NRL: Campbell switch could be bad news for Warriors

Elusive runner Preston Campbell moves up from fullback, bringing an acceleration from the mark that few of the Warriors can match. Photo / Getty Images

Titans v Warriors
Skilled Park, 7.30 tonight

The Titans' final preparations for the game against the Warriors today were thrown out of synch when their five-eighth Mat Rogers failed to complete training yesterday and withdrew.

That means that the elusive broken-play runner Preston Campbell moves up from fullback, bringing an acceleration from the mark that few of the Warriors can match.

The loss of the Scott Prince-Rogers combination in the halves is a telling blow to a team already down on pack strength thanks to injury and it removes Campbell's ability to inject himself into the backline at critical times.

But then Campbell with more ball in his hands may be even more dangerous.

His replacement at the back is the improving William Zillman and both played in those positions in the last game against the Roosters which Rogers missed due to rib damage. Rogers resumed training when the squad returned after a five-day break over the bye weekend on Monday so the late decision not to play meant a hurried reshuffle yesterday.

Queensland and Gold Coast back-rower Ashley Harrison is out with a rib cartilage injury sustained in the State of Origin game on Wednesday and may spend up to a month on the sideline.

Luke Bailey (stress fracture in the arm) and Mark Minichiello (ankle) are out so Newcastle cast-off Matt White and Dragons buy-in Michael Henderson are the starting props. Daniel Conn and Josh Graham were the players kept on what was an extended bench named earlier this week in anticipation of injury woes after the Origin game.

These sides have played four times since the Coast came into the competition in 2007, the Warriors up 3-1 including a victory in pre-season this year. But they lost 36-24 at Skilled Park in the last competition game in April last season.

The home team has been exhorting fans to fill their 28,000 seat stadium and around 20,000 tickets were sold by yesterday, the locals enjoying a 6-0 run at home this season while the Warriors have one win and a draw from six games on the road.

"The New Zealanders always draw a big crowd here because of the amount of Kiwis who live here and love rugby league," their captain Scott Prince said yesterday. "We need away teams and their fans to have no doubt that they are in enemy territory and that is never more important than tomorrow afternoon when we face the Warriors."

Rain fell on the Coast this week to take some hardness out of the track, conditions today expected to be overcast and around 20C.

The Titans are equal on competition points at the top of the NRL ladder but behind the Dragons and Bulldogs in points differential. This time last season they were in the top four but plummeted to finish 13th after a run of injuries took out players including Bailey and Harrison.

This time last year the Warriors were at the tail end of the ladder before pushing on to make the final four. If they are to engineer a repeat in 2009, that needs to start today.

There was some concern regarding the groin injury suffered by Stacey Jones in the 13-0 win over Newcastle a fortnight ago but the rest over the bye week was good for the squad to rehabilitate mid-season bumps and bruises.

TITANS v WARRIORS

Titans

William Zillman
Kevin Gordon
Esi Tonga
Brett Delaney
Chris Walker
Preston Campbell
Scott Prince (c)
Matthew White
Nathan Friend
Michael Henderson
Anthony Laffranchi
Brad Meyers
Luke O'Dwyer

Interchange: Aaron Cannings, Will Matthews, Josh Graham, Daniel Conn.

Warriors

Wade McKinnon
Kevin Locke
Patrick Ah Van
Joel Moon
Manu Vatuvei
Lance Hohaia
Stacey Jones
Sam Rapira
Ian Henderson
Steve Price (c)
Simon Mannering
Lewis Brown
Micheal Luck

Interchange (from): Aaron Heremaia, Jesse Royal, Ben Matulino, Jacob Lillyman, Russell Packer.