Titans plan stingy pickings for Storm
The Gold Coast Titans, so generous against the North Queensland Cowboys on the weekend, plan to play the stingy host when the Melbourne Storm drop in on Friday night.
The error-riddled Titans saw their most successful start to an NRL season grind to a halt in Townsville, as the Cowboys dined out on 16 Gold Coast errors to run up a 32-18 scoreline.
And with no disrespect to the North Queenslanders, the Titans know a repeat performance against the premiers could get even uglier on the scoreboard.
Last week it was Jonathan Thurston calling the shots on the other side of the ball. This week Cooper Cronk will marshal assaults on the Titans line.
On Saturday Willie Tonga crossed for a hat trick. On Friday Billy Slater could do the same, given half a chance.
Throw in internationals Cameron Smith, Greg Inglis, Ryan Hoffman, Brett White, Jeff Lima and Adam Blair and the Titans face the biggest test of the season to date.
"Of all the teams in the competition, that's why they're so successful - they take their opportunities and we need to give them minimal opportunities on the weekend or we're in for a hiding,'' said workhorse Titans hooker
Nathan Friend.
Despite sitting undefeated atop the ladder, the Storm has scored a modest 67 points in the 2010 campaign. Eight teams have done better.
But for the Titans, the fear lies in the obvious potential the visitors have to run in points, with the Storm having recorded the second-best points differential in the league in 2009.
And with Cronk making his presence felt after missing the first two games with a groin injury and try-scoring machine Inglis being eerily quiet with just one try so far, Melbourne seems poised to ratchet up their points output.
Friend, who spent four years with the Storm until 2006, knows who the likely suspects will be Friday night.
But that doesn't mean he has a sure-fire way to stop them.
"Wherever Coops is you see Billy sniffing around and that's proven by his try on the weekend (against the St George-Illawarra Dragons),'' he said.
"It's hard to say what we have to do to nullify them. Obviously our defensive pattern has to be pretty tight on the weekend to not allow an opening.
"It's hard to say what to do against Cooper Cronk because he's their go-to man, so hopefully we can just put a little bit of pressure with line speed on him.''
With their high-calibre offence still finding its feet, the key to the Storm's early-season success has been defence. The southerners have allowed 38 points spread thinly across the first four games of the season.
It's the most miserly unit in the NRL, with the second-placed Dragons (43) the only other team to concede less than 60 points so far.
But Friend backed the Titans' potent ball-players, even in the absence of injured skipper Scott Prince, to rack up points, as long as they are given opportunities.
"I don't think we had too many attacking sets on (the Cowboys') line and the couple we did have I think we scored,'' he said.
"If we can complete 70-80% this week I think we'll go close.''
The Titans hope to have second-rower Anthony Laffranchi back in the mix Friday night.
The Kangaroos forward was ruled out of Saturday night's game with a back injury once the side arrived in Townsville.
"He's just stirred something up when we trained up there. Hopefully he'll be right this week,'' said Titans coach John Cartwright.
"(Forward Brad) Meyers had a bit of a calf strain but I think he should be OK as well.''
Cartwright said he wasn't panicking after the loss to the Cowboys and would stick to the game plan that had ``served us pretty well this year and last year''.
"Just dropped ball really, we didn't build any pressure (on Saturday),'' he said.
"They were there to be beaten and we gave it to them on a platter really.
"We scrambled pretty well in defence but we put ourselves under a lot of pressure.
"We're confident. We know there are a couple of areas from the game against the Cowboys that we need to fix. Just some individual errors, nothing major structurally.
"We just need to make sure we don't drop so much ball.
"They're very clinical, they play a pretty simple game, with good players right across the park, so if you invite them into the game (with dropped ball) you're asking for trouble.''
Source:
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/rugby-league/