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NRL Preview: Titans ready to ride out the Storm

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A more experienced Titans outfit should have too much firepower for an almost unrecognizable Storm team, writes Nick Tedeschi.

Thanks to a scheduling wrinkle in the NRL draw that has clubs missing their best Australian players for three games, the Melbourne Storm have been consigned to fielding a virtual second seventeen in their clash with the Gold Coast Titans at Skilled Stadium.

The Storm will be without backs Billy Slater, Greg Inglis, Israel Folau and Anthony Quinn, forwards Cameron Smith, Dallas Johnson, Ryan Hoffman, Michael Crocker and Brett White and coach Craig Bellamy thanks to Origin as well as centre Will Chambers, who is currently sidelined with injury.

The Gold Coast Titans have only Anthony Laffranchi and Ashley Harrison away on representative duty.

It is impossible to look past the experience of the Gold Coast in this Monday Night Football clash.

There are many reasons to bet with confidence in head-to-head and winning margin markets in what is a top-of-the-table match.

The Titans will send out a starting thirteen with 1,304 games of NRL experience. The Storm's starting thirteen, by comparison, have only 607 NRL games under their belt. Take Matt Geyer and his 251 games out of the equation, the remaining twelve Storm starters average only 29.67 NRL matches. The Titans will send out seven starters and a bench player with 100 plus games of experience. Matt Geyer is the Storm's only centurion.

The result of such a difference in experience is that the Titans are expected to be far more potent in attack and far more effective in defence. The Titans have six players with more line breaks than the top Storm player while the Titans have nine players with fifteen-plus tackle breaks compared to the Storm's two. The Storm will be without their five top tacklers while the Titans will field a forward pack, minus Laffranchi, that has done the job for them all season.

Both teams will be lead by their outstanding halfbacks. The difference is that Scott Prince will have viable options inside and outside. Cooper Cronk, most likely, will not.

The fact this match is being played at the Gold Coast only compounds the Storm's troubles. The Gold Coast have not been beaten at home this season and are 5-1 against the assigned line at Skilled Stadium. When home favourites, the Gold Coast have covered in three of four.

The Storm, conversely, have struggled on the road, even with their stars. The Storm have gone 3-2 in away games this season but have failed to cover the handicap in any of them. In their only game as a road underdog, against the Dragons in round ten without any of their Origin players, Melbourne were soundly beaten 36-12.

The Titans have been the darling of NRL punters in 2008 with an 8-3 record against the handicap this year.

The Storm, on the contrary, have let bettors down on a number of occasions this season with an average 5-6 record against the spread.