Titans' Prince cleared to face Bunnies - Sports News - Fanatics - the world's biggest events

Titans' Prince cleared to face Bunnies

By Jim Morton 22/06/2008 05:37:42 PM Comments (0)

Queensland halfback Scott Prince has been cleared of two leg knocks to lead a hungry Titans outfit in Monday night's NRL clash against Souths at ANZ Stadium.

Prince was in doubt after a training collision with Brad Meyers on Friday morning but Gold Coast coach John Cartwright declared he was right to play.

The in-form playmaker copped a bruised knee and a rolled ankle from the mishap at Runaway Bay but hasn't been troubled by the knocks since.

It's a major boost for the Titans who enter the match looking to improve their terrible away record since their inception in 2007.

Prince will go head-to-head with former understudy Chris Sandow, who starred in his last-start debut for the Rabbitohs against the New Zealand Warriors in Auckland.

Former Australian Schoolboy Sandow, 19, led Souths to a stunning 35-28 come-from-behind upset in the wet and showed he was a potential star of the future.

Cartwright expects a far tougher match than their ladder positions indicate, insisting Souths were a form team.

Souths remain in the competition cellar while the Titans were among five teams atop the ladder with 22 competition points at the start of the round.

"They're an in-form team, both their two wins have come recently and they won their last game away to the Warriors which few sides do," Cartwright said.

"They're coming off a win and a bye and they will be very tough.

"They have a lot of dangerous players in important positions," he added, singling out Sandow and five-eighth John Sutton.

Cartwright backed co-captain Luke Bailey to produce a typically-strong performance up front to aid his State of Origin selection chances.

NSW selectors will be on hand to watch Bailey as they look to bolster the Blues, who only picked one specialist prop in their 30-0 game two loss, for the Origin decider on July 2.

Dual international Mat Rogers plays his 150th NRL match 18 months after he was poised to retire.

Rogers said he would have definitely hung up his boots and never returned if the Australian Rugby Union had opposed his desire to switch back to league.

Ultimately, after a drawn-out saga, the ARU and NSW Waratahs granted the Wallabies utility back a contract release for him to link with the Titans.

"I'd been thinking about it for a while but I had a chat with my partner about it," he said.

"I was going to retire to be honest. But the ARU and Waratahs were really good in allowing me the opportunity to come back early and play because I could not have sat a whole year out and then come back and play again."

The Coast travelled with an 18-man squad to Sydney with Luke Swain dropping out of their original team.

Brought to you by AAP AAP © 2024 AAP

0 Comments about this article

Post a comment about this article

Please sign in to leave a comment.
Becoming a member is free and easy, sign up here.

« All sports news