The Titans kick off their 2025 NRL season with a matchup against the 1-0 Bulldogs, with the Doggies welcoming the Titans to their spiritual home of Belmore. The Bulldogs looked tremendous last week for 50 minutes, leading the Dragons 28-6, but fell off late. Head Coach Cameron Ciraldo will be hoping for a more complete performance this week, against the perennial underachieving Titans. Below we will break down both teams, and dig into our bets for the game.
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Canterbury Bulldogs vs Gold Coast Titans
Location: Belmore Sports Ground – Belmore
Date: Sunday, 16th March
Time: 6:15pm AEDT
Odds: Bulldogs ($1.44) vs Roosters ($2.80)
Line: Bulldogs -8.5
Points: 45.5
Odds and lines provided with thanks to Ladbrokes. Note that odds and lines can fluctuate throughout the week and are correct at the time of writing.
Match Preview
The Titans come into round 2 off the first-round bye and will kick things off as two score underdogs to the Bulldogs at their spiritual home of Belmore. Not an easy start for the Robina squad, who are looking to make the finals for the first time since 2016. Whilst the Titans haven’t done a lot of off-season recruiting, they did manage to bring in experienced front rower Reagan Campbell-Gillard. With the return of Tino Fa’asuamaleaui, the Titans middle should be a lot stronger this season, and they should have the advantage over the Bulldogs this week in the forwards.
Speaking off the Bulldogs, they have lost promising front rower Sam Hughes for 6 weeks, in a blow to their already thin middle third of the field. They made do last week against the Dragons, but against better forward packs the Bulldogs may struggle for the opening two months of the competition.
The Bulldogs and Titans last met in round 3 last season, with the Bulldogs smashing the Titans 32-0 at Belmore. It was a concerning loss for the Titans, who would surely be carrying some mental scars from such an insipid display. The Bulldogs closed short 1.5-point favourites at home, showing just how far they came last season as a team, given they were rated as a worse team than the Titans in round 3. The total closed 43.5, with the Titans doing nothing to help overs bettors.
Stepping forward to this week, and the Bulldogs were 7.5-point favourites on the look ahead, before re-opening a point higher at 8.5. Titans money has started to test the market later in the week, with it touching 9.5 before being bet back down to 7.5 at some sportsbooks. I’m not quite sure where this Titans support is coming from, other than possibly a couple of big upsets occurring so far in round 2, and the chance of rampaging back-rower Viliame Kikau being a late withdrawal. I make the Bulldogs a double-digit favourite, and if this is under 8, I have to take the Bulldogs to cover.
The total has been 45.5 since opening last week, with not much support either way. It is supposed to be extremely hot on Sunday in Sydney, with the drinks break rule coming into effect at both Parramatta for the Eels v Tigers game, and this one. Given the heat, I would lean towards the under in this game, given the intensity of these matches tends to drop quickly and errors tend to pile up. However, there just isn’t enough data to support the unders prediction, so I’ll leave it alone for now, and maybe look for some bigger priced try scorers with fatigue setting in late.
Bulldogs -7.5
$1.84 (2.5 Units)
Same Game Multi
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Leg 1: Alexander Brimson (1+ try) – Brimson is exactly the sort of player to take advantage of some lethargy around the middle of the defensive line. Plays all over the field, but named at five eighth and should get his hands on the ball plenty in attack.
Leg 2: David Fifita (1+ try) – Fifita is named to come off the bench and may be brought on just as the Bulldogs’ defenders are beginning to fatigue. Is generally a good shout at a try in normal conditions, but in this heat, I love the big man to stroll over against tired defenders.
Leg 3: Jacob Preston (1+ try) – Preston passed the eye test last week, looking dangerous every time he touched the ball. With the chance of Viliame Kikau missing or being less than 100% due to a back issue, I expect the Bulldogs to go to their right edge, and Preston, heavily.
SGM Odds: $34 at BoomBet
