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The Aquis Gold Coast Titans will open their 2016 campaign with a Sunday home match (5.30pm kick-off) against Newcastle Knights at Cbus Super Stadium.
This opens the possibility of a club debut for Tyrone Roberts against his former team he played 97 NRL games for over four seasons.
A feature of the Titans’ draw is a road trip that includes a clash with South Sydney in Perth (round 13, Sunday June 5) and Parramatta in Darwin (round 14, Saturday June 11) in successive weekends.
CEO Graham Annesley and head coach Neil Henry will liaise with the NRL to turn the back-to-back games into a promotional tour where the team will go into camp and support grass roots development in both cities over the two-week period.
“We could turn that into a real positive a mid-season camp environment right at the halfway mark of the 26 rounds after having a bye and as the Origin period begins,” coach Henry said. “It could be a good opportunity to freshen up and break up our routine.”
The Titans’ home games are, in sequence, against Newcastle, Wests Tigers, Brisbane Broncos (Friday night), St George Illawarra, Melbourne Storm, Sydney Roosters, Manly Sea Eagles, Canberra Raiders, Parramatta Eels, Cronulla Sharks, NZ Warriors and Penrith Panthers.
Other interesting aspects of the club’s 2016 schedule are:
- There are no five-day turnarounds in the first 20 rounds (game times have not been allocated past that period) which is beneficial for match preparation.
- We have two Monday night home games – the Roosters in round 10 and Manly in round 15, but none away.
- We take on the Broncos in the much awaited M1 local derby in round 5 with a 7pm Friday kick-off – replicating last season (in 2014 the Titans took on the Broncos at home in round 6).
- In the allocated home games up to round 20, the Aquis Titans have one Friday night, three Saturday, three Sunday and two Monday night home games.
- Our byes fall in rounds 12 and 18, preceding Origin II and Origin III.
- We come out of the State of Origin period with three successive home games from round 20 – taking on the Eels, Sharks and Warriors - to hopefully spark a strong run towards the finals.
- Our final home clash of the season is against the Panthers in round 25.
The full Titans draw is below:
