Titans vs Roosters
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Titans vs Roosters
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Coach had a chance to send a message to his players and at this stage he hasn't done that. Marsters on the bench has me scratching my head again unless he comes in to drop Kelly. GM still there but then Don named on extended bench.
I look at our team vs theirs and I honestly like the match up. Unfortunately one team will be more professional and well drilled for the game.
No Thompson :|
Told me he’d be back this week. Hopefully next.
At full strength: Thompson for Sami and Stone for Proctor on the right-side edge, Lisone/Vuna for Marsters on the bench and a close eye on Fogarlii. Marsters for Kelly if that left edge fails again. I think we are pretty much at full strength though, so we have some way to go. I doubt AJ will be good for this weekend though, so I'm expecting to see JC back again.
Not impressed at all. Shows how gutless Holbrook is. Stone played 10 x better than Proctor last week. Our finals chances are nearly gone and he sticks with the same old crap. Kelly would want to have a blinder
It’s looking likely AJ won’t play tomorrow night
Pereneum in the bunker
At home, if we show the same defence as last week we will definitely be in with a chance.
So there are no consequences for stuffing up so badly? How the hell does Kelly not sit out this week?
VERY poor coaching.
Yet again another coach to soft to drop the bigger named players! Another reason these players won’t buy into the culture of playing for each other! Even Walters dropped Osako this week!
I'm also disappointed to see some players not demoted. But I'm looking forward to having Tino, Mo, AJ (If fit) and Fifita back.
Titans v Roosters: Origin stars named; Crichton free to play
http://www.nrl.com
The Gold Coast return to Cbus Super Stadium desperate for a victory over the Roosters to turn their mid-season wobbles around.
After an encouraging start to the year, they have suffered losses in three of their past four outings - beating the last-placed Bulldogs while going down in disappointing fashion to Penrith, Cronulla and Melbourne.
The Roosters will be refreshed by their bye last round and have managed to maintain fifth spot on the Telstra Premiership ladder in recent weeks despite encountering a heavy injury toll.
Before the bye they bounced back from an upset loss to Brisbane by beating the Raiders 44-16 in Gosford thanks to a superb performance by Joey Manu.
Titans: Fullback AJ Brimson carried a knee injury into Origin camp but is good to go for the series opener and has been named to back up on Saturday by coach Justin Holbrook. Impressive youngster Jayden Campbell is on the reserves list and could be called up should Brimson fail to come up after Townsville.
The club's other three Origin reps - David Fifita, Tino Fa'asuamaleaui and Moeaki Fotuaika - have all been named to back up, forcing Jaimin Jolliffe and Sam McIntyre to the bench and Sam Stone to the reserves.
Winger Anthony Don (hip) and hooker Mitch Rein (shoulder) have been listed among the reserves after both were ruled out of the clash with Melbourne.
Roosters: Star back-rower Angus Crichton is back from suspension, having also missed Origin I, while Isaac Liu (eye) also returns.
Fullback James Tedesco has been named to back up from Origin I in a rejigged backline which sees Joey Manu return to the centres, Lachlan Lam named at five-eighth and Sam Walker back in the No.7 after he was rested from the Raiders game in round 12. Joseph Suaalii is named among the reserves.
Skipper Boyd Cordner (concussion) is nearing a return but coach Trent Robinson doesn't expect the second-rower to face either the Gold Coast or Penrith.
Key match-up
Sitili Tupouniua v Kevin Proctor: The rival second-rowers have been among their respective team's best performers all season.
Tupouniua has risen to the fore with Boyd Cordner sidelined all season so far, his line breaks on the edge leading to several tries, while Proctor has been a rock for the Titans in what has been a turbulent 2021 campaign.
Stat attack
The Roosters have managed to keep pace with the contending teams despite being the most penalised team in the NRL. They have conceded 66, two clear of the Titans and Bulldogs as the next-most penalised outfits.
Well it appears that the honeymoon with the Titans fans that Holbrook has enjoyed has come to an end.
This is basically the same team that the Broncos beat by exposing Sam Walker's defensive issues. Let's see if Holbrook isn't going to make players accountable can he come up with a plan to beat the Roosters like Kevvy did and I hate Kevin Walters.
Jeez some of the heat in here sounds like those awful Titans fan pages on facebook
Kelly had some god awful moments but they’re moments over the span of an entire game of football. He’s still quite obviously the best option at left centre.
Proctor id rather wasn’t there but I’m not going to pretend that I am in the position to call Holbrook’s selections a result of poor coaching
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Surely Fifi at him all night is the go
Whether or not Ash executes it is the question
I think the heat is well directed. Kelly flat out not playing team ball and passing costs us drawing level with a player off and maybe the game. He did it multiple times that game. Selfish plays like that cost us we need to capitalise. To be honest He’s been poor all year and to me that’s enough to send him to QCup to get his head back into it. I’d rather take a good look at Marsters as at least he can tackle.
Agree we don’t know everything that goes on and the coach would have far better insight into the team makeup but again with Proctor it’s not a bad game he has not been up to standard and everyone can see he is costing us. What’s our record over the last 10 games? That’s where the “heat” cones from. I think it’s time to make the tough calls on a few players (hell even bringing him off the bench) because if we don’t we can forget about finals footy again this year. I hate knee jerk reactions but I think our last 10 games tell us what we need to know.
It’s easy to be an armchair coach but it’s starting to become like the definition of madness with this team.
This week is it we need to win. Loved what I saw from 3/4 of the team last week so hopefully last week is the game we look at that changed our season.
Finals footy was over when we lost to Souffs. People should have dropped that dream long ago.
The rest of this year should be about defensive systems, connectedness and junior development and shaping our list long term.
Yep 5YC it's called accountability and until we have it we have nothing. Maybe reverse psychology to leave BK in but f@ck he better have one hell of a game if thats the case.
Yeah fair points 5YC. I think your sentiment is shared among many. Personally I’ve just never been a fan of dropping players for the point of sending a message when it doesn’t necessarily improve the team.
Proctor aside, I’m not sure we have the quality in the roster to be dropping and replacing too many of the others in the team named
Definetly agree! I think Saturday was more the breaking point for me with Kelly. He has been a defensive liability all year and maybe it was the early injury but his exploitive attack that he had last year seems to be non existent. Not to dwell but that fact that it wasn’t just a poor play but it was really that it was ignoring your team mate completely unmarked when we needed to score with the game in the balance. If he can’t make that call then he needs to go and get back to some form and get some hunger to wear the jersey. Anyways it’s moot now. I’ll be expecting a huuuuge one from BK Saturday he will be up for it I hope!
We are pretty lacking in depth for sure. The good thing is that we finally have a pipeline and the donkeys don’t have the monopoly on SE QLD schools. I still wonder if it’s worth giving JC a spot on the wing over Sami but hard to gauge too much from a single game.
I have a good feeling about Saturday. I think we get the win and make a charge.
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Call me an optimist bods (or a fool) but there is always hope. While I 100% agree we need to build for the future I think they need to strike a balance. Fans are fickle the club needs bodies at games and with a new Brisbane club on the horizon to cut into the pie even more we need to at least be playing finals footy next year. People want to come and watch winners. My hope is that we can achieve success on the field and have a good pipeline ready to replace our players at they “age out”
It’s much easier to demote a forward because they can come off the bench or have their minutes reduced depending on their form. Sami had a good game last week and to drop him after the effort he put in I think would be wrong. I’m happy that holbrook talked marzew up in the press conference and hopefully will start him again. Overall our effort was really good last week and theirs a good chance some origin players won’t play. Having marzew, Campbell and others filling in the next few weeks is enough change for me.
I like Holbrook a lot and don't see him as the reason for the player slump. Blaming him for being the voice of reason isn't going to win us anything except another ten years of being the rugby league version of a goddamned doormat. We have few really good options for promotion into the team but to address a few issues:
1. Marsters used to be an attacking gun at the Tigpies but became a defensive liability at the Cows. However, the Cows played him on the right where he was more commonly played on the left in Leichardt Land. He should be keeping a very out of sorts BK on his toes.
2. GL showed a bit and no-one was happier than me about that but he wasn't great just went reasonably. His run meters and enthusiasm were very good but his handling was sloppy. Certainly a big improver over the Galloping Ghost but the jury is still out.
3. JC is being used just right I think. When there's a space give him a go but he isn't going to dislodge AJ or Thompson when he comes back and will just have to bide his time. My fears about his toughness disappeared after Nelson "I'm gunna own ya" owned him and he got up laughing. He's going to be great but not just yet.
4. As for Jolliffe, no I'm not related to him but he is what we lack in the early stages of the game and I think MoFo offers more coming off the bench.
5. Our half's stink. Really stink but the one less on the nose is Taylor. Boyd lacks something, Forgarlii got owned by Papa the Jolly Green Dumpling and has never recovered, Sexton is unknown, Turner not until next year and Weaver too young to even consider. I would really like BBQ-Aloney to make a cameo with us and guide those young blokes through.
6. Clarke doesn't do it for me but then nor does Rein. If we can't get the Cheese then we need to breed a local 9.
7. The new boys (no not UseLEse'ese) are fine but Herbert is showing the way by just shutting up and digging in.
8. The bench rotation has some questions that need to be asked. If you think about our performances over the last two weeks what sticks out? What I saw was some bodies shouldn't be on the paddock at the same time. Fifita, MoFo, Tino, Lisone, Peachey and Wallace don't turn laterally quick enough. Any combination of these guys getting tired together is a recipe for disaster and they leave yawning gaps.
9. Stone, McIntyre, Fermor, Vuna and Whitbread are all worthy of their places and I rate them all higher in the team than some of those bigger bodies because of their effort.
10. My real beyatch is Pepsi. He just sucks on every level. As a captain, he makes a pretty good llama. Yes he looks mean and plays hard but he seems to be very limited between the ears in the way he plays. He definitely has inherited the precious goat pictures from Henderson and Zillman.
Had my fun now.
Fogarty and Titans looking to add execution to grit
https://www.titans.com.au/news/2021/...ution-to-grit/
At the halfway point of the season and as the Titans head towards 'Superhero Saturday' this weekend at Cbus Super Stadium, Jamal Fogarty spoke to the media at Warner Bros. Movie World, surrounded by some of the Superheroes that will be at the game this weekend.
The Titans performed strongly against a Melbourne side on a 10-game winning streak but weren't able to take the points.
With a big crowd expected at Cbus Super Stadium this weekend, the side will look to bounce back and Fogarty said he and his teammates want to make the most of the opportunities they are presented this weekend against the Roosters.
It was a strong performance against Melbourne without getting the final result, how do you reflect on that game?
Yeah, I think our review showed that as well. We didn't just watch edges and middles, we watched the whole game back as a group and we spoke about the positives which was pretty much 70 minutes of football from our end. There was a couple of lapses there where we went away from what we wanted to do and they were the negatives. I thought we did enough that we should have won the game but in the end we didn't and that one really hurt. Whatever we did last week individually and as a club we've got to prepare the same way this week for the Roosters and put in a good performance.
As a group, how have you spoken about the missed opportunities?
BK (Brian Kelly) is a bit shattered obviously. There were areas in my game that I should have done better as well and I'm disappointed in what I dished up. It's definitely not all on Brian, there were 17 of us playing footy each week and we've all got to take accountability and we want to get better this week for the Roosters.
How much confidence do you take from that game into this weekend?
Execution is actually something we probably have been doing for the last few weeks and then our defence has let us down but for some reason on the weekend it flipped. Our defence was awesome. We had good intent and a bit of mongrel about us. We've just got to replicate what we did last week but find a better balance with our execution and hopefully we can get the win against the Roosters.
You mentioned mongrel and there was aggression in defence. What was the catalyst for that?
We spoke about that in the pre-season and that's the team that we wanted to be. We've shown glimpses of it throughout the year and we've shown glimpses of being terrible as well. I think a couple of fresh faces in the team, those guys had been plying their trade in the Intrust Super Cup for the last couple of weeks and they felt energised. Obviously we had a bit of pride to play for as well after last week (against the Sharks). We had a couple of NRL debuts and a Club debut as well and I think the fresh faces and people being energetic and having that effort to show pride in our defence (made a difference).
State of Origin game one tonight, what are you expecting?
I'm a Queenslander mate! Hopefully our boys (David Fifita, Tino Fa'asuamaleaui, AJ Brimson and Moeaki Fotuaika) can put in a good performance. They've been in great form for us. In saying that, New South Wales have a great squad there as well. I'm just excited for the game and being in Townsville it's going to be a bit different, so I just can't wait to sit on the couch and watch the boys rip into each other.
Moe on report for the late hit on Latrell.
Wouldn’t it just ruin your night Mo being on report.
Bloody hell.
Was just a bloody hard hit. It wasn’t late.
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FMD why did Fifita come off
Fifita came off for HIA
Mo on report and Fifita concussed
Origin last year destroyed AJs acceleration and Sami’s confidence
Origin is nothing but bad bad bad for our club
Moe has been Qld best so far IMO
Mo can hold his head high after that stint tonight, he was awesome. Fifita and Tino just OK.
I firmly believe AJ’s blinding acceleration has decreased since Origin last year.
With Mo, Joliffe, Wallace and Tino (throw in Lisone and McIntyre) as our 4 props rotation we should be much much better than we are as a forward pack.
We’ve seen how good all of them are at their best.
Come on Titans Coaches and Leaders.
Tino and Fifita are defensive liabilities imho. We miss Arrow a lot.
Mo been great.
Fifita trying hard but he’s just been running one out at a brick wall all night. Didn’t notice any defensive errors
Tino carrying well but he’s made some bad defensive errors. And got stripped by a halfback.
Agree on us missing Arrow, I think Fifita has been pretty good considering. He's been well contained as of late, obviously isn't scoring hatricks for fun anymore, I don't think he's missed many tackles either. AJ was very poorly used in this game. He's not a hooker, or a utility..
So is it still far too early to say Tino has been overhyped or ?
Why do so many younger players that come here regress under us?
ffs
Overhyped maybe but it’s our own fault. He hasn’t regressed and isn’t worse than last year, but perspective is important:
He was with the premiers, playing off arguably the best player of all time at #9
And came to us.
Its not the big of a thing mate, he’s 21 and still learning. His role this year is completely different to what he had to do at Melbourne.