NRL Round 1: Gold Coast Titans vs New Zealand Warriors

[hammer]

Sign of a good team...winning when they play poorly!
Lots of improvement to be had by next week...the Rabbitohs will be very hungry after their below par performance today!

[GCT_07]

WOW.... tough crowd..........

Personally I was quite happy with the boys. The Warriors had extra players on the field (wearing pink) but the boys hung in there. The ground was drenched and the ball very wet. We have some significant new signings that do need to settle into the team and play comfortably off the other players. For the first round IMO i think the boys can take alot from the game today. The boys showed today that under terrible conditions they did not hang their head like they have done in years past..... they stood firm and kept going.

To everyone who was there soaking wet just like the players...... huge well done to you as well.............takes a dedicated supporter to stand in pooring rain and still yell and scream their team on to victory. We might all have pnemonia next week but hey.... it was worth it

[Blazertaser]

WOW.... tough crowd..........

Personally I was quite happy with the boys. The Warriors had extra players on the field (wearing pink) but the boys hung in there. The ground was drenched and the ball very wet. We have some significant new signings that do need to settle into the team and play comfortably off the other players. For the first round IMO i think the boys can take alot from the game today. The boys showed today that under terrible conditions they did not hang their head like they have done in years past..... they stood firm and kept going.

To everyone who was there soaking wet just like the players...... huge well done to you as well.............takes a dedicated supporter to stand in pooring rain and still yell and scream their team on to victory. We might all have pnemonia next week but hey.... it was worth it

Call in sick for work the next week, Titanemonia has struck the gold coast, all for a good cause

Blazer

[TITAN PETE]

When u play that way & get the 2 points ya gotta be happy... ..there were some very good points out of the game though
Tomane had a great debut but did drop a couple of passes

Bodene Thompson had a very solid debut

Bird easily the Biggest Hitter on the park & i think we've found the Mongrel we lacked & i'm not worried about how many times he dropped the pill as that will all change as the combinations start to jell

Friendy had a Man of the Match performance with 2 try assists & 50 Tackles

[teke]

Ordinary game but I was happy to see Titans professionalism in the 2nd half come through. Bird had great defence but needs to play wet weather footy a bit more. Tomane played alright, could be a bit fitter, he was cramping and blowing hard at the 47th min. He still did something Delaney never did all last year and that was instinctively pass to the winger.

Great base to build on, this team is going to hammer someone this year you can just feel it.

[TITAN PETE]

By Wayne Heming AAP Sun, 14 Mar 2010 17:41:00


Match-winner Preston Campbell had no recollection of his key role in the Gold Coast's 24-18 NRL win over the Warriors at Skilled Park on Sunday.

Down 12-0 at the time, Campbell caught the Warriors' defence napping from the re-start with a sneaky short kick-off, regaining possession and leading to centre Joseph Tomane scoring in the same set of six.

But Campbell remembers little of the match-turning play, having copped a knee to the head late in the game.

"I don't remember much of the first half of the game," said Campbell in the Titan's dressing rooms.

"Just the last bit, I remember knocking the ball out of big Manu's (Manu Vatuvei) hands, that's about it."

Campbell, who plays in headgear, was a little concerned by the head knock because he said he felt "strange" when it happened.

"Usually when you cop a head knock you're a bit dazed," he said.

"But I got the wobbly boot and even fell over a couple of times.

"It was funny, I knew where I was I just couldn't get up.

"I'm still a bit light headed and I got bit of a headache but it make me feel better we've won the game."

Campbell's short kick ploy was one of three huge plays by the 76kg fullback, who'll be kept under close observation in the build-up to next week's clash with South Sydney.

Apart from flying onto Nathan Friend's grubber in the 74th minute for a try that broke an 18-all deadlock, Campbell pulled off another game-saver a few minutes later, stripping the ball from 112kg giant Vatuvei when the Kiwi international was headed for the try line.

The game didn't reach any great heights for the 16,112 fans or for star Titans recruit Greg Bird, whose first appearance at Skilled Park was forgettable.

Bird played with his usual aggression and left a few Warriors sore and bruised but he turned over a lot of football in the greasy conditions.

"It wasn't one of his best games," said Cartwright, who was prepared to put Bird's fumbles down to trying too hard.

"He's a ball player and he goes hard at the line so he's going to make mistakes at times.

"What I liked about it was I don't think I've seen aggression on defence like he brings in my time at the club."

The Warriors looked good early with wingers Vateuvei and Kevin Locke scoring off well-weighted kicks in the corners for a 12-0 lead.

Halfback Brett Seymour pleased coach Ivan Clearly with his kicking game and general play after a tough week of media engagements about his comeback after being sacked by Cronulla last year.

He and Orange-born James Maloney, who was in everything in the first half, looked a good fit while fullback Lance Hohaia twice went close to scoring late in the game.

[titansrawesome]

i think rogers was very quiet, bailey didnt go forward, tomane was great and i think we should be hannant and packer next year.

[karnage]

Good result but not a great performance.

There were large periods where it was obvious that the combinations are a long way off but that will come.

If we keep most of those boys on the park we will give this comp a shake.

[Blazertaser]

i think rogers was very quiet, bailey didnt go forward, tomane was great and i think we should be hannant and packer next year.

Summed it up in a nutshell

Blazer

[Felicity]

How goooooooooooood was it!

Woooot so happy footy is back!

I nearly had a heart attack at the end when Warriors nearly got the ball from our scrum, what happened there lol!

Titans undefeated <3

[Boonarga]

I was against Bird coming here but he went ok today. The refs allowed Warriors to lay all over him in tackles and work him over trying to get him to retaliate. The only time he did get a quick play-the-ball he got penalised!! WTF was that??
The only downer was that I had Laffranchi to score for the double. Argh!!

[titansrawesome]

if bird plays like he did today all season i say we need to shift him to lock and put minichello on the bench

[Ryan]

i think rogers was very quiet, bailey didnt go forward, tomane was great and i think we should be hannant and packer next year.

WTF????

Rogers was brilliant, made alot of 1 on 1 tackles and made alot of good defensive decisions by coming in and shutting down plays. He also made 82 meters and 6 tackle breaks.

Bailey made 133mts and 33 tackles in 60minutes of play - which is more than any other forward! And like always, done alot of the dirty work like kick chases, tidying up the defensive line and covering missed tackles.

The whole team made alot of handling errors, but much can be excused considering the slippery conditions and being 1st match of the year.
I loved heavy defense from Taga, Bird and even Tomane at times. Those three boys are gonna be real weapons for us in attack and defense...

[Steve]

Was listening on the radio to this one. I wasn't worried even in the first half, and as soon as they came out for the second it sounded like a different side.

Other than the dropped bomb, sounds like Presto had a great game, and Boof got through a lot of work too. They were saying most of our turnovers came from Bird, either through his bad handling or his usual penalties. Won't be long until he leaves us a man down in a game.

Hopefully the injuries out of it aren't serious! Did Gordon go to fullback when Presto came off? I gotta say, it sounded like almost a blessing in disguise. From what I heard on the radio the Warriors were close to leveling but Gordon got there just in time. Not sure Presto would have had the pace.

[amaline]

Hopefully the injuries out of it aren't serious! Did Gordon go to fullback when Presto came off? I gotta say, it sounded like almost a blessing in disguise. From what I heard on the radio the Warriors were close to leveling but Gordon got there just in time. Not sure Presto would have had the pace.

Mead went back to full back which makes Gordon's effort that much more impressive. He came in from the wing to beat Hohaia to the ball.