Matchday Details
Saturday, July 26 – 3pm (AEST) – Go Media Stadium
📺 Broadcast: Fox League / Kayo
Referee: Gerard Sutton | Bunker: Adam Gee
Warriors
1. Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad 2. Dallin Watene-Zelezniak 3. Adam Pompey 4. Kurt Capewell 5. Roger Tuivasa-Sheck 6. Chanel Harris-Tavita 7. Tanah Boyd 8. James Fisher-Harris 9. Wayde Egan 10. Jackson Ford 11. Leka Halasima 12. Marata Niukore 13. Erin Clark 14. Te Maire Martin 15. Jacob Laban 16. Demitric Vaimauga 17. Tanner Stowers-Smith 18. Taine Tuaupiki 20. Samuel Healey 21. Bunty Afoa 22. Ali Leiataua 23. Eddie Ieremia
Titans
1. AJ Brimson 2. Jaylan De Groot 3. Brian Kelly 4. Jojo Fifita 5. Phillip Sami 6. Kieran Foran 7. Jayden Campbell 8. Moeaki Fotuaika 9. Sam Verrills 10. Jaimin Jolliffe 11. Chris Randall 12. Beau Fermor 13. Klese Haas 14. Jacob Alick-Wiencke 15. Reagan Campbell-Gillard 16. Iszac Fa’asumaleaui 17. Josh Patston 18. Arama Hau 19. Sean Mullany 20. Tom Weaver 21. Ryan Foran 22. Alofiana Khan-Pereira
Match Preview
A Saturday afternoon match from across the ditch featuring two teams that had tight games last Sunday but contrasting fortunes in the Warriors and Gold Titans. One team is marching towards a popular top four finish for 2025, the other team is languishing at the bottom of the NRL ladder.
The Warriors got away with their win over Newcastle with Tanah Boyd missing a relatively easy penalty goal late in the game along with some field goal attempts. The last of those saw the ball fall to Leka Halasima who powered to the line to score the winning try. Gold Coast had a similarly tight game, going down to a Wests Tigers field goal in the last minute. A loss that gave the Titans a cold shower for their 2025 prospects.
Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad returns for the Warriors in a nice boost for their finals run, with Taine Tuaupiki the unlucky player to make way despite having a good recent run as the replacement. Otherwise the team is settled from last weekend.
As if things couldn’t get tougher for the Gold Coast, now they will have to do without their inspirational leader Tino Fa’asumaleaui who is out injured for a number of weeks. David Fifita at his best could have provided some of the impact that Tino Fa’asumaleaui brings, but Fifita is out injured too. Klese Haas has big shoes to fill at lock this weekend.
The Warriors have got their top four hopes back on track with consecutive wins in the last two weekends, after they lost in consecutive weeks against the two teams threatening to steal that top four spot in Brisbane and Penrith. The gap to the 5th placed Broncos is four points with seven rounds to go, but the Warriors for and against is currently lower than their rivals.
Gold Coast have been out of genuine finals contention for a while, and the best they can hope for in 2025 is another wasted season that at least doesn’t finish with a wooden spoon. They are currently two points behind Parramatta and South Sydney and play the Rabbitohs in Round 23 in an early Spoonbowl contest. Wherever they finish, there’ll be a new coach at the helm in 2026 by the looks, but before that happens this weekend is Des Hasler’s 500th NRL game as a coach, a wonderful achievement with a winning % still over 50% despite a few lean spells. A silver lining for the Hasler / Titans combination is that the team where Des Hasler has the best winning strike rate against as a coach is the Warriors at 72%.
If the Titans do go down, perhaps 500 games will be a nice round number for Hasler to end his career on. Maybe the Gold Coast have to look a little left field to try and break the cycle of not winning. The Walker Brother would be a risk worth taking.
The Titans actually have a good recent record against the Warriors winning five of their last six games. The Titans have also won the last two games at Mt Smart Stadium too, and for stats buffs they have scored exactly 27 points in both of those matches. What doesn’t help the Titans is their terrible away form on a Saturday. They have lost seven in a row coming into this game and have won just two of their last 17 away games on a Saturday. With just two wins from nine games away anytime in 2025.
Prediction
RLZ Tip: Titans by 2
See our full Round 21 Predictions (live Wednesday 12pm) here: 2025 NRL Tipping: Round 21 Writer Predictions
Have your say: Who wins? Drop your tip in the comments or vote in our poll.
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