NRL teams and Late Mail for round 3 of season 2018

THE Titans will welcome back their key man Ashley Taylor, who returns form a hamstring injury to take on the Dragons — check out all the latest Round 3 team news.

ROUND three of the 2018 NRL season will wrap up today with the Dragons travelling north to meet the homeless Titans in Toowoomba and the Roosters hosting the Knights in Sydney.

The Titans were forced to take their home game north as the Commonwealth Games take over the Gold Coast but it will be a special match for star star halfback Ash Taylor who returns from a hamstring injury to play in the town he came from.

Ashley Taylor of the Titans during the Round 1 NRL match between the Gold Coast Titans and the Canberra Raiders at Cbus Super Stadium in Robina on the Gold Coast, Sunday, March 11, 2018. (AAP Image/Dave Hunt) NO ARCHIVING, EDITORIAL USE ONLY

Meanwhile, the Dragons will look to reclaim the top of the ladder with a win.

South of the Tweed, though, all eyes will be on new Knight Mitchell Pearce as he clashes with former club the Roosters and the man who took his job - Cooper Cronk.

It will be a homecoming of sorts for a bunch of the Knights squad with Pearce, Aidan Guerra, Connor Watson and Shaun Kenny-Dowall all former Roosters as early as last year.

KEY CHANGES

* Mitchell Aubusson (head gash) will play for the Roosters.

* Ash Taylor to return for the Titans.

* Mitch Barnett and Jamie Buhrer to line up for the Knights.

TITANS v DRAGONS

Sunday, March 26th , 4:10pm AEDST, Clive Berghofer Stadium, Toowoomba

Titans: 1 Michael Gordon, 2 Anthony Don, 3 Dale Copley, 4 Konrad Hurrell, 5 Phillip Sami, 6 Kane Elgey, 7 Ashley Taylor, 8 Jai Arrow, 9 Nathan Peats, 10 Leilani Latu, 11 Kevin Proctor, 12 Ryan James (c), 13 Bryce Cartwright

Interchange: 14 Mitch Rein, 15 Will Matthews, 16 Morgan Boyle, 17 Jarrod Wallace

Reserves: 18 Keegan Hipgrave, 19 Joe Greenwood,

Players cut: 20 AJ Brimson, 21 Tyronne Roberts-Davis

Late Mail: Halfback Ashley Taylor (hamstring) has trained and will play in front of his home crowd in Toowoomba.

Dragons: 1 Matthew Dufty, 2 Nene Macdonald, 3 Euan Aitken, 4 Tim Lafai, 5 Jason Nightingale, 6 Gareth Widdop (c), 7 Ben Hunt, 8 James Graham, 9 Cameron McInnes, 10 Paul Vaughan, 11 Tyson Frizell, 12 Tariq Sims, 13 Jack De Belin

Interchange: 14 Luciano Leilua, 15 Kurt Mann, 16 Leeson Ah Mau, 17 Hame Sele

Reserves: 18 Jeremy Latimore, 19 Zac Lomax

Players cut: 20 Reece Robson, 21 Blake Lawrie

Late Mail: Just the now-customary change for the Dragons with Jeremy Latimore to come into the 17 for Hame Sele.

PODCAST! The teams are in for the most crucial trading round of the year, with player prices to change for the first time after this week.

ROOSTERS v KNIGHTS

Sunday, March 26th , 6:30pm, Allianz Stadium

Roosters: 1 James Tedesco, 2 Reece Robinson, 3 Latrell Mitchell, 4 Joseph Manu, 5 Blake Ferguson, 6 Luke Keary, 7 Cooper Cronk, 8 Sio Siua Taukeiaho, 9 Jake Friend (c), 10 Dylan Napa, 11 Boyd Cordner (c), 12 Ryan Matterson, 13 Isaac Liu

Interchange: 14 Jared Waerea-Hargreaves, 15 Zane Tetevano, 16 Mitchell Aubusson, 17 Victor Radley

Reserves: 18 Nat Butcher, 23 Frank-Paul Nuuausala

Players cut: 19 Kurt Baptiste, 20 Mitchell Cornish

Late Mail: Mitchell Aubusson will play despite a sickening head gash, with the Roosters to be 1-17.

Knights: 1 Kalyn Ponga, 2 Shaun Kenny-Dowall, 3 Sione Mata’utia, 4 Tautau Moga, 5 Nathan Ross, 6 Connor Watson, 7 Mitchell Pearce (c), 8 Herman Ese’ese, 9 Slade Griffin, 10 Jacob Lillyman, 11 Lachlan Fitzgibbon, 12 Aidan Guerra, 13 Mitchell Barnett

Interchange: 14 Brock Lamb, 15 Chris Heighington, 16 Jamie Buhrer (c), 17 Daniel Saifiti,

Reserves: 18 Ken Sio, 19 Jacob Saifiti, 20 Danny Levi, 21 Luke Yates

Players cut: To come

Late Mail: Mitch Barnett (concussion) is on track to play. “Barney has passed his test today, he’s got another step or two to go but at the moment he is ticking all the boxes and he’s expected to play,” coach Nathan Brown said. Jamie Buhrer (foot) will need to run later in the week to prove his fitness with Jacob Saifiti on standby.