Three Key Points: Round 11 v Titans

The Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs face the Gold Coast Titans at Cbus Super Stadium on Saturday May 22, kicking off at 3pm.

Below are three things to know about the matchup:

Schoupp to debut

Aaron Schoupp will become the third Bulldogs player to make his NRL debut in 2021 and will become Canterbury player number 816. Schoupp on a train and trial follows in the footsteps of Brad Deitz and Jackson Topine who both joined many players in fulfilling their childhood dream. He joined the club from the Illawarra Steelers at the end of the 2019 season for the next three seasons. The latest debutant was a first year under 20s player in 2020 and a former Australian under 15s and NSW under 16s centre. The talented goal kicking outside back scored a try in the Steelers 2019 SG Ball premiership win and was also a member of the NSWCHS side in the same season. A strong ball carrier who was schooled at Illawarra Sports High. He featured in the club's 2020 and 2021 NRL trial matches. His first season at the club in 2020 was a difficult one due to the cancellation of the Jersey Flegg and NSW Cup competitions, but after working hard over the pre-season under Trent Barrett and playing consistently at Mounties, the 19-year old has been rewarded with his first NRL jersey this weekend. From his six appearances in the NSW Cup this year, the Thirroul Butchers junior has come up with 26 tackles breaks, scored four tries, averaged 13 runs a game as well as 130.7 running metres and 44 post contact metres.

Dogs have winning form over Titans

The Bulldogs head to the Gold Coast this weekend looking to register their second win of the season. It will be the first time the two teams meet at Cbus Super Stadium since the round 10 clash in 2019 which was highlighted by a Jayden Okunbor double and a 22-16 win to the Dogs. From the past six matches, Canterbury have won four, while the Titans have claimed victory in two. The Gold Coast won last year’s fixture at Stadium Australia, but the Bulldogs have won the past two encounters on the Coast. The club’s biggest win over the Titans from it’s past six clashes was in round 23, 2015 when Greg Eastwood, Curtis Rona and Brett Morris all scored two tries each in a 36-14 victory.

Titans have age and experience

The Bulldogs head into the fixture with an average age of 24.2 across the 21 players named on Tuesday, while the Titans have an average age of 24.3 across their squad of 21 named for this weekend's match. Of the 21 players named for Canterbury, 11 are either 25 years of age or over and for the Gold Coast, six of their 21-man squad are over the age of 25. The Dogs have one player under the age of 20 (Aaron Schoupp), whilst the Titans do not have a player under 20 years of age named in their squad this week, but do have three players over the age of 30. From a games perspective, the Gold Coast have a total of 1447 NRL games experience amongst their squad named and Canterbury have 1314. The average across the 21 players for the Titans is 68.9 and for the Bulldogs, it's 62.5. Canterbury only have two players with more than 150 NRL games experience (Will Hopoate and Dylan Napa), while the homeside have four players with 150 or more NRL games next to their names (Anthony Don, Jarrod Wallace, Mitch Rein and Kevin Proctor). Proctor is the only player from both teams to have played more than 250 NRL games. Will Saturday's game come down to youth or experience?