Chooks rule roost

TITANS pack leader Luke Bailey last night called on his teammate to have a `good hard look at themselves' after the Gold Coast slumped to their worst performance of the season against the Sydney Roosters at Skilled Park.

The Coast could not have started better in front of 13,235 home fans, with winger David Mead running in two tries in the first 10 minutes.

But when they should have gone on with the job, the Titans imploded with handling errors and defensive lapses allowing the Roosters to storm home 30-16.

The Titans have now leaked 118 points in their past four games and Bailey said they needed to find a cure to the defensive cancer creeping into the side.

"It was probably our best start with a bit of luck going our way and we controlled the middle third pretty good," said Bailey. "But then the errors came and the penalties.

"It is a bit concerning the amount of points we have let in over the last few weeks.

"We have to have a good hard look at ourselves.

"I don't think we have fixed the problems of leaking tries.

"The first two or three months of the season we prided ourselves on grinding defensive wins.

"We weren't playing flash footy but our defence was there.

"It is only mid-season but we need to fix the problems and it all starts with defence and our attitude."

With the return of playmaker Mitchell Pearce, the Roosters fought back with four straight first half tries to centre Shaun Kenny-Dowall, winger Anthony Minichiello, backrower Frank Paul Nuuausala and five-eighth Braith Anasta to shoot out to an 18-10 lead.

The Titans hit back two minutes before the break, with halfback Scott Prince putting a pin-point kick into the corner for a speeding Mead, who touched down to bag his hat-trick and narrow the gap to two points.

The Coast enjoyed the better field position to open the second stanza, but the Roosters were first to score, Kenny-Dowall getting his second and when Nuuausala followed suit minutes later the visitors stretched the margin to 14 points.

The Titans looked rusty after the 17-day break since their last clash with the Broncos.

But coach John Cartwright refused to use the extended rest as an excuse.

"We were very ordinary," he said. "It was very disappointing.

"We came here fresh and expecting to play a lot better than that."

The Titans, who have slipped to fourth on the competition table, must now regroup before a tough trip to the nation's capital to take on the Raiders on Sunday.

Two of the Coast's three biggest losing margins in their history have come in Canberra, with a 56-10 thumping in 2007 and a 46-4 flogging in 2008, so they face a slaughter should they get it wrong again.

"When you make an error you are expected to defend it and we are falling short there," said Bailey.
"It is something we need to fix up heading into the second half of the season."

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