{"id":416442,"date":"2026-05-07T15:25:13","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T15:25:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/416442\/"},"modified":"2026-05-07T15:25:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T15:25:13","slug":"cooper-bai-gold-coast-titans-nrl-season-2026-round-10-rooster-v-titans-png","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/416442\/","title":{"rendered":"Cooper Bai, Gold Coast Titans, NRL season 2026, Round 10, Rooster v Titans, PNG"},"content":{"rendered":"

Titans coach Josh Hannay has made a bold shake-up of his line-up for their Round 10 challenge against the rising Roosters, turning to youth and fresh perspectives in a bid to shift his team\u2019s fortunes.<\/p>\n

As well as handing a starting halfback debut to 20-year-old Zane Harrison, uncapped Jensen Taumoepeau comes onto the wing for the injured Siale Faeamani, while Oliver Pascoe has been elevated to start at hooker, shifting Sam Verrills to the extended bench.<\/p>\n


\n
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\n \"Cooper
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\n Cooper Bai scoring a try against the Dolphins
\n \u00a9Scott Davis \/ NRL Images
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Whiz kid Cooper Bai has also been promoted to the starting side for the second time in his nine-game NRL career, moving to lock after impressing in his efforts to start the season.<\/p>\n

With the Titans coming off a poor 24-12 loss at home against a depleted Raiders outfit last week where Hannay questioned their mindset going into the game, Bai said the team had to take their lessons to try and avoid a similar result.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt wasn’t the best performance by us as a team and we\u2019ve really got a lot to learn from that performance that that we put out and to move forward ultimately now and I guess never produce something like that again this season,\u201d Bai said.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo keep learning and keep growing as a team and connect; that’s really the biggest part for us.<\/p>\n

\u201cI felt like we were a bit disconnected that game and I guess getting back on track for our next game against the Roosters now and trying to get a win out of that.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhether it’s the bye week \u2013 not making any excuses (for the last result) \u2013 but we just have to be better \u2026 whether that’s off the field or and on the field as well, we just have to be better ultimately as a team.\u201d<\/p>\n

When outlining his considerations of bring Bai \u2013 who is still only 19 years old \u2013 into the starting line up, Hannay said it was important not to rush him so early in his career.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think you guys are all seeing what we’re seeing, he’s a special player,\u201d Hannay said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe’s a special person. Off the field, he’s just a cracking young guy and the footy’s just a representation of the quality of human he is to be really honest with you.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe works hard at his craft, he cares a lot, he cares a lot about this club and he goes out and plays like it; I don’t think he’s put a foot wrong all year.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’re looking after him, in terms of not overexposing him, but he’s sort of making it harder and harder to not give him more and more opportunities \u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cI think regardless of whether he starts or comes off the bench, his minutes will be similar.<\/p>\n

\u201cI guess the thing about coming off the bench is generally the sting’s gone out of the game and that’s a big shift for a young middle forward is to actually deal with the heat of the start of the game, so when the time comes, we’ll be sure that he’s ready for that that.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe started in New Zealand \u2026 in a hostile environment and didn’t look out of place so we kind of know what that kid’s about and we’ll see what happens in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n
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\n \"Cooper
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\n Cooper Bai representing the Queensland Under 19 side in 2025.
\n \u00a9Scott Davis \/ NRL Images
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\n <\/p>\n

Despite this week\u2019s match at Gosford set to be only his 10th in the top grade, having made his NRL debut in the last round of the season last year, already Bai is garnering Origin buzz.<\/p>\n

No stranger to the representative arena, Bai played in the Queensland Under 19 State of Origin team last year, as well as representing Papua New Guinea in the Prime Minister’s XIII and Pacific Championships tournament.<\/p>\n

However, a senior Maroons call-up was also something the Gold Coast junior has dreamed about.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat would honestly be a dream for me.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a kid growing up on the Gold Coast, or in Queensland, I think as any kid that plays rugby league, Origin is probably one of the pinnacles of rugby league in general.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would honestly be a dream come true.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Titans coach Josh Hannay has made a bold shake-up of his line-up for their Round 10 challenge against…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":416443,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[111,139,69,213],"class_list":["post-416442","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416442","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=416442"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416442\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/416443"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=416442"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=416442"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=416442"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}