Round 2: St George-Illawarra Dragons vs Gold Coast Titans

[DIEHARD]

St George-Illawarra Dragons vs Gold Coast Titans

WIN Stadium
Sat 21 Mar 2009 5:30pm

Titans
1. Preston Campbell, 2. Esi Tonga, 3. Josh Graham, 4. Brett Delaney, 5. Jordan Atkins, 6. Mat Rogers, 7. Scott Prince (c), 8. Luke Bailey, 9. Nathan Friend, 10. Matt White, 11. Anthony Laffranchi, 12. Mark Minichiello, 13. Ashley Harrison

Interchange: 14. Aaron Cannings, 15. Brad Meyers, 16. Luke O'Dwyer, 17. William Zillman

[Boofhead]

My side for round 2:

1. William Zillman (Made a great impact against the Knights at the back, will become a Legend at the Titans)
2. Chris Walker (It's time to bring Walks back into the side, great player)
3. Mat Rogers (I'm a fan of Rogers at five eight, but he played better footy in the centers)
4. Brett Delaney
5. Jordan Atkins (His performance against the Knights was one of his best in a while)
6. Preston Campbell (Will be able to concentrate more on attack without the added pressure of fullback)
7. Scott Prince (c)
8. Luke Bailey (c)
9. Nathan Friend
10. Matt White (We have so much depth in the FR!)
11. Anthony Laffranchi
12. Mark Minichiello
13. Ashley Harrison

14. Brad Meyers (Had an amazing game against the Knights securing his spot)
15. Josh Graham (Can play in centers and forwards - great player to have on bench)
16. Luke O'Dwyer (Silenced alot of critics against the Knights, keep it up Luke!)
17. Daniel Conn (To make the team perfect, we need some Conn-crete)

[patskE]

yeh that side looks great aye
bar i think tonga has done enough to keep his spot aye.
dnt know, hopefully that try by zillman is enough to force carty to put him in.
hopefully going to make it to this game.
is conn back but? i would think he would play a week or two back in qld cup

[Steve]

I don't reckon we'll see much of a change unless there's some injuries. Everyone played well on Sunday.

[Coaster]

Storm showed Soward is there weakness in defense. To me you dont want Preston in the front line against guys like Creagh and Young.

So i would have Zillman at Center, Graham to the bench , and the rest as is.

[Tamwelg]

My side for round 2:

1. William Zillman (Made a great impact against the Knights at the back, will become a Legend at the Titans)
2. Chris Walker (It's time to bring Walks back into the side, great player)
3. Mat Rogers (I'm a fan of Rogers at five eight, but he played better footy in the centers)
4. Brett Delaney
5. Jordan Atkins (His performance against the Knights was one of his best in a while)
6. Preston Campbell (Will be able to concentrate more on attack without the added pressure of fullback)
7. Scott Prince (c)
8. Luke Bailey (c)
9. Nathan Friend
10. Matt White (We have so much depth in the FR!)
11. Anthony Laffranchi
12. Mark Minichiello
13. Ashley Harrison

14. Brad Meyers (Had an amazing game against the Knights securing his spot)
15. Josh Graham (Can play in centers and forwards - great player to have on bench)
16. Luke O'Dwyer (Silenced alot of critics against the Knights, keep it up Luke!)
17. Daniel Conn (To make the team perfect, we need some Conn-crete)

nice team. The only change I'd make is to lose either O'Dwyer or Graham for a bigger forward like Cannings or Henderson. I can't see a need for 2 utility players on the bench. Can't pick which I'd drop, both played good games.

[curly_11]

I too would like to see Rogers/Zillman in the centres but the reality is it is most likely not going to happen. Rogers played well at 5/8 but would be better in the centres to give us more attacking strength out wide.

I would also keep the wingers as they did what was required of them. People say they didnt get involved enough and that has a lot to do with our centres...

I also agree that i would like to see 1 utility player not 2. I say this because Josh Graham in my opinion is a utility not a centre. I dont think he ran at the line hard enough or really created anything. But was rather solid in defence....

My team

1. Presto
2. Tonga
3. Zillman
4. Delany
5. Atkins
6. Rogers
7. Prince
8. Bailey
9. Friend
10. White
11. Laffranchi
12. Minichiello
13. Harrison

14. Luke Odwyer
15. Aaron Cannings
16. Henderson
17. Tagatese/Conn (if fit)

I think we'll need more size on the bench against the dragons pack!

2009 is the year the Titans put the Dragons to the sword :fight:

[patskE]

Storm showed Soward is there weakness in defense. To me you dont want Preston in the front line against guys like Creagh and Young.

So i would have Zillman at Center, Graham to the bench , and the rest as is.

to campbell credit
he did 2 one on one tackles to save it from a try. just put him next to harrison.

[Coaster]

He would have to make 32 if he was number 6.

[Supergoose]

He would have to make 32 if he was number 6.

Exactly and that is why Cartwright won't change anything at least not for this week. The Dragons centres will run riot if we make changes to our centre line. We can maybe squeeze Zillman in on the wing marking Nightingale and push Tonga into the centres. I don't think there'll be many changes as the side went really well. Can anyone tell us how some of the fringe players went in the Qld Cup?

[curly_11]

Some good news is that Justin Poore is out for 4 weeks with a fractured hand :)

[Teegy]

Some good news is that Justin Poore is out for 4 weeks with a fractured hand :)
the bad news is his replacement will be nev costigan and he played a great game on the weekend for shellhabour.

[lonegull]

gold coast has named the same squad as last week no changes

[hully gully]

No reason for this, Just a feeling Chris Walker might be incuded to travel for this one. Would be ironic for the 1st try score to come back for this.....

[titanstattman]

No reason for this, Just a feeling Chris Walker might be incuded to travel for this one. Would be ironic for the 1st try score to come back for this.....

Hahaha it would be good for the 2007 1st try scorer to come back and than score the 1st try on sat night.....

[patskE]

same lineup aye, i think we all new it was going to happen
who would u drop for walker? atkins? casue tonga earnt his spot.

sigh i wish rogers moved bak to centre.

[jasbec]

same lineup aye, i think we all new it was going to happen
who would u drop for walker? atkins? casue tonga earnt his spot.

sigh i wish rogers moved bak to centre.
atkins plays outside a below par centre who doesn't know how to pass the bloody ball and your saying he hasn't earn't his spot. yeah he didn't do much on sunday i'm sure he'd be the first admit that, but he made no mistakes. the only time he got the ball bloody delaney passed it a mile forward.

[patskE]

i wasnt saying drop him
just pointing out carty would have to drop atkins for him. casue of the way tonga preformed on sat.
anyway i want to see rogers to centre and campell to 6.

[dee13]

I have to say, The Dragons have been one of those teams we just haven't been able to crack yet. I'm really hoping for another win this weekend but after looking at the lineups. The Dragons really look as strong as us on paper.

It will be a Round 1 2007 result I think. Very close game.

[patskE]

target chase n sailor wing side, points down there.

[curly_11]

Gold Coast Titans assess options for replacing Mat Rogers
By Steve Ricketts
March 19, 2009 Off-season signing William Zillman and State of Origin star Ashley Harrison shape as five-eighth options if Gold Coast Titans veteran Mat Rogers is ruled out of the match against St George Illawarra with a wrist injury.

Rogers again failed to train with the Titans Wednesday and playmaker Brad Davis is unavailable because of a rib-cartilage injury which could sideline him for four weeks.

Zillman has been named on the bench for the Titans, with Harrison at lock.

Former St George Illawarra prop Michael Henderson will travel as 18th man after playing for Tweed against Northern Pride in the Queensland Cup last Saturday and could get a start instead of Brad Meyers, who is battling a knee injury.

The Titans travel south Friday and will train at Wollongong University.

A Gold Coast team has not won in Wollongong since 1989 when the Seagulls beat the Illawarra Steelers 18-16

[curly_11]

If Rogers is out then i would leave harrison at lock for now. Put zillman in at 5/8. Add Shannon Walker to the bench. He looked good in the trials and smoked it last week in Q Cup. Otherwise Chris Walker could fill in at fullback.

This is unlikely to happen as Carty is trying to get Zillman to get some conifidence back into his game after his two reconstructions...

Other options:

Rankin in at 5/8
Harrison to 5/8. ODwyer to Lock and maybe Tagatese on the bench.
Tagatese/Tonga to centres and graham to lock

Definately got a few more options this year. Its a pity Conn is a few weeks away otherwise im pretty sure he'll be picked.

Henderson is a good replacement for Myers if he is out, which sucks because myers has been awesome in preseason and we all saw what he did on the weekend.

[Tamwelg]

Gold Coast Titans assess options for replacing Mat Rogers
By Steve Ricketts
March 19, 2009 Off-season signing William Zillman and State of Origin star Ashley Harrison shape as five-eighth options if Gold Coast Titans veteran Mat Rogers is ruled out of the match against St George Illawarra with a wrist injury.

Rogers again failed to train with the Titans Wednesday and playmaker Brad Davis is unavailable because of a rib-cartilage injury which could sideline him for four weeks.

Zillman has been named on the bench for the Titans, with Harrison at lock.

Former St George Illawarra prop Michael Henderson will travel as 18th man after playing for Tweed against Northern Pride in the Queensland Cup last Saturday and could get a start instead of Brad Meyers, who is battling a knee injury.

The Titans travel south Friday and will train at Wollongong University.

A Gold Coast team has not won in Wollongong since 1989 when the Seagulls beat the Illawarra Steelers 18-16

Source - The Courier Mail

Curly_11 please don't forget to include a source for your information

[curly_11]

Sorry its off the Foxsports.com.au website

[Hoppy2007Dragons]

target chase n sailor wing side, points down there

Cahse has been dropped with Beau Scott taking his position, Sailor is an excellent winger bar his inability to jump high now. Watching him his postional defence is superb and he is still a sloid strong player.

The game overall the saints need to get a win at home to kick off our season, we played well against a decent storm side and if we stick to the basics i think we can maintain the wood over the titans. This game i think will be won by which team can maintain their composure for longer periods, i noticed both teams when leaking points looked razzled at each other in round one so, in the case of the dragons they need to maintain their concentration and muscle up in defence.

[Blunt_Beno]

if rogers is out id like to see campbell moved into 5/8 with zillman at fullback. and bring cannings onto the bench. dont see why we need zillman and odwyer on the bench, we are gunna need all the size we can get on the bench for this game.

[titanstattman]

MATTY IS PLAYING.......

[daveyk]

i have a real good feeling about this game....

i do think thats our time to get one over the dragons.. after all bennet is the coach and we can win against the donkeys....

[DIEHARD]

I hope Rogers plays. If not I can see Ash being moved to 5/8th.

[titanstattman]

I hope Rogers plays. If not I can see Ash being moved to 5/8th.

Well he is playing he had been cleared today...

[DIEHARD]

Well he is playing he had been cleared today...

Awesome news. Now we have a full team, hopefully we can beat the Dragons and it'll be a sweet sweet victory! I want vengence!!

St George Dragons?! isn't St George a DRAGON SLAYER!?! ;)

[Boofhead]

Will be a MASSIVE confidence booster if we walk away with a win against the Dragons.

[DIEHARD]

PREVIEW: DRAGONS V TITANS - 2009 NRL ROUND 2

The Titans are well aware that they are custodians of one of the worst away records in the NRL but they will have their work cut out trying to make amends for it against the Dragons in Wollongong.

Since joining the NRL in 2007, the Titans have won only four of 21 games south of the Queensland border and in two matches at WIN Stadium they have been sent packing with embarrassing defeats on both occasions.

Their record against St George Illawarra is four games for four losses.

The NRL's newest outfit would have drawn confidence from their 34-20 defeat of Newcastle last Sunday afternoon but until they can consistently win on the road, punters are likely to avoid them in droves.

The Dragons looked a vastly improved side under Wayne Bennett last Friday night; their forwards carried the ball purposefully across the advantage line and consistently placed their team in strong attacking positions.

There is still work to be done in a number of areas but they should be good enough to open their season's account here. Look to a St George Illawarra try as First Scoring Play ($2-05) and a home win by a 1-12 margin ($3).

First Tryscorer choices include Wendell Sailor ($13), Jason Nightingale ($11) or Matt Cooper ($13) for the Dragons or Esi Tonga ($13), Josh Graham ($17) or Brett Delaney ($17) for the Titans.

Saturday March 21, 2009
St.George-Illawarra Dragons vs Gold Coast Titans at WIN Stadium, Wollongong (NSW)

St.George-Illawarra Dragons
1 Darius Boyd, 2 Jason Nightingale, 3 Beau Scott, 4 Matt Cooper, 5 Wendell Sailor, 6 Jamie Soward, 7 Ben Hornby [c], 8 Jarrod Saffy, 9 Dean Young, 10 Michael Weyman, 11 Matt Prior, 12 Ben Creagh, 13 Jeremy Smith. Subs: 14 Dan Hunt, 15 Neville Costigan, 16 Luke Priddis, 17 Brett Morris.

Gold Coast Titans
1 Preston Campbell, 2 Esi Tonga, 3 Josh Graham, 4 Brett Delaney, 5 Jordan Atkins, 6 Mat Rogers, 7 Scott Prince [c], 8 Luke Bailey [c], 9 Nathan Friend, 10 Matt White, 11 Anthony Laffranchi, 12 Mark Minichiello, 13 Ashley Harrison. Subs: 14 Aaron Cannings, 15 Brad Meyers, 16 Luke O'Dwyer, 17 William Zillman.

Date: Sat March 21 2009, 5:30PM AEDT GMT+11 [Sat March 21 2009, 4:30PM AEST GMT+10] [Sat March 21 2009, 6:30AM GMT]
Referee: Ashley Klein, Alan Shortall

Predictions:
Matthew O'Neill: Dragons by 10
Adem Kolar: Dragons by 16
Paul Booth: Dragons by 4

OVERALL:
Total Games: 4
St.George-Illawarra Dragons wins: 4. [Pts: 104]
Gold Coast Titans wins: 0. [Pts: 62]
Draws: 0

Biggest wins:
St.George-Illawarra Dragons: 18 pts: 2008 NRL Telstra Premiership - Round 2 - Mon: St.George-Illawarra Dragons 30 d. Gold Coast Titans 12 [Crowd: 10521]
Gold Coast Titans: Nil

Biggest Crowd: 2007 NRL Telstra Premiership - Round 1 - Sun: Gold Coast Titans 18 l. St.George-Illawarra Dragons 20 [Crowd: 42030]

Last 50 games against each other form line (most recent matches at end of line):
St.George-Illawarra Dragons: WWWW
Gold Coast Titans: LLLL

Last 10 games:
2008 NRL Telstra Premiership - Round 16 - Sat: Gold Coast Titans 22 l. St.George-Illawarra Dragons 26 [Crowd: 26453]
2008 NRL Telstra Premiership - Round 2 - Mon: St.George-Illawarra Dragons 30 d. Gold Coast Titans 12 [Crowd: 10521]
2007 NRL Telstra Premiership - Round 10 - Fri: St.George-Illawarra Dragons 28 d. Gold Coast Titans 10
2007 NRL Telstra Premiership - Round 1 - Sun: Gold Coast Titans 18 l. St.George-Illawarra Dragons 20 [Crowd: 42030

Source: http://www.rleague.com

[curly_11]

All i can say is that records are meant to be broken! I really think we can break the drought this time and win more games away from home :)

Pity Conn isnt playing to put a hit or two on Weyman the loser! Maybe he'll have another brain snap and get sent off again....

GO TITANS:fist: :fist: :fist:

[patskE]

ill be there
checklist:
titans bucket hut
titans singlet
blue paint(now i need some help, going try n paint my left arm blue n a sorta patten, i got poster paint from when i made the king conn banner, will that work? or do i need face paint? wat do the smurfs use?

[Steel Dragon]

We own you guys. It'll be 0 and 5 after Saturday night. :D (And if it's not, I'll be back in here to accept the inevitable consequences ;))

[DIEHARD]

We own you guys. It'll be 0 and 5 after Saturday night. :D (And if it's not, I'll be back in here to accept the inevitable consequences ;))

92 93 96 99 :eyebrows:

We don't fear the Dragons! Titans to make it 2/2 so far!

[Coaster]

To me 4 games is not a bogey team, but they did rain on our parade a few times, what better way to shake off the on road issues, then to do something we havnt done before.

Great chance for the Titans to start fresh this year and let nothing stand in there way.

Titans by 20

[Steve]

ill be there
checklist:
titans bucket hut
titans singlet
blue paint(now i need some help, going try n paint my left arm blue n a sorta patten, i got poster paint from when i made the king conn banner, will that work? or do i need face paint? wat do the smurfs use?

Pretty sure the smurfs use face paint, just a crapload of it!

[patskE]

are members of the southen legion going? all my mates are saints followers and i dnt really wanna sit in their army with all titans stuff on ahah

[GCT_89]

yea we use ALOT of the Blue and White face paint.......the original blue colour is too dark and we like the lighter colour......

[DIEHARD]

Titans captain Scott Prince predicts brutal match against Dragons

TITANS co-captain Scott Prince last night warned his troops to expect engine-room fireworks in Wayne Bennett's welcome party at WIN Stadium today.

Gold Coast, shooting to give Prince's leadership buddy Luke Bailey a memorable 150th NRL game against his former club, have lost all four outings against St George-Illawarra ahead of tonight's clash in Wollongong.

Despite the head-to-head record, Prince says there is little point reaching for the history books.

The No. 7 declared his one-time Broncos boss had heralded a new on-field structure for the Dragons, based on forward-pack muscle and brute strength.

"They seem to rely on their strength and size up the middle. That's where they matched it with the Storm forward pack," Prince said.

"Then they rely heavily on Jamie Soward and Ben Hornby for their kicking game to pin you in the corner and make it difficult to get out of your own half.

"It's a very simple game plan but it showed last weekend it works effectively."

Despite being without big man Justin Poore (broken hand) for a month, the Dragons still boast Kiwi hitman Jeremy Smith, round 1 revelation Michael Weyman, and bookends Jarrod Saffy and Dan Hunt.

There is history between Weyman and the Titans, with the former Canberra prop sent off for a king-hit on back-rower Daniel Conn last season.

A war of words erupted after the match, with Bailey labelling Weyman - who was banned for six matches - a cheap-shot merchant and a liability, saying "he has a brain-snap whenever he gets tired, which happens quite regularly".

Tonight's game promises to be a brutal affair, with both camps yesterday pinpointing defence as the key to victory.

The Dragons hold another psychological advantage tonight over the visitors, given it is just six days since the Titans were forced to begin their season in a 1pm heatwave.

Source: http://www.thecouriermail.com.au

[patskE]

ahah i was pumped yesturday now iam scared casue if we loose iam going get hammered ahah
cant wait but
shall be a hek match

[Tamwelg]

Very disappointing game, I think we lost it rather than Dragons won.

[Coaster]

Attitude





















Thats all we miss.

Thats a massive loss, becuase we were a better team then them, we just played like tossbags.

Minochello gave away a dozen penelties, and then had the hide to winge about a desicion, Mark if you plainly dont know the rules of the game, dont open your mouth, just get back on side and make up for your poor play.

It was hot last week, but i hope they dont use that as an excuse, cause there is a deeper problem regarding preperation and disipline, that needs to be addressed. Add to that Carty's choice to play Zillman on the wing wowser, Your the city coach, hope you get the NSW gig soon.

[dean]

Some things in life never change and one of them is the Titans pathetic performances on the road. Ill disciplined amateur garbage from them today. Friend and Prince tried hard, forget the rest. The sooner Rogers gets out of 5/8 the better and not just for the team but also the fans. This performance has really cheesed me off. I honestly thought that the Titans may have finally learned how to play and win away from Skilled. On that schoolboy performance, obviously not. I just have that really horrible feeling of Deja Vu.

[GCT_07]

Some things in life never change and one of them is the Titans pathetic performances on the road. Ill disciplined amateur garbage from them today. Friend and Prince tried hard, forget the rest. The sooner Rogers gets out of 5/8 the better and not just for the team but also the fans. This performance has really cheesed me off. I honestly thought that the Titans may have finally learned how to play and win away from Skilled. On that schoolboy performance, obviously not. I just have that really horrible feeling of Deja Vu.

You have got to be kidding!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! There is so much wrong with what you said I dont even know where to begin...... so I wont!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[dean]

You have got to be kidding!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! There is so much wrong with what you said I dont even know where to begin...... so I wont!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Please do.
I am interested to hear your interpretation of their performance today.
And I am not kidding !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I believe that my comments 100% are justified. Please justify yours.

[hammer]

Disappointing result indeed!
Our attack loses its cohesion when we are on the road and this is an ongoing frustration. We dropped the ball when we had been put through gaps and/or had marginal forward passes called. Just very rusty indeed!
I thought our defence was pretty solid but penalties just killed us.
We have the personnel to do very well on the road in 2009, just need to keep injury free and improve 10% in all facets.
We can do it...stay positive!

[Boofhead]

What a frustrating game of football to watch...

The only real positive I can take from the game is... Nathan Friend, boy we would of been in trouble today (and in general) without him. He was at every break down trying to spark something but no one else was interested.

Was heart breaking watching Prince making very silly errors he would normally never make (5 errors overall!), Preston and Rogers tried to step up to help him but fell short.

Zillman scoring again will boost his confidence.

DISCIPLINE... DISCIPLINE... DISCIPLINE.... Drill it into them Carty...

[GCT_07]

Cartwright proud despite loss to Dragons


Jetstar Gold Coast Titans coach John Cartwright has praised his side?s tenacity in defence despite tonight?s 16-10 loss to St George Illawarra at WIN Stadium.

The Titans? hoodoo against the Dragons continued as the visitors fell to their fifth loss in as many matches against the red and whites since 2007.

However, Cartwright said there was plenty to like about his side?s performance given they were on the wrong end of a 10-6 penalty count and were not suited by the tempo of the game.

?I couldn?t have been more proud of the players today the way they defended,?? said Cartwright.

?You don?t like to make statements and its too this early in the year to say you look back at a game but as I sit here and look back at that 80 minutes, that last 40 minutes I couldn?t have been more proud of the way our boys kept turning up.

?I thought it was a real dour affair. There wasn?t a lot of speed at the play the ball and it seemed every time Princey was getting the ball in his hands he seemed to have a fair bit of attention around him.

?It sort of became a grinding out match and whoever got the 50-50 calls was going to win.??

Jetstar Titans co-captain Scott Prince said it was a frustrating affair.

?It was just frustrating. Carty touched on it, al the 50-50 calls seemed to go one way it was just a bit frustrating from that aspect but what can you do,?? said Prince.

Before a crowd of 13,329, the Titans got off to a good start when Prince got his boot onto a wayward pass by Ben Hornby and re-gathered to score in the right corner and give the visitors a 4-nil lead.

However the Dragons hit back through Jeremy Smith, who crashed over under the posts in the 22nd minute to give the home side a 6-4 lead heading into the halftime break.

The Dragons extended that lead not long into the second half when Neville Costigan cleaned up the scraps of a grubber kick to score and give the home side a 12-4 lead.

The Dragons were again on the spot to take advantage of a kick when Titans winger Jordan Atkins fumbled a Jamie Soward crosskick and winger Justin Nightingale pounced on the ball to score.

The Titans gained some late consolation when new recruit William Zillman scored his second try in as many matches in the right corner and Prince added the extras from the sideline.

www.titans.com.au

[Boofhead]

Bennett scores first win as Dragons' coach downing the Titans 16-10
March 21, 2009

Wayne Bennett banked his first competition points as St George Illawarra coach before declaring the Dragons were on the right track despite a scratchy 16-10 NRL win over Gold Coast.

Much as they did in last week's golden point loss to Melbourne, the Dragons relied on their defence to keep them in the contest with their attacking play leaving plenty to be desired at WIN Stadium.

In the end they relied on a pair of deft Jamie Soward kicks to get over a sluggish Gold Coast side, the Titans succumbing to a relentless red and white defensive blanket and host of touch and go refereeing calls which left the men in blue scratching their heads.

The Dragons however were not to be denied as they finally got the Bennett era off the ground, Soward setting up four pointers for Neville Costigan and Jason Nightingale to turn a slender 6-4 half-time advantage into a comfortable 16-4 lead.

William Zillman scored in the final minute for the Titans to add some respectability to the scoreboard.

Despite the win, Bennett admitted his side still had plenty of work to do.

"Attack-wise I think we can can all see we're struggling a bit there, but I expected that, it's not something I hadn't budgeted for," Bennett said.

"We're patchy, I think that's pretty obvious. But I'm not worried about it, it will come, it will come."

Asked what was the basis for his confidence, Bennett said:

"Because I know what I'm doing."

For much of the game, the Dragons didn't look like they knew what they were doing with players running into each other and passes hitting the ground time and again.

Thankfully for the Dragons the Titans struggles were a lot worse as they slumped to five losses in as many games against the Dragons since coming into the competition in 2007.

Besides Zillman's last minute effort, their only other points came from a piece of Scott Prince individual brilliance as he rushed out of the defensive line to toe through a floating Ben Hornby pass, and then won the race to the line after just four minutes.

The Titans claimed they weren't allowed to play any football from then on due to the slowness of the ruck, while three crucial forward pass rulings - including one which denied Mark Minichiello a try on the half hour - also went against the visitors.

"It's just frustrating ... all the 50-50 calls seemed to go one way" Prince said.

"What can you do?

"I just thought the two referee system was there to speed up the play the balls, but tonight it seemed to go one way, it was pretty obvious which way it was going."

AAP

[Steve]

With Preston coming off for Zillman, then coming back on again to replace Atkins with Zillman moving to the wing, I have to wonder if we'll see Atkins pulled next game.

I gotta say, I don't think it'd make much difference if we had Mead, Gordon, Walker or anyone else in the side because we make no use of our wingers. The odd bomb which they always miss.

[matti]

i think the boys played a little poor today, alot of dropped balls and a few forward passes, watching the toyata cup whoever is number 1 is def going to be in our top side soon. that guys a machine!

[Paul]

Nathan Friend is the only player able to come away with his head held high from todays mess.
I don't give a flying **** what money he's asking for,He's worth every penny of it and is the heart and soul of the team along with Prince

What has happened to our back row? the first two rounds this year Mini/Boof and Ash have all been really below standard,especially Boof who I've barely noticed is even on the park

Atkins should be dropped,I don't see what he offers the team,Stick Gordon in there,He may be a bit lightweight but at least he will score tries or chase people down

Start Zillman from now on,why have an explosive player like him coming on for ten minutes? waste of time. he should be causing havok from the first minute.

[Steve]

Nathan Friend is the only player able to come away with his head held high from todays mess.
I don't give a flying **** what money he's asking for,He's worth every penny of it and is the heart and soul of the team along with Prince

What has happened to our back row? the first two rounds this year Mini/Boof and Ash have all been really below standard,especially Boof who I've barely noticed is even on the park

Atkins should be dropped,I don't see what he offers the team,Stick Gordon in there,He may be a bit lightweight but at least he will score tries or chase people down

Start Zillman from now on,why have an explosive player like him coming on for ten minutes? waste of time. he should be causing havok from the first minute.

I agree on some points. Having Prince, Campbell and Zillman on the field together will create all sorts of headaches.

Atkins I playing on one good game a couple years ago. That said, I don't think Gordon would make a difference, as I said earlier. We just don't utilise our wingers.

As for Friend. Bugger 'im. Yeah, he's playing superb football, much better than last year. And that's exactly it. He's been capable of it, but only now when he needs a contract is he putting in. Give him his 4 year contract and we won't see him play like this again.

[Paul]

what are you talking about Steve? along with Preston, Friend was our best player last year by miles,he's merely continuing his good form as opposed to "doing it now he's after a contract"

[dee13]

After his performance yesterday you have to wonder why Atkins is in the starting team and Zillman isn't. Matt Rogers... non existant. Both Delaney and Graham lack imagination and impact in the centres. Alot of simple mistakes, even from Pricey right on the line in the first half. Yes we lost the game. St George didn't win it. Ordinary and frustrating performace.

You can't candy coat what I saw last night, sorry guys.

[Ryan]

I'm ****en disgusted, what the **** was that? :censored:

30 missed tackles and struggling to pass the ball properly. The ref was bad but not as bad as the way they played, that game was up for grabs.

Don't worry about injuries keeping us out of the finals, gotta learn to play football first :helpme:

[Steve]

what are you talking about Steve? along with Preston, Friend was our best player last year by miles,he's merely continuing his good form as opposed to "doing it now he's after a contract"

I'm not saying Friend wasn't good last year, I'm saying he's a lot better this year (okay, just 2 games, but still). Now, if it's purely because he's improved in the off season, great!
But all we're hearing is he's playing for a new contract now, so he has to be good. Not just from the media, but from teammates. Says to me he could have been playing as well as he is last year too, he just chose not to.

[Coaster]

I dont think it is a matter of his ability, just the contract is to long.

[Titan2007]

Do you all understand how hard it is to back up from last Sundays heat draining game. It is a wonder the players were all not hospitalised with dehydration. Anybody else would have been ..
You can't tell me the refs were not part to blame in our loss. Mini's try was not forward and he did have the right to blowup/question the call.
Our number six needs to realise there are 16 other players on the field and not just him. Carty needs to bring that to his attention.
Friendy had another hard working game, but so did Harro, Bailey and Red (when he was on). If you are sitting in your lounge chair listening to the bias commentators raving on and making excuses for players, who, I might add are not playing to their ability, all the while other players are really putting in, and not getting a mention, of course you are going to think these players haven't done much. Go to NRL stats and see the real picture.
Of course I would have loved a win but there are genuine excuses and we must be open minded to this. Not blow up because they lost.
Next week is a whole new ball game. ;)

[Ryan]

Do you all understand how hard it is to back up from last Sundays heat draining game. It is a wonder the players were all not hospitalised with dehydration. Anybody else would have been ..
You can't tell me the refs were not part to blame in our loss. Mini's try was not forward and he did have the right to blowup/question the call.
Our number six needs to realise there are 16 other players on the field and not just him. Carty needs to bring that to his attention.
Friendy had another hard working game, but so did Harro, Bailey and Red (when he was on). If you are sitting in your lounge chair listening to the bias commentators raving on and making excuses for players, who, I might add are not playing to their ability, all the while other players are really putting in, and not getting a mention, of course you are going to think these players haven't done much. Go to NRL stats and see the real picture.
Of course I would have loved a win but there are genuine excuses and we must be open minded to this. Not blow up because they lost.
Next week is a whole new ball game. ;)
Genuine excuses my ****!
You can't go blaming the ref when you play that badly.
Mini's try was a borderline flat ball, but there were plenty of other forward passes and not all of them were picked up on.
NRL stats will tell you the Titans missed 30 tackles to the Dragons 8 - can't blame the ref for that one.

If they miss the eight by 2 points this year, it'll be because they couldn't pass the ball or tackle properly in Round 2. Making excuses is pathetic, especially after all the tough talk in the last week about 'shaking the monkey'.............

[GCT_89]

16 - 10.......

theres only one try in that......

st george had a great line-up and the won the game......

why is it, that whenever we lose, everyone wants to blame someone.....
sure enough there were a few foward passes (flat at best)
sure enough princey played the worst game ive seen from him in years
sure enough rogers didnt pass the ball as often as you guys wanted him (hes a ball running 5/8, thats what princeys is there for)

......but there were plenty of mistakes across the board, and as ryan has stated, 30 missed tackles!

how the hell can you only lose by ONE converted try after missing 30 tackles!!!!

i say after the exausting game they had to play last week WELL DONE BOYS! :thumbsup:

[titanstattman]

Well in between cooking and getting out of the rain....

I think the boys could of picked up they game abit as the boys above said 30 missed tackles who dose that and still works away......

Over all it was a great game to only loose by 1 try instaeed of 4-6 trys

I think the team will go back over they game in depth with carty.

They still got alot to be pround of.........:thumbsup:

[Steve]

As much as I'd like to blame the ref, and it's easy to do if they cost you a try and you lose by a try or less, when it comes down to it, if you're playing well enough you'll be that far ahead it just won't matter.

A downside of the two ref rule is the already thin ref stocks are even thinner. There's refs calling first grade games who shouldn't be there.

A loss is always disappointing, but I think at this stage of the season cobwebs are still being shaken out.
I'll definitely be looking to see some improvement over the coming weeks, and I think a team reshuffle too.

[Chaos]

16 - 10.......

why is it, that whenever we lose, everyone wants to blame someone.....
sure enough there were a few foward passes (flat at best)
sure enough princey played the worst game ive seen from him in years
sure enough rogers didnt pass the ball as often as you guys wanted him (hes a ball running 5/8, thats what princeys is there for)


Firstly, Rogers is a great runner...not a 5/8.
secondly, why is Princy sweeping around in the fullback position...he needs to get the ball at first or second receiver.
Zilman is one of the fastest in the game...make him sweep around with Princy feeding him the money ball.

On the subject of Zillman...It looks like Carty is struggling with his decision at fullback and in the mean time the forwards lose an interchange.
Where was our interchange prop?

The potential is there but we have a lot of work to do.

[titanstattman]

Its round 2 24 to go im sure in the comming 2-3 weeks we will see all the little probs sorted out...

[patskE]

man
dnt get y u would put zillman on the wing after taking atkins off, would of bench grahman and moved rogers to centre and zillman or campbell to 5/8 casue we need more in attack
he was away for another try i rkn, but got pulled back for a late tackle on the kicker.
u have to move rogers to centre and ethier put zillman or campbell there. prince jsut cant produce it all himself, to much pressure and it showed.
our forwards need to step up, our bak row has done nothing past 2 games. we need conn back for his hard running

[skua]

After a loss like this I think carty and the boys have some thinking to do. No doubt, I really enjoyed their performance yesterday, despite the hiccups. I think the interchange has to have Tagatese. We need more attack work, as patskE said. Maybe some more game plans for the offensive. Every player has to get involved more than now, its no use always passing to prince and then he scores, as we saw last season when princey was absent due to injury (aswell as the other key players) we tend to lose our games more. Try get some 40/20's in :)

Go Titans!

[patskE]

yeh maybe a more attacking 2nder rower on the bench instead of odwyer, ie tagatese. we need conn aswell, he was a rock

[dean]

I have just read the article stating that Carty was proud of his teams performance against the dragons.

I find it a bitter pill to swallow when a coach of Cartys calibre can state in the media that he is proud of his teams effort, especially after a very ordinary performance like that. I do agree to a point that at times our defence looked good, however the Dragons attack was mostly disjointed and they hardly threw anything at the Titans. I honestly believe that the comments by Carty were just a smokescreen and he just wishes to sweep this one under the carpet and move on. My fears are that if Carty is fairdinkum in his appraisal of this performance then this would indicate no team or positional changes, and if that is the case we could be in serious trouble over the next few weeks. With a home game against the Dogs followed by two consecutive away games against the Cowboys and the Storm i can assure you that the Titans will have to contend with a lot more firepower and tougher defence than the Dragons or Knights threw at them. Time for Carty to get fairdinkum early in the season and fire a rocket up the backsides of some of his non performing players, not praise them and be publicaly proud of them. Just my own thoughts and concerns.

Seems like most times that i make a comment on this forum i seem to ruffle a few feathers, however i can assure all that i am a passionate Titans supporter and a proud club member since 07 and i would love nothing more than to see our team make the finals this season.

[Supergoose]

Missed this game due to cricket commitments. Tried to get the olds to use their DVD recorder but it was beyond them - all I got was snow. Was seriously frustrated that I didn't get to watch, but it sounds like I might have been more frustrated had I done so. It will be interesting to see if Carty makes some changes. Obviously 30 tackles is a lot to miss, but it's even worse when the side he selects is defense oriented - may as well pick some attacking players if you are going to miss that many.

[hugebrianfan]

Its round 2 24 to go im sure in the comming 2-3 weeks we will see all the little probs sorted out...

yeah, no sweat.. they'll be fine

[Titan2007]

Genuine excuses my ****!
You can't go blaming the ref when you play that badly.
Mini's try was a borderline flat ball, but there were plenty of other forward passes and not all of them were picked up on.
NRL stats will tell you the Titans missed 30 tackles to the Dragons 8 - can't blame the ref for that one.

If they miss the eight by 2 points this year, it'll be because they couldn't pass the ball or tackle properly in Round 2. Making excuses is pathetic, especially after all the tough talk in the last week about 'shaking the monkey'.............

You mustn't know too much about professional rugby league. Sure, they missed tackles, but look at the score line. They must have defended ok to only lose by a converted try. If the try to Mini was awarded it may have been a different story. Borderline flat passes were happening over the whole weekend of footy and depending on who was reffing the game, points were awarded. No use blowing a fuse and swearing about it. It's round two. :nope:

[Hoppy2007Dragons]

You mustn't know too much about professional rugby league. Sure, they missed tackles, but look at the score line. They must have defended ok to only lose by a converted try. If the try to Mini was awarded it may have been a different story. Borderline flat passes were happening over the whole weekend of footy and depending on who was reffing the game, points were awarded. No use blowing a fuse and swearing about it. It's round two.

I'm gonna have to agree with ryan, my dragons alligence aside, the titans put in a pretty poor effort considering how deep they dug to fight back in round one.

The titans first try came off a poor hornby pass and the second try was on the fulltime siren.

Carty will definetly need to drill the team, the dragons attack was pretty poor and disorganised, a more potent attacking team will def put the titans to the sword if they pull out another performance like that.

I think carty should look at arriving at away games early, the team looked lethargic, maybe the titans should think outside the square to beat their away hoodoo, morale concepts have a huge effect on the team.

[Titan2007]

I'm gonna have to agree with ryan, my dragons alligence aside, the titans put in a pretty poor effort considering how deep they dug to fight back in round one.

The titans first try came off a poor hornby pass and the second try was on the fulltime siren.

Carty will definetly need to drill the team, the dragons attack was pretty poor and disorganised, a more potent attacking team will def put the titans to the sword if they pull out another performance like that.

I think carty should look at arriving at away games early, the team looked lethargic, maybe the titans should think outside the square to beat their away hoodoo, morale concepts have a huge effect on the team.

Sure, but as I wrote in another comment, dehydration = lethagy. Perhaps thats why. Also it doesn't matter if trys come from opposition poor passes, as long as they score and get the points.

[Ryan]

You mustn't know too much about professional rugby league. Sure, they missed tackles, but look at the score line. They must have defended ok to only lose by a converted try. If the try to Mini was awarded it may have been a different story. Borderline flat passes were happening over the whole weekend of footy and depending on who was reffing the game, points were awarded. No use blowing a fuse and swearing about it. It's round two. :nope:
I'm no footy genius, but I'm obviously a few pegs up on you.

Like Hoppy just and and a few others before - the Dragons had next to no attack. If we played like that against Melbourne, Brisbane or Nth QLD it would have been a +40 scoreline.

A side with the attacking options like the Titans shouldn't need to rely on 'borderline flat' passing to scrape in for a chance at victory.

[Hoppy2007Dragons]

Sure, but as I wrote in another comment, dehydration = lethagy. Perhaps thats why. Also it doesn't matter if trys come from opposition poor passes, as long as they score and get the points.

No it doesn't matter in regards to points, but in weeks to come when people examine the titans attacking potency, i'm sure they would rather look at the tries they created rather than the ones handed to them.

Dehydration may have accounted for this loss, but what about the other 25+ away loses over the short history.

[josh_m]

I dont think that dean's comments are as ridiculous as they're being branded. The Titans will struggle this year (again) if they cant get their away game stigmata sorted, you have to win more than 12/12 home games to be a chance of even making the finals, let alone be in premiership contention. As already mentioned, the Titans have the Dogs who are 2/2 and a shadow of their former selves, the Cowboys and then the Storm... Both away games.

They better get it sorted and they better do it fast.

[TITAN PETE]

The boys played fairly poorly for most of the match & i think the shake up is needed at 5/8 & the backrow.......Zillman needs to start & maybe wearing the 6 & swapping throughout the game with Presto & leave Rogers in the centres will help in our pretty lifeless attack :mad: Our backrow was one of the best in the NRL last year but apart from maybe Minni at times , they have been average so dropping 1 of them may be a kick in the **** thats required at the moment as Odywer is out playing all of them off the bench & with guys like Henderson,Tagatese,Berdie & Thompson all playing Qld Cup i think there should be a couple of changes made earlier rather later ;)

[Steel Dragon]

If the Titans put in a performance like that against any team other than the Dragons, I'd be jumping up and down like the rest of you. Our attack is pedestrian, but it only needed to be pedestrian to win that game, you guys just made so many errors.

I guess the positive is that the respective defences of both teams are well in order, and the Titans attack always seems to mysteriously roar back to life on your own dung hill. I really hope you guys can figure a way to con yourselves into thinking you're playing at Robina every week. And someone might want ot have a word in Carty's ear and remind him Presto is a half, not a fullback. Swapping him and Rogers would be a very good move.

As for us, I suspect the ABC commentators are correct - Bennett focussed largely on our defence during the pre-season, realising that you can't turn chokers into world-beaters overnight. Virtually all our problems in the past have been mental, and I believe Bennett is working on getting our heads right first, then worrying about looking pretty. His comments in the media seem to back that up.

As for the ref, you're not the first team to ever be dudded, and at least you weren't cost a Grand Final by a bad refereeing error. But blaming the ref is always the first excuse of those who aren't good enough to win by themselves (we Dragons fans are exhibit #1), and I'm not aware of a result ever being overturned on the basis of a refereeing error. Carty and a couple of your players will be lucky to dodge $10k fines for some of the post-match comments.

[Steve]

Preston was always a fullback before he got shifted to half.

You're right about the ref though. It happens in games. We saw it plenty this weekend and the last, not just our game. It'll happen again too.

If the guys were really firing, they'd have scored enough tries that in the end the ref would have been played out of the game. You need to do that if you want to win consistently and make the finals. It's great to snatch a win in the close games, but you need as few of those as possible.

Laffranchi was still one of our top tacklers, made the most metres and most hit ups, but he's not breaking the line and offloading like we're used to. I think once our forwards kick into gear, we'll be going a lot better. Still need to work on those backs though!

[shavenjas]

I think the Titans would struggle to win an away game if it was played at Tweed Heads:ugh: can someone tell them that the fields are all the same size, except for the in goal at Melbourne..:salute:

Question: How many Titans players does it take to change a light bulb?

Answer: 1, Scott Prince he does everything:D

[Coaster]

Backline ends at Rogers.

We could have Inglis Folou and Jesus Christ himself playing wing, they wouldnt see the ball because once Rogers has it, he either

1. turns it back inside
2. runs and gets tackled

the only time our centers see the ball Preston or Prince give it to them, and because both centers are second rowers they do the same as Rogers.

The best halves in the game IMO are Lockyer and Wallace, Wallace controls the game, and when he is under pressure or out of position Lockyer takes over and controlls.

Us on the other hand have Prince, and who, ill tell you now its not rogers, even though he is kicking a lot more.