Round 10: TITANS vs SHARKS

[K2G]

* Crushing defeat, but I enjoyed watching. Credit to the lads.
* Sezer. Wow. Bludger of a night.
* Seemed like errors were evenly spread out amongst the team, as opposed to dominated by a few regular offenders.
* I didn't think Ridge was all bad in his first game for what seems like ages. Is he worth persisting with?
* I don't know what to say about our forwards. Impressive in patches, followed by equally disappointing lapses. I thought the whole team tried their yangs out all night, maybe too hard. Effort is there, but our missing key pieces of the puzzle has been particularly evident over the last two weeks. Seeing as some of our new buys have been our best performers, when does Henry take a chance on Hala?
* Speaking of changes I'm guessing we'll see KFFL on the wing and possibly Crampton into the centres for Zillman? Loosing Mead sucked, and really I hope he's right for next week.
* Attacking structure (albeit, not perfect), Set plays, competent use of bench substitutions and seemingly rational injury-necessitated replacements/line-up re-jinks, provide me with just enough confidence in the coaching ranks to get me through another loss, with some hope still in tact.

Another loss hurts this year's top 8 chances - but from a 're-build year' perspective, I'm still positive. Certainly happier with the team and my general watching experience, than what I have been after the back to back losses of years gone by. Blokes like Elgey, Moseley, James, Roberts, Pettybourne and Burr (great realistic comments on him MT. I mostly agree with your sentiments on him) make it easy to imagine a team we can build around and make successful going forward. Smart off-field roster management will be something I'll be most dearly hoping for for the rest of 2015. Key re-signings, intelligent acquisitions and hopefully the moving on of some existing stock over the next sixteen rounds can still make the 2015 season a huge win imo.

[rj62]

That's not true. I said from the beginning it was a bludger of a game because both teams were rubbish tonight.

Ok, well you were the one...

[TITAN PETE]

I will blame the loss on 1 person Sezar , his 2nd half was as bad as I've seen from a major play maker, charge downs & pizz poor 2nd half kicks..
Ryan James will always give away penalties because of his aggression & I wouldn't want him any other way without him be would've been bashed by Fifita as Ryan made it his mission to get in front of the big unit causing him to run away from James & if anyone watches the replay of the Fifita penalty close to the post I beleive Fifita should've been penalized for not getting to his feet to play the ball but that is one of those. 50 50 penalties
Lachlan Burr is looking better every week & he was probably the best on the field in the 2nd half.

Roberts has improved massively with his defense & needs to signed away for the next few years.

Like most I was shocked to see Ridge back already & thought he played well for someone that hasn't started in the NRL for nearly a year & I may be one of the few that is glad to see him back.

Without sounding a bit rough my biggest cheer was when Zillman walked past me injured

Didn't notice anyone comment on the Sharks being robbed of a fair try

[C-Whiz]

I will blame the loss on 1 person Sezar , his 2nd half was as bad as I've seen from a major play maker, charge downs & pizz poor 2nd half kicks..
Ryan James will always give away penalties because of his aggression & I wouldn't want him any other way without him be would've been bashed by Fifita as Ryan made it his mission to get in front of the big unit causing him to run away from James & if anyone watches the replay of the Fifita penalty close to the post I beleive Fifita should've been penalized for not getting to his feet to play the ball but that is one of those. 50 50 penalties
Lachlan Burr is looking better every week & he was probably the best on the field in the 2nd half.

Roberts has improved massively with his defense & needs to signed away for the next few years.

Exactly what i was about to say! Sezer did a Mortimer last night. Cruelled us savagely. It seemed the entire team was a bit off, but that could just be down to Sezers timing be out.

Ryan James keeps being consistent and honest, and I'll take the odd penalty when he is showing this much fortitude. Lachlan Burr was probably my standout, because I had heard the talk but I was amazed at some of his solid defence and some amazing attacking plays. Coaltrain found some space but forgot how to set up and pass to other players. Meady finally got a run and did his hammy ffs!

I had a shed visit after the game, and when I was sitting in the stand after the game, numb from how badly we played in the second half to give the win to the Sharks, I said to the Mrs I didn't want to go down because I had nothing good to say, but we all went down, and I did have a chat to a few guys which was pretty good, I really enjoyed it.

I spoke with Neil Henry after he had finished interviews, he thanked us for our support. I even spoke with Graham Annesley and thanked him on behalf of all the Titans fans for what he has done for the club. I told him I was one of the letter writers, he had a laugh and said he respected the passion the fans have for the club. He is a smooth talker that guy!

I can also tell you Will Zillman is a top bloke to have a chat with. Really engaging and seemed like he had all the time in the world for everyone. Same with David Mead, he was already showered and was one of the last to leave. Ryan James, Nate Myles, also good blokes who take the time to thank the fans.

Great experience, just a shame it was after a sh1tty loss and everyone was down.

[shamus]

Hmm........I am gunna look for the positives from last night....

Let me think.....

It'll come to me............

Oh yeah! I got the double up! (James 11 Holmes 2) 500 smackaroos baby!

Now I am gunna look for the negatives from last night....

Let me think.....

It'll come to me............

Oh yeah!.....The wife took it!

[DavidBouveng]

Exactly what i was about to say! Sezer did a Mortimer last night. Cruelled us savagely. It seemed the entire team was a bit off, but that could just be down to Sezers timing be out.

Ryan James keeps being consistent and honest, and I'll take the odd penalty when he is showing this much fortitude. Lachlan Burr was probably my standout, because I had heard the talk but I was amazed at some of his solid defence and some amazing attacking plays. Coaltrain found some space but forgot how to set up and pass to other players. Meady finally got a run and did his hammy ffs!

I had a shed visit after the game, and when I was sitting in the stand after the game, numb from how badly we played in the second half to give the win to the Sharks, I said to the Mrs I didn't want to go down because I had nothing good to say, but we all went down, and I did have a chat to a few guys which was pretty good, I really enjoyed it.

I spoke with Neil Henry after he had finished interviews, he thanked us for our support. I even spoke with Graham Annesley and thanked him on behalf of all the Titans fans for what he has done for the club. I told him I was one of the letter writers, he had a laugh and said he respected the passion the fans have for the club. He is a smooth talker that guy!

I can also tell you Will Zillman is a top bloke to have a chat with. Really engaging and seemed like he had all the time in the world for everyone. Same with David Mead, he was already showered and was one of the last to leave. Ryan James, Nate Myles, also good blokes who take the time to thank the fans.

Great experience, just a shame it was after a sh1tty loss and everyone was down.

How did u get the shed visit whiz?

[C-Whiz]

How did u get the shed visit whiz?

Half-time members draw down at the members bar. One of the many extra perks of being a member.
I've also got a Chairmans Lounge pass for the Eels game.
Still wondering who I am going to take. Open to all offers and bribes!

[shamus]

Half-time members draw down at the members bar. One of the many extra perks of being a member.
I've also got a Chairmans Lounge pass for the Eels game.
Still wondering who I am going to take. Open to all offers and bribes!

I love you..

[Titanic]

I love you..

Shame on you Shamus, you're so obvious

[C-Whiz]

Shame on you Shamus, you're so obvious

And sadly he's probably winning so far...

[TITAN PETE]

And sadly he's probably winning so far...

Seriously .... What about our Tallai dates

[Numbers]

I don't want to take too big a pot shot at Moseley given he has played less than a dozen first grade games, and I'm certainly not blaming him for the loss - pretty well all the damage had been done by this stage and there is always a lottery element to field goals - but I thought he tried to get too cute when we were trying to set up for a field goal in the last two minutes of regulation time.

We had the ball in the middle of the field on about the Sharks' 32 or 33 metre line on third tackle and instead of hitting Douglas (?) on the right for another hit-up towards the post, he half-skipped to the left then dumped a pass to what seemed to be an unsuspecting LG and then it all turned to custard when James dropped it. At that stage of the game at that point on the field we should have just had one or two more hit-ups by the forwards down the middle and then tried to bang it over - no need to try and take the Sharks by surprise with anything fancy in terms of getting field position for the shot.

[Mexican titan]

I don't want to take too big a pot shot at Moseley given he has played less than a dozen first grade games, and I'm certainly not blaming him for the loss - pretty well all the damage had been done by this stage and there is always a lottery element to field goals - but I thought he tried to get too cute when we were trying to set up for a field goal in the last two minutes of regulation time.

We had the ball in the middle of the field on about the Sharks' 32 or 33 metre line on third tackle and instead of hitting Douglas (?) on the right for another hit-up towards the post, he half-skipped to the left then dumped a pass to what seemed to be an unsuspecting LG and then it all turned to custard when James dropped it. At that stage of the game at that point on the field we should have just had one or two more hit-ups by the forwards down the middle and then tried to bang it over - no need to try and take the Sharks by surprise with anything fancy in terms of getting field position for the shot.

Completely spot on. I also noticed just before James dropped it that we had gone away from the obvious play and tried something that was not the percentage play. Hopefully a learning experience for all as our last couple of minutes plus the golden point time was horrible.

[DavidBouveng]

was it just me or was that 'knock on' from james fairly backwards?

i know that most balls that fall directly down or even slightly backwards get called knock on and i can handle that as it was an error, but this seemed clearly backwards, almost diagonally backwards.

dont want to be a sore loser, we were better for a long part of that match but didnt really play as a team and in the end deserved to lose (with 5 minutes to go, it was 4 tries to 2 to the sharks).

[Mexican titan]

was it just me or was that 'knock on' from james fairly backwards?

i know that most balls that fall directly down or even slightly backwards get called knock on and i can handle that as it was an error, but this seemed clearly backwards, almost diagonally backwards.

dont want to be a sore loser, we were better for a long part of that match but didnt really play as a team and in the end deserved to lose (with 5 minutes to go, it was 4 tries to 2 to the sharks).

I thought it was backwards when it happened but any ball that doesn't go clearly back these days is pulled up. I guess the knock on call was consistent with what has generally been the call for the last many years. Actually it's one rule among many that just seems to have been ignored - if we want a game with few stoppages why keep calling knock ons for balls that go back. Same when teams knock on and the other team gets the ball where the refs nearly always blow it up for a scrum rather than just play on.