RUGBY LEAGUE
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LAST year the Gold Coast Titans were unable to find a way past the Penrith Panthers and when the two have their first meeting of 2015 at Carrington Park on Saturday, the men in black will start as warm favourites once more.
But Titans coach Neil Henry is not one to dwell on past results or favouritism, he is just focussed on the task ahead of him.
With five players currently unavailable for selection including representative talents Dave Taylor and Greg Bird due to the cocaine scandal, Henry has made just one change to his squad which went down 19-18 to Wests Tigers in their season opener.
That team included six debutants and Henry was happy to see how close they came to success. Still, he knows there are things the Titans must improve if they are to topple the Panthers.
"I was happy with the intensity of our defence and our enthusiasm against Wests Tigers, but our ball control has to improve a lot against a team of the quality of Penrith," Henry said.
"Execution a couple of times when we turned the ball over, really we need to do better with our possession, that is the main focus this week."
Former Panthers hooker Kierran Moseley, who made just his second NRL appearance last weekend, has retained the number nine jersey.
He will no doubt be keen to impress against his old club.
New Zealand prop Agnatius Paasi, who was trialling for a contract, also did enough against the Tigers for Henry to name him in jumper 14 this week.
The only change is second rower Lachlan Burr replacing Matt Robinson in the starting 13.
As the Titans have their first training run at Carrington Park today, Henry will no doubt have in his mind the threats in the Panthers' line-up.
While Henry only officially took over as coach of the Titans in September last year following the resignation of John Cartwright, he was at the club in an assistant role and watched on as the Panthers posted 14-12 and 36-14 victories over his men.
He also took in the Panthers' performance in their 2015 season opener, Penrith scoring the first four tries of the match before holding off a resurgent Bulldogs to win 24-18.
"They were fairly comprehensive early against the Bulldogs. Bulldogs got some possession and scored some late tries to give them a fright at the back end, but look, they are a very fast team," he said.
"Jamie Soward is very good on the edges with his long cut-out passing and Jamaal Idris dangerous out wide. [There is] a lot to like about [Matt] Moylan at the back and youngsters like Bryce Cartwright with a dangerous offload.
"They are a good side and it is going to be a tough game."
Kick-off at Carrington Park is at 4.30pm Saturday afternoon.
GOLD COAST TITANS: 1 William Zillman, 2 Kevin Gordon, 3 James Roberts, 4 Josh Hoffman, 5 David Mead, 6 Aidan Sezer, 7 Daniel Mortimer, 8 Luke Douglas, 9 Kierran Moseley, 10 Edward Pettybourne, 11 Ryan James, 12 Lachlan Burr, 13 Nate Myles, 14 Agnatius Passi, 15 Mark Ioane, 16 Matt Robinson, 17 Matt Srama, 18 Ryan Simpkins.