Broncos reaping the rewards of their big club cleanout last year. It is no surprise to see them making all the right moves & flourishing again after a few rough years on the trot. Us on the other hand....
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Broncos reaping the rewards of their big club cleanout last year. It is no surprise to see them making all the right moves & flourishing again after a few rough years on the trot. Us on the other hand....
https://amp.nine.com.au/article/d51b...4-b415aceabbad
Titans prepare to axe Holbrook
Titans coach Justin Holbrook is a dead man walking and I'm hearing the club will use the upcoming bye week to send him packing.
The club fired a shot across Holbrook's bow last week, sacking his strength and conditioning coach and best mate Klint Hoare.
I'm not sure what the board hoped to achieve by that move but the result was another limp performance by the Titans in Newcastle on the weekend.
The Titans are now in last spot on the ladder with just three wins and in a worrying sign for Holbrook, the three clubs immediately above him have already sacked their coaches.
I think Holbrook can coach - but the playing group isn't up to scratch.
David Fifita rarely justifies his million-dollar price tag, halfback Toby Sexton is still learning his craft and has had several different five-eighths alongside him during the opening half of the season.
Boom young fullback Jayden Campbell has missed many games and the club lacks a hooker with dummy-half prowess.
But it's easier to sack a coach than a dozen players and Holbrook looks set to become the latest coaching casualty on the holiday strip.
I laugh that the media darling is being still talked up as a good coach by his mates in the media. A guy that doesn't ever make adjustments and totally ignores player performance when selecting his team sure can coach! Our defensive structure and philosophy is also beyond awful. It would have made more sense to sack him last Sunday so the new coach has time to train more with the players so maybe this is BS from the mole.
I can't believe I'm saying it but I am having second thoughts about acting so fast to axe Holbrook. The entire club needs to have a good hard look at itself and ask the question of why no coach that comes here ever has any success under it instead of using the coach as a scapegoat every time we fail.
I see exactly where you are coming from gt101 but let's just look at a couple of things that keep happening under the current coach:
* early in games I see backs do all the hit ups before the useless Sexton kick. We make few metres because many of the guys hitting it up either lack size (obviously some don't) or are just ordinary hitting the line. I know at times backs take some workload off the forwards but I see this early in games with us
* Sextons kicks - nearly always land about 20-30 metres out from the oppositions line giving them great field position to start a set. Rarely, if ever has Sexton kicked for a corner.
* the use of Fafita. If you pay $1.2m for a bloke you just have to find a way to make it work. Players on this salary should not be starting off the bench, even if it worked.
* blokes get interchanged 5 minutes from half time, not due to injury. They are about to have a 15 minute rest so why waste an interchange at that late stage
* the obvious selecting the same side each week despite the failures
* terrible recruitment such as deciding to go with the same dud hooker rom last year, plus his gamble on the halves. Signing Foran is a terrible admission of failure
They are just a few things off the top of my head. I am always slow to jump on the sack the coach bandwagon but just the things I have listed above make me think he hasn't got it. Certainly there has been too much faith placed on some blokes that are very ordinary NRL players and it defies belief that we are paying up to the salary cap with this squad. Many blokes are on overs, despite that our cap is bent out of shape by paying a forward $1.2m. Fix the spine and you'd go a long way to fixing a number of our problems. Holbrook has had the chance to do that and didn't.
I'm trying to keep a level head too MT and my pet hates, apart from those you've listed which I completely agree with, are:
* horribly demotivating public presence,
* refusal to shoulder the blame (although last week he did admit he couldn't coach Sexton to improve),
* forwards too slow to get back onside,
* pandering to the so-called senior players,
* the abysmal copying of the Talakai strategy.
A lot of you all have made some good points in your posts , however I really believe in Holbrook and want him to continue on as coach.
IMO I feel that a refresh of most positions underneath Holbrook should come first and saying to some under performing players they can go but we won’t pay is a way forward . Then if this time next year we have the same results then I feel there is a justification to move Justin on. I feel restructuring from the bottom up is a unique way to do it but I feel is the right way forward.
After our performance on Friday which I turned off after Marzhew dropped it in the play the ball on the first tackle I was firmly about sacking the coach, I've calmed down now and I just don't think we could get anyone for next year who would make a difference.
I think we give Holbrook the first 6 weeks of next season, and if improvements aren't made we go hard after Bellamy for 2024, I think he only signed a 1 year extension with the storm.
Is this achievable? Honestly who knows. It would probably be tough to get Trent Barrett to come here at this point.
Well see on Tuesday if Holbrook deserves to stay or go even people in the media like Matty Johns and cam smith have been saying Clarke isn't a nine and plays better at lock why can't the coach see. Kelly needs a spell in reserve grade to find motivation again hopefully Sami is back soon didn't think I'd be saying that at the start of the year
This Clark to lock idea was discussed here weeks before the media started suggesting it. I swear they must browse here. Like how we suggested Brimson could move to centre to accommodate Foran/Campbell next year, then the next week Fatty Vautin is saying it in commentary.
It seems many of us believe there are some real long term issues at our club that sacking a coach may only temporarily dispel at best.
I love Gordie but even he said himself recently "that he is part of the problem" by noting being hands on and boots on the ground. (LINK) Same with Mal. We need people at the club and at training. And we fortunately do have a bit of an impressive constellation of stars as Ausphin previously listed.
But Prince, Mead and James are currently associated or contracted with the Broncos. It would be nice to bring them onboard.
What is that absolute legend, Nathan Friend doing now?
What is Luke Bailey doing?
Forgive me if this has already been posted.
Injury report: Campbell on track for return
https://www.titans.com.au/news/2022/...ck-for-return/
In great news for the Titans, young gun Jayden Campbell is on track to return in the coming weeks after a lengthy stint on the sidelines due to injury.
Tearing his hamstring in the Gold Coast's Round 13 clash against the Cowboys, the live-wire No. 1 was anticipated to miss approximately eight weeks, with an estimated return date at this stage around the Round 21 away trip to Melbourne.
The electrifying back is progressing well through his end stage rehab process and is expected to begin integrating with team skills next week.
It's positive signs for Justin Holbrook, who will have almost a full roster to choose from for the Round 18 blockbuster against the Broncos at Cbus Super Stadium with no injuries sustained in both the Knights clash in Newcastle and Hostplus Cup fixtures across the weekend.
The only two other players who are still among the rehab group with Campbell are Joe Vuna and Shallin Fuller; although both are back on field and progressing well.
Vuna is at the end of his rehabilitation from his ACL injury and has commenced modified team training. The talented back-rower will aim to return to Tweed soon and complete the back end of the season in the Hostplus Cup.
Young playmaker Fuller has begun rehab running and is progressing along his expected rehabilitation milestones after severely fracturing his tibia which required surgery in a pre-season trial match for the Burleigh Bears.
‘I’m part of the problem’: Titans ambassador Tallis’ startling admission
https://www.foxsports.com.au/nrl/
Titans ambassador Gorden Tallis has made the stunning admission that he is “part of the problem” at the embattled club.
The Gold Coast are anchored to the bottom of the ladder and are reportedly considering sacking coach Justin Holbrook following their embarrassing loss the Knights.
The Titans played finals last season but they’ve now lost six straight and won just one of their past 12 games.
Tallis is not paid by the club but the premiership-winning Broncos legend still took some blame for how they are performing.
“The boys making the eight (last season), I thought there’s a chance for those guys to have a really good pre-season, get some belief and build on that and go one step further, it didn’t work out that way and we’ve won three games,” Tallis said on Triple M.
“And in a result-driven business, that’s not good enough so who do you look at? You know what, I actually look at myself in a lot of this. Can I help? I’m not sure but have I been down to training? Only twice.
“Have I gone and really spent the day with David Fifta and Tino and those guys, walk down to training and help out.
“I’m part of the problem, not the solution. So I’m really disappointed. I like winning and I’m a bad loser. I’m a really bad loser. You saw me lose in Origin, I don’t like losing.”
Titans skipper Tino Fa’asuamaleaui plays his heart out every week but is regularly let down by his teammates.
Holbrook promised to swing the axe following the Newcastle loss and Tallis said he feels for the players who are working hard.
“I really feel sorry for Tino and some of the guys that put their heart and soul into it,” he said.
“And I feel sorry for the owners but collectively we’ve all got to fix what’s wrong there. Do I know the answers? All of them? No. But I know some of them.
“I think we don’t look fit, to play 40 minutes when it’s 80 minutes. Every time I went to training I prepared for 80 minutes of footy and I don’t think we’ve been that side.”
Tallis emphasised the club needs to find its DNA and stick to it.
“I want us to stand for something. In life you want to stand for something. Looking at (form NRL player) James Graham and his career, I knew what he stood for,” he said.
“I can’t get fired because they don’t pay me, I do it for free so they can move me on at any time but I’d just love the club to stand for something and I think we really need to have a look at that in the off season and make sure we stand for something as a club.
“It’s an honest club with a lot of integrity but I’d really love us to be a hard working club that wins games of footy.
“The roster is better than where they are in the competition.
“I can’t ever take the Broncos hat off because if we didn’t win a comp, we were losers. I remember Brisbane finishing third and getting knocked out a game before the final and they sacked Kerrod Walters, Michael Hancock all these guys because they didn’t get the job done.
“If you want to compete and win a competition - that (approach) is what I’m going to look at.”
I'd be happy if we could sack players as well but unfortunately their contracts are better than a coaches. Back of house needs a clean out too.
I see-saw between sack Holbrook or don't sack him. But then I think about the selections week in week out (granted some players aren't improvements from what's available) but then I think of the Fifita at centre after the Talakai destruction and then think that some people are innovators and some people are followers. Either way, I hope there is more than one person with an archive box packing their stuff up in the next week or so. I hope even more that we have some sort of a plan that has been enacted weeks ago for their replacements.