Friday 18 September 2009

NRL Finals 2009 - Parramatta Eels v Gold Coast Titans Elimination Final Preview

=========================================== V The First Elimination Final kicks off tonight with the surging Parramatta Eels taking on the Gold Coast Titans at the Sydney Football Stadium. Just two games are due to be played in Week Two of the 2009 NRL Finals Series, but both promise to be absolute beauties. In the First Elimination Final, Parramatta will try and continue their golden run (they have now won 8 from their last 9) after last week's revenge 25-12 win over the Minor Premiers St.George-Illawarra. Jarryd Hayne was once again sensational as the Eels defence in the opening 15 minutes proved to be the backbone of the victory. While for the 3rd Seeded Gold Coast Titans scoring first against Brisbane wasn't a sign of things to come. A terrible first half saw them down 28-10 at halftime and despite a second half comeback, fell short of the Broncos 40-32 to find themselves in a matchup with the Eels in Week 2. In team & injury news - PAR - Krisnan Inu was ruled out on Thursday Night, with Jonathan Wright in line to replace him at centre after doing so against the Dragons last week. GLD - Mat Rogers should play despite suffering a serious concussion in the loss to Brisbane, while livewires Preston Campbell and William Zillman will shrug off knee issues and play. Rogers may also shift to the centres to allow Zillman to start with Jordan Atkins the man most likely to drop out of the starting side. Here is the Video Preview for the Eels v Titans with Warrick Nicolson & Nic McInerney Thursday 17 September 2009. ================================================================================== V First Elimination Final Information EF1: FRIDAY NIGHT @ Sydney Football Stadium 8:00pm Referees: Shayne Hayne & Jared Maxwell; Sideline Officials: Steve Chiddy & Steve Carrall; Video Referee: Bill Harrigan; (Standby Referee: Gavin Badger), (Standby Sideline Official: Russell Turner) #8 PARRAMATTA EELS v #3 GOLD COAST TITANS PAR: J Hayne, L Burt, J Wright, J Reddy, E Grothe, D Mortimer, J Robson, N Cayless (c), M Keating, FF MoiMoi, N Hindmarsh, B Smith, T Lowrie. Reserves: K Kingston, F Mateo, T Mannah, J Galuvao. GLD: P Campbell, K Gordon, C Walker, J Atkins, D Mead, M Rogers, S Prince (c), L Bailey (c), N Friend, M White, A Laffranchi, M Minichiello, A Harrison. Reserves: M Henderson, B Meyers, S Tagataese, W Zillman, W Matthews (one to be omitted). NSC PREDICTION: TITANS 28 def. EELS 20 MAN OF THE MATCH: Scott Prince, Titans FIRST TRYSCORER: Anthony Laffranchi, Titans The 2nd Elimination Final is on Saturday Night with the Broncos facing the Dragons. ================================================================================== Next Week (Finals Week Three) - The Preliminary Finals PF1: Friday 25 September @ ANZ Stadium, Sydney v WINNER of V PF2: Saturday 26 September @ Etihad Stadium, Melbourne v WINNER of V ELIMINATED TEAMS: Finals Week One: The best way to follow the 2009 Finals Series is to go to NRL_Finals_2009 on Twitter. During the first week of operation, we produced 250+ Tweets - with some great nuggets of information in there, as well as news as it breaks. For the games themselves, regular Tweets will be uploaded giving you an instant evaluation of how the game is being played out and what to watch out for during the match. You can check out the In-Game Tweets within the Game Reports from all four Qualifying Finals - just click on the linked articles on the drop down archive menu on the right of this page. So subscribe today and get involved with feedback - either here at wdnicolson.blogspot.com, at NRL_Finals_2009 on Twitter or via email wdnicolson@optusnet.com.au. Get on board and may the best team emerge from a great month of football to take the 2009 premiership.