic side that no matter who is out, everyone knows their job and can tick the boxes required. It\u2019s what makes them so frustrating to defend against and even more frustrating to try to get on top of.<\/p>\n

On paper Penrith should win this and win it comfortably, even without their Blues representatives.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Jack Cogger will run the show in place of Nathan Cleary. Photo: NRL Photos.<\/p>\n

But dangers lurk within this Titans team.<\/p>\n

Keano Kini is one of the most exciting players in the game and whether it\u2019s backing up a break or producing his own piece of magic (like he did against the Broncos earlier this month), he is hard to handle and a definite danger.<\/p>\n

The Titans do have some grunt up front with Moeaki Fotuaiki and Klese Haas, and Beau Former is always dangerous on the edge.<\/p>\n

Phillip Sami has the most post-contact metres of any player in the competition this season, so again if he\u2019s on his game, there\u2019s opportunity there for the home side.<\/p>\n

But there\u2019s just not enough football brains in this Titans team. Nobody who stands up, wants to lead the way for his team and inspire them a victory. It just doesn\u2019t feel like there\u2019s a loud voice.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The Panthers celebrate a try. Photo: NRL Photos.<\/p>\n

And the biggest worry of all? Gold Coast has made more errors than any other team in the competition this year. They just can\u2019t hold the ball, and it means they rarely get enough momentum and can\u2019t build the pressure required to score points.<\/p>\n

There is a bit to like about this Titans team, but it moreso sits in the potential category than delivery. They will be a better team next year, and Hannay will be a better coach with a full season under his belt.<\/p>\n

If Penrith implement their usual game plan, keep errors to a minimum and build the pressure they usually do, it\u2019s hard to see them getting beaten here.<\/p>\n

Tip: Panthers by 18.<\/p>\n

Penrith and Gold Coast play on Saturday, June 20 at 5.30pm. The game is live on Fox League and Kayo.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Troy Dodds is the Weekender’s Managing Editor and Breaking News Reporter. He has more than 20 years experience as a journalist, working with some of Australia’s leading media organisations. In 2023, he was named Editor of the Year at the Mumbrella Publish Awards.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Penrith fullback Dylan Edwards. Photo: NRL Photos. Penrith travel to the Gold Coast this Saturday with a six…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":741459,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-741458","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/741458","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=741458"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/741458\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/741459"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=741458"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=741458"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=741458"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}