Round 12: Gold Coast Titans vs Sydney Roosters

[bigjim]

For those who suggest we need a change of coach or need to drop some of our best players in the coming weeks need to get real.

Quite simply, the team we have is good enough to win the competition.
The problem is our game plan. When an opposing team counters our natural game, we seem to have a shortage of other ideas. This seems to be particularly obvious when a team lies on the tackled player and slows play down and then rushes our offence.

On these occasions they need to kick early in the count. Concentrate on getting field position and forget about trying to score on every run. A little patience wouldn't go astray.

[matti]

how is it? mini keeps dropping the ball everytime he gets it, laff is giving away penalties every tackle. our defence is terrible. This happens every week, im sure most are on 100k and they dont even deserve that

[DIEHARD]

careful mate, all of us who bag the crappy titans might get banned or verbally assaulted by the moderators and whatnot. and this goes to show that changing a bad team isnt bad like i said then i got criticized.

That's crap. We've never banned anyone for voicing an opinion, no matter how pissweak and baseless it may be. This is the most open and free Official NRL team forum you will find.

No one is as disappointed in the Titans as I am, I think we ALL are. It was just painful and embarrassing with flashes of amazing brilliance. Princey was awesome and with Mead's triple, it looked like we were in for a good night.

But the fans did not give up and The Legion cheered until the end and I'm proud of that.

It's going to be painful to watch a replay and this has taken alot of energy out of our exhausted fans.

I hope we can get our season back on track in Canberra. We have never won there.

[DIEHARD]

Titans fall to Roosters at home

The Jetstar Gold Coast Titans have suffered a disappointing 30-16 defeat at the hands of the Sydney Roosters at Skilled Park this evening.

It was a tough night for the Titans, losing only their second home match of the season at Skilled Park in front of a Monday night crowd of 13,235.

The Titans started off on fire and looked at their dangerous best, scoring two quick tries in the first ten minutes to lead 10-nil.

Winger David Mead had an impressive first half scoring a hat-trick of tries as the team looked strong early.

However, they were unable to go on with the job despite a determined effort by five-eighth Greg Bird as the Titans were held scoreless in the second half.

Titans coach John Cartwright was disappointed with the teams performance.

“We were very ordinary tonight especially at stages of the contest where we weren’t up to NRL standard,'' he said.

“We came in tonight fresh off the bye and were expecting to play a lot better than that.

“Coaches drive you mad talking about missed opportunities but tonight it was all about the little opportunities we missed.”

The Titans trailed 18-16 at halftime and it was the Roosters who struck first, with halfback Mitchell Pearce putting Mitchell Aubusson through a yawning gap as he sprinted away and passed back inside for Shaun Kenny-Dowall to score his second of the night.

Todd Carney converted as the Roosters extended their half-time lead to 24-16, in the 50th minute.

The Titans had opportunities over the final 30 minutes but were unable to convert as lock Frank Paul Nuuausala exploded over the tryline for his second of the night.

Titans captain Scott Prince said a lack of composure and inconsistency cost them a victory.

“At times there tonight we really could have built some pressure but we forced the sneaky passes that didn't stick to players hands,'' he said.

“Off the back of that our defence was off as well and when the Roosters got a sniff they drove through us.

“At the end of it I think we really gifted them the win this evening which is disappointing.”

It was the Titans who opened the scoring as an attempt to bat the ball back by the Roosters was scooped up by a charging Luke Bailey, who ran 20 metres before offloading for winger Mead to go in under the posts.

Prince converted as the Titans took a 6-0 lead, just four minutes in.

It was too easy for the Titans as Prince took the line on and dummied before offloading to an unmarked Mead to score his second of the night in the corner extending the Titans early lead to 10-0, nine minutes in.

The Titans looked strong in defence until the Roosters gained back-to-back sets on their tryline, capitalising off a penalty late in the tackle count as Anasta flicked a ball back inside for Kenny-Dowall to muscle his way over after 15 minutes.

The Titans were again under pressure as a perfectly timed pop pass back on the inside from Roosters centre Phil Graham was enough for veteran winger Anthony Minichiello to hit and spin his way over the tryline, narrowing the margin to 10-8 after 23 minutes.

The bounce of the ball then went in favour of the visitors as fullback Preston Campbell sweated on an awkward bouncing ball to find the sideline before it was pounced on by Roosters lock Frank Paul Nuuausala who snuck away with the try.

Carney failed to convert as the Roosters took the lead for the first time in the match 12-10, in the 27th minute.

The Titans were again on the defensive as they were on the receiving end of some stiff penalties that allowed for Anasta to barge his way over from dummy half.

Carney converted his first conversion of the night as the Roosters took a healthy 18-10 lead after 37 minutes..

The Titans gained a boost before the break though when a beautiful offload from Greg Bird sparked some life into their attack down the left side of the field before Prince put in a perfectly timed bomb for Mead to score his third try of the evening in the opposite corner.

Prince nailed the conversion from the sideline as the Roosters held a narrow 18-16 lead in to half-time.

However, the scoring ended there for the home side as the Roosters registered their second ever win against the Titans.

Sydney Roosters 30 ( S Kenny-Dowall 2, A Minichiello, F Paul Nuaausala 2, B Anasta; T Carney 3 goals) defeated the Gold Coast Titans 16 ( D Mead 3 tries; S Prince 2 goals)

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

[Ryan]

For those who suggest we need a change of coach or need to drop some of our best players in the coming weeks need to get real.

Yeh, we're sitting =2nd on the ladder and people are calling for the coaches head. Far out, I swear I feel dumber everytime I read this forum

Titans didn't make anymore errors than the Roosters, but they did miss more tackles again. However the errors were made at critical times. Buggered if I know how you bench players for errors out of that game, because the 12 errors were spread across 10 different players.....

[Supergoose]

Wow, we made the roosters look like he-man from masters of the universe! Is Kenny-dowall the strongest centre in the nrl? He looked like it last night and our forwardsgot embarrassed by the roosters. The one-sided comentary made it almost unbearable as the titans fumbled their way out of the contest. Our defense was marshmallow like and the attack at times looked dangerous and threatening only to misfire and fizzle out with an error.

We need our first string centres back. It's quite obvious that the halves are going to our wingers because they don't back our centres. Prince was great in the first half and got no opportunity in the second half as the error count mounted. Campbell had a better second half and bird was great all game. Tagataese was okay off the bench but didn't get much time and Bailey played well. Gordon and zillman didn't get much opportunity but did little wrong. Mead was awesome in attack and woeful in defense. Henderson and meyers were strong but threw in a few handling errors. Friend looked like his mind was somewhere else as he failed to get to dummy half on occassions. The much celebrated backrow was our major problem as they threw in error after error and penalty after penalty. Harrison was the worst of the origin players who backed up this weekend and he had the most recovery time. Minichiello dropped more than he caught and failed to have an impact and tagataese showed him up, and laffranchi looked frustrated and gave away too many penalties. Toopi and graham were non-factors and white did nothing. There must now be changes. We have been poor all year even though we have been winning. Imagine if Todd carney had played well last night, we wouldve got totally smashed. Frank-Paul the wrecking ball was fantastic and showed our pack how to play (with bird a notable exception as he was our best forward last night by a mile).

In short, the backrow, has gotten too comfortable and needs to be shaken up. We need our strike centres back. We also need carty to hook players when they make back-to- back errors. I have laffranchi in my fantasy teams and he delivered for meagain last night, but I really wanted him taken off the field last night as he had brain explosion after brain explosion (after he'd had a pretty good start).

[lonegull]

i totally agree with all what supergoose has wrote, i think our backrow has become complacent and need a shake up, very disappointed with the effort put in by the titans, Bird was th eonly one who went forward, I think we need to have a look at our game plan as well it is to structured, anyway hope all turns around for next week otherwiae the raiders will put 50 on us

[curly_11]

I actually turned the last 15 minutes of the game off.

Are we the stupidest team going around in the NRL? What the hell were they doing? Im a fan of Carty but hell give your old mate ricky a call Carty and ask for some tips on suring up our defence!

Supergooose summed the game up pretty well and certain players need to address their games. I know one or two decisions went against us with the first roosters try and there was a bad forward pass from kouparitis who let the roosters prop score next to the posts but it is the same problems we have had since day 1. Attitude, defence and poor forwards.

Henderson is shocking, Mini is an error machine and Boof is going through a bad patch. Cant really blame Graham or Mead too much last night because we were dominated in the ruck and the play of the balls which puts our defence on the backfoot and slowed our line speed down which let them create so much space out wide.

I seriously wouldnt mind Carty dropping 1 or 2 players and bring some fresh blood into the squad. Bring in O'dwyer, Cannings, Thompson and Marshall Chalk!

On a positive note and yet again Congratulations to Prince, Bird, Friend and Bailey for great individual displays. Also congrats to mead on his hatrick.

TO CARTY: I DONT CARE IF YOU NEED TO TAKE A CRICKET BAT TO THEIR ASSES AND SIT THEM DOWN IN A CLASSROOM. PLEASE TEACH THEM TO BECOME MEN AND LEARN HOW TO FREAKING TACKLE!

[titansrawesome]

I actually turned the last 15 minutes of the game off.

Are we the stupidest team going around in the NRL? What the hell were they doing? Im a fan of Carty but hell give your old mate ricky a call Carty and ask for some tips on suring up our defence!

Supergooose summed the game up pretty well and certain players need to address their games. I know one or two decisions went against us with the first roosters try and there was a bad forward pass from kouparitis who let the roosters prop score next to the posts but it is the same problems we have had since day 1. Attitude, defence and poor forwards.

Henderson is shocking, Mini is an error machine and Boof is going through a bad patch. Cant really blame Graham or Mead too much last night because we were dominated in the ruck and the play of the balls which puts our defence on the backfoot and slowed our line speed down which let them create so much space out wide.

I seriously wouldnt mind Carty dropping 1 or 2 players and bring some fresh blood into the squad. Bring in O'dwyer, Cannings, Thompson and Marshall Chalk!

On a positive note and yet again Congratulations to Prince, Bird, Friend and Bailey for great individual displays. Also congrats to mead on his hatrick.

TO CARTY: I DONT CARE IF YOU NEED TO TAKE A CRICKET BAT TO THEIR ASSES AND SIT THEM DOWN IN A CLASSROOM. PLEASE TEACH THEM TO BECOME MEN AND LEARN HOW TO FREAKING TACKLE!

yes, john cartwright needs to gget really angry, hell bring in ricky to kick them up the backside, at training he should say every drop ball and missed tackle is 50 pushups, i like that we were offloading last night for a bit because it increases our attacking ability, but white and hendo think they are jarryd hayne when they offload and they cause mistakes.

[mikeyba]

if things dont improve in the next 4-5 weeks we are goneski...

The back row needs to be looked at .. Laffranci just gave away way to many penalties, Mini every time he touched the ball he dropped it.. this is becoming a habit. Prince / Bird had good ones .. no-one else did.. That pass to put presto in that hole was awesome... but what was Presto thinking with the dribble towards that sideline ahhh....Mead was good but cant tackle...There needs to be some serious changes.. I think we miss Rogers in the centres big time, maybe Michaels can slot in not sure how good he is these days? , the centres really had no impact in this game. O'Dywer to replace Mini, or O'dwyer to centres , tagatese to back row and bench mini (or send him to burleigh!), would like to see Thompson or Cannings back in the mix up front. Henderson/White is not doing much for me.

[Titan2007]

Heaven forbid! A bad game by ALL players, and I mean ALL players, and some want to sack the coach, sack the players etc. etc. It happens to all teams, they have a bad game, nothing sticks, dropped balls. Penalties come because of frustration that the players feel when things are not going their way. You can't blame individual efforts, they don't deliberately go out to miss tackles, knock on or give away a penalty. Put it down as a bad night for all, ESPECIALLY the players, and move on. The Titans are a great team so we should be supporting them not bagging them. Besides the Roosters were not THAT good!

[Coaster]

The loss i can handle.

What i can not handle is the same mistakes from the same players every week for 2 years!!!

Mino needs to be dropped, no ifs or butts. The guy continually makes the same errors every game. FFS he doesnt learn!

Zillman IMO is on notice, he either gets involved in the attack, and controls the defensive line or he works on it in lower grades. We can not have a player in a position that is so important simply being lazy, we all hear about this TP, where the bloody hell is he?

Where is the team that ground out a victory in NZ, that IMO was the perfect game from us, continual pressure, patience, and solid play. The same against Canberra this year.

Now we are trying to score off every set, passing way to close to the defensive line, kicking for trys instead of repeat sets, and we are as quiet as a mouse, nobodys talking to each other, there is no communication at all.

[TITAN PETE]

The loss i can handle.

What i can not handle is the same mistakes from the same players every week for 2 years!!!

Mino needs to be dropped, no ifs or butts. The guy continually makes the same errors every game. FFS he doesnt learn!

Zillman IMO is on notice, he either gets involved in the attack, and controls the defensive line or he works on it in lower grades. We can not have a player in a position that is so important simply being lazy, we all hear about this TP, where the bloody hell is he?

Where is the team that ground out a victory in NZ, that IMO was the perfect game from us, continual pressure, patience, and solid play. The same against Canberra this year.

Now we are trying to score off every set, passing way to close to the defensive line, kicking for trys instead of repeat sets, and we are as quiet as a mouse, nobodys talking to each other, there is no communication at all.

Mate u & i in 100% agreement

I'm sick of seeing Minni carrying the watermelons & is more worried of how big he can get his chest to look on the big screen week after week..he should be dropped to QLD Cup not the bench & see if he can make his way back to the top grade

The online defense in my sons under 12's is stronger than that Shyte we had to watch last night...

We are definately missing a centre in attack i can't wait for Chalky & Cannings to walk straight back into the side to add the Grunt we are short of ........hopefully Chalky will be back this weekend if not by the Manly game.

[DIEHARD]

PRESSURE that is what we lack. We can't play the pressure game.

Chalky and Cannings, timing that they have returned and hopefully we can inject some new blood into the team.

Come on, Im going to Canberra and don't wanna see any capital punishment.

[DIEHARD]

Hat-trick no comfort for winger

HE rediscovered his try-scoring mojo, but Titans winger David Mead said the Gold Coast's clash against the Roosters was a night he would rather forget.

After crossing for just three tries in the opening 10 rounds, Mead unleashed with his first hat-trick in Titans colours: a 50m effort in the first half to score under the black dot, then picking off a Scott Prince pass to grab his second before pulling in a perfect Prince chip to grab up his third just before half-time.

All three will no doubt come to form part of the Titans' end-of-season highlight reel, but Mead was far from satisfied.

"It was good to get some tries but we still lost and it was probably one of our worst games ever so it was pretty disappointing," said Mead afterwards.

"It was a good feeling in the first half but when they started getting away the gloss went away.

"We just have to get back to training and work hard.

"We needed to complete our sets and we didn't do that."

Mead, who had the greatest strike rate of tries per games for any Titan last season, said he wasn't too worried heading into the game about his lack of four pointers so far in 2010.

"It was in the back of my head but we have been told a few times that we just have to be patient because they are going to come," he said. "We just have to keep working hard on the things like coming out of our own end and the tries will come."

But Mead said he was glad to once again have bragging rights over fellow winger Kevin Gordon, who remains on three tries after 11 games.

"Yeah I have got them I suppose but I have still got a lot to work on," he said.

"We compete against each other and it brings the best out in both of us, but this loss has really taken it out of me -- it would have been nice to win."

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