{"id":431470,"date":"2026-05-17T03:35:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-17T03:35:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/431470\/"},"modified":"2026-05-17T03:35:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-17T03:35:08","slug":"nrl-2026-gold-coast-titans-newcastle-knights-round-11-magic-round-match-preview-official-team-lists-injuries-updates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/431470\/","title":{"rendered":"NRL 2026, Gold Coast Titans, Newcastle Knights, round 11, Magic Round, match preview, official team lists, injuries, updates"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The high-flying Knights are out to kick-off a Sunday triple-header with a bang as they take on the Titans this weekend.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The match will launch the final day of Magic Round at Suncorp Stadium and it promises to be an entertaining attacking spectacle.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Newcastle have piled on the points in recent weeks, scoring 86 points in the past two weeks as the Justin Holbrook revolution takes hold.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Star fullback Kalyn Ponga has been sensational since returning from injury while Fletcher Sharpe scored a hat-trick on his 21st birthday during Magic Round last year and he&#8217;ll be looking to produce a similar performance on Sunday in the centres.<\/p>\n<p>The match also marks the final chance for Ponga to press his claims for a Queensland jersey before the Origin sides are selected next week.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The Titans have shown plenty of promise under new coach Josh Hannay and pushed the Roosters in a high-quality contest last Friday night.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Livewire fullback Keano Kini shapes as key for Gold Coast, while emerging playmaker Zane Harrison is set for his second game in the top flight.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The NSW Under 19 representative has an early chance to perform on the big stage and showcase why he&#8217;s considered a future star.<\/p>\n<p>Team News<\/p>\n<p>Titans:\u00a0The Titans are 1-19 with no late changes. Josh Hannay sticks with the same starting side that pushed the Roosters all the way last weekend. Zane Harrison will play his second game in the No.7 jersey while Cooper Bai has one last chance to force his way into the Queensland Origin team.<\/p>\n<p>Knights:\u00a0Late backline changes for Justin Holbrook after star centre Bradman Best dropped out on Saturday due to a calf injury suffered at training. Fletcher Sharpe goes from five-eighth to centre, Sandon Smith will play five-eighth and Fletcher Hunt reverts to the six-man bench.\u00a0Francis Manuleleua has also been added to the six-man bench.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Stat Attack<\/p>\n<p>The Titans have lost their last four games at Suncorp Stadium.<br \/>\nThe Knights have won four of their five Magic Round games.<br \/>\nTitans winger Phillip Sami has scored eight tries in nine games against the Knights.<br \/>\nKnights winger Greg Marzhew has scored eight tries in his last two games.<br \/>\nTitans prop Moeaki Fotuaika will equal the club\u2019s all-time appearance record held by Mark Minichiello (173 games).<\/p>\n<p>Stats supplied by David Middleton, League Information Services,\u00a0author of the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/rugbyleagueannual.com.au\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">official annual of the NRL<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The high-flying Knights are out to kick-off a Sunday triple-header with a bang as they take on the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":431471,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[111,139,69,213],"class_list":["post-431470","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\/431470","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=431470"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431470\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/431471"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=431470"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=431470"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=431470"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}