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Round 19: BULLDOGS vs TITANS (2022)

Will Jayden be fit? If so, where would AJ play?

Can we please get our fourth win? This is getting desperate.
 
Think we should just face it: AJ is our fullback and JC is a player in development. I’d pick this team:

1. AJ
2. Sami
3. Jojo
4. Herbert
5. Marzhew
6. Boyd
7. Sexton
8. Tino
9. Booth
10. Mo
11. D. Fifita
12. Fermor
13. Clarke
—
14. Turner
15. Liu
16. Ese’ese
17. Jolliffe
 
Surely Herbert loses his place.. his defensive reads every game cost us tries.. and I wasn’t that impressed with turner as back up hooker.. he seemed slow.. not sure who I would bring in to replace them but surely there’s someone
 
Titans facing Campbell NRL conundrum
By Ed Jackson
Australian Associated Press

How Jayden Campbell will be fitted into the side is a conundrum for the Titans.

Gold Coast coach Justin Holbrook has a problem - and it's not how to snap the Titans' seven-game NRL losing streak.

Holbrook knows he's got a dilemma on his hands with just how to fit young gun Jayden Campbell into his side when the 22-year-old returns from the hamstring injury that's kept him sidelined since the round 13 loss to North Queensland at the start of June.

In response to a 38-12 loss to Newcastle that Holbrook labelled "embarrassing", the Titans coach made sweeping changes to his line-up for Saturday's local derby against Brisbane.

The alterations didn't end Gold Coast's long wait for a win but it did bring about a much-improved performance as an undermanned Brisbane snatched a 16-12 victory with back-to-back tries erasing a six-point Titans' advantage early in the second-half.

AJ Brimson, back at fullback in Campbell's absence, was among the stand-out performers in the match, racking up 250 running metres.


The ex-Queensland State of Origin representative had started the year at five-eighth to allow Campbell to play fullback but has often looked at his most dangerous when wearing the No.1 jersey.

Tanah Boyd also made the most of his move to the No.6 jersey against the Broncos, scoring a try and linking well with halfback Toby Sexton.

It all adds up to a head-scratcher for Holbrook ahead of next Sunday's trip to Sydney to face Canterbury.

"I'm hopeful that he'll be cleared to be available next week," Holbrook said of Campbell.

"We'll have to get him in there somewhere.

"We all know AJ is a terrific fullback. We'll have to weigh that up this week."

Whether Campbell plays or not, Holbrook feels he's hit upon a set-up which can not only put the Titans' back in the winners' circle but ease the pressure on the third-year coach amid a mid-season review which has already led to the departure of assistant Jim Dymock.

"We need to play like that, that's for sure," he said.

"We don't want to be playing like we did the other week.

"I'm feeling okay. I feel we've got the right things in process ... we've got everything in place, we're just not getting the wins.

"We've just got to stick at it now."
 
Croc said:
Surely Herbert loses his place.. his defensive reads every game cost us tries.. and I wasn’t that impressed with turner as back up hooker.. he seemed slow.. not sure who I would bring in to replace them but surely there’s someone
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That’s the problem … bring in Marsters or play someone out of position, both of which are no improvement so let it settle.
 
Bring JC off the bench move AJ to a roving middle role when he comes on since he's better infrontline defence have both of them following Clarke and Tino for offloads up the middle
 
JC has to be 1 or 14. He's too dynamic to leave out altogether and we definitely don't have enough talent to not be selecting players like him.
 
Could you play campbell at 14. Bring him on for booth and push AJ to hooker for abit? Have him start running out from half with Campbell floating around the ruck with fresh legs
 
The decision was made prior to this season to play JC at fullback and AJ at 6. The season is over for us and we’ve only seen that combination play a few times and there were moments of promise. JC to 1, AJ to 6 and Boyd to 14. Turner dropped. We need to start building for next year.
 
NZFan said:
The decision was made prior to this season to play JC at fullback and AJ at 6. The season is over for us and we’ve only seen that combination play a few times and there were moments of promise. JC to 1, AJ to 6 and Boyd to 14. Turner dropped. We need to start building for next year.
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Only thing JC does better than AJ is kick a ball long or high. Everything else AJ is light years ahead on. FOran is the 5/8 next year so not sure where to go from here tbh. I guess we'll keep shoehorning people into unfamiliar positions and cross our fingers
 
NZFan said:
The decision was made prior to this season to play JC at fullback and AJ at 6. The season is over for us and we’ve only seen that combination play a few times and there were moments of promise. JC to 1, AJ to 6 and Boyd to 14. Turner dropped. We need to start building for next year.
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As far as I am concerned that decision was wrong. AJ proved yet again on Saturday night he is a FB and I think he should stay there and into the future. I don't see a place for JC in the team right now, but based on the coach's comments he does so I expect your wish to be granted.
Just on the Dogs, if people didn't see their game yesterday have a look at a highlights package and you'll see a couple of ripper tries they scored. We could only dream that our team could score tries like that.
 
I agree that AJ is best at fullback but there appears to be a love affair with JC, even at this stage of his development. Given this and the impending arrival of Foran, AJ is bound to play centre next year…if this is the case, why not allow AJ adapt to his new position for the remainder of the season
 
The spine hasn’t had the opportunity to play off the back of a decent hooker yet. AJ played a lot of 6 coming through the grades, it isn’t an unfamiliar position to him. I believe the solution is coaching. With JC at the back and Booth there is more kicking options than just passing the ball to Sexton (which is all we had with Clarke at lock and AJ at the back). This has placed a lot of pressure on Sexton especially when receiving slow ball in the middle third of the field.

I’m not sure where they see Foran fitting in next yet but I see no reason to treat him any differently to Smith if our halves start to perform in the back end of this year.

In saying all of that, Foran to 6 and AJ to centre would be a dramatic improvement on Herbert.
 
NZFan said:
T
I’m not sure where they see Foran fitting in next yet but I see no reason to treat him any differently to Smith if our halves start to perform in the back end of this year.
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You are joking aren't you?
What makes you think our halves will start to perform now. They have been useless all year, especially your man Sexton.
The comments on here about moving AJ to centre, I can understand where people are coming from but for God's sake, let him settle in one position for his career. He is our best fullback by streets.
 
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