Round 10: Gold Coast Titans vs Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles

[titansrawesome]

Taga was great in defence and I was laughing the whole time he was out there. Stick him in for Hendo

agreed i also forgot tonga was great too bar the handling errors, walker could come in for campbell i reckon but it wont happen, and thompson on the bench for hendo, taga had at least 6 hits in his 30 minutes playing time.

[Tamwelg]

On a good note.

Bird and Esi were great. Esi's form has improved every game he has played this year. Bird looked calm and confident out on the left and made inrows every time he touched it

Agreed.

[Chaos]

Around the ruck, probably up with one of the worst games this year and that is saying something. Matt White did some good hit ups and Bailey was Bailey as per usual

If we want to be competitive...we have to get that dummy half right before we move on to other positions.
There is a lot of talk about, who should be in the centres but it's probably the last position we should be looking at.

[Massive_Weno]

An incredibly frustrating game to watch tonight! I do not quite understand how in rd10 professional players can not seem to pass the ball. While our attack looked ordinary and may have been ordinary regardless of the passing, so many of the passes were going behind players or to ground.

Agree with all that Riley Brown is not offering us anything. He moves in slow motion out of defence. If Lawton and Srama are being considered the future hooker elects i would like to see them given a go... i thought Lawton held his own in the small game time he was given recently. However i have full faith in Carty's selection decisions and will support the team that he puts onto the field.

It became quite clear tonight that it has taken several injuries for Tomane to be given another go as his defence has not improved in the slightest. For those saying he looked ok after his horror read you really need to watch a replay of the game! The only reason he looked ok for the next 30 or so minutes was because Tagataese was defending out on our right hand edge! Taga was putting brilliant hits on the Eagles and they were not getting any decent ball out there. The difference Taga made to that right hand edge was further emphasised when he went off the field. They returned to attacking there and scored a try immediately with Matai putting on a simple left foot step and beating Tomane. This forced Carty to switch Greg Bird from left to right side defence until he finally brought Taga back on. I believe Tomane has the potential and would like to see him stay at the club, however, he needs to put in the hard yards and practice his defence. I hope the Titans coaches will help him out and work long and hard with Tomane to improve his defence.

Enough negatives...How good was TAGA!!!! He was a human wrecking ball tonight! At one stage he had Stewart, Foran and Cherry Evans all feeling sore and struggling. It was great to watch and i also noticed how the whole Titans team seemed to lift when Taga came onto the field. Its a shame he got tired and went off as while he was on the field tonight i am pretty sure Titans were the better team by a margin of 12-0. Bull Bailey, Greg Bird and Ryan James were also outstanding tonight. Thought Bird had his best game of the season tonight. All in all there is plenty to work on but there are some positive signs heading forward. We'll get there soon boys!

[titansrawesome]

If we want to be competitive...we have to get that dummy half right before we move on to other positions.
There is a lot of talk about, who should be in the centres but it's probably the last position we should be looking at.

chalky in for brown, we were going so good when it was like that but then carty put brown back on

[Chaos]

chalky in for brown, we were going so good when it was like that but then carty put brown back on

Sorry titansrawesome...I just don't see chalky in such a valuable position.

[CairnsTitan]

Sorry titansrawesome...I just don't see chalky in such a valuable position.

This, wouldn't be much better then brown

[titansrawesome]

This, wouldn't be much better then brown

he was playing good at hooker tonight though, but if not him then i think srama should get a shot, lawton is another good one but FFS no more brown please

[TITAN PETE]

Bird was brilliant , Tag & James were awesome off the bench & Foran must be thinking "Why is he Picking on Me" , Tomane had moments, Esi was great & he must be re-signed , Chalky (who was who said they don't rate him) made the side quicker when he came on at 9 & his defense is great

The bad parts of the game were Harro was very average, Presto looks Old & I believe we have possibly the worst defensive Halfback in the game & his attack isn't much better...

Tag was dropped & look what he did tonight maybe others need a stint in the Qld Cup for a few weeks as time is just about gone for this season

[titansrawesome]

Bird was brilliant , Tag & James were awesome off the bench & Foran must be thinking "Why is he Picking on Me" , Tomane had moments, Esi was great & he must be re-signed , Chalky (who was who said they don't rate him) made the side quicker when he came on at 9 & his defense is great

The bad parts of the game were Harro was very average, Presto looks Old & I believe we have possibly the worst defensive Halfback in the game & his attack isn't much better...

Tag was dropped & look what he did tonight maybe others need a stint in the Qld Cup for a few weeks as time is just about gone for this season

good analogy Pete, we lost to a very good manly side who is 3rd place by 4 points and if not for another dud prince kick we may have won it.

[thelwall]

i disagree with people saying prince cost us the game , he did quite alot of good things but people only seem to remember the bad, he needs a 5/8 who can kick , ffs to much pressure on him , like ive said before at least find someone who can kick at 5/8

[titansrawesome]

i disagree with people saying prince cost us the game , he did quite alot of good things but people only seem to remember the bad, he needs a 5/8 who can kick , ffs to much pressure on him , like ive said before at least find someone who can kick at 5/8

or make bird lock and 2nd kicker he has a massive boot on him

[Supergoose]

Agree with the assessments of Taga, James and Bailey they were simply great. Bird also played well. Esi was good too and White played well but that's pretty much where it ends for me. Tomane was disappointing and I think he is a winger. Preston is still just 2 games back from injury and I think he needs to come from the bench. I'm not prepared to dump Zillman yet but I didn't even notice him on the field tonight. Our backrow has been woeful this season with only one o them a game playing half decent. Tonight was Birds turn, Harrison was terrible and Minichiello went missing. I reckon Prince needs to be shifted to 5/8 but we need to stick with our 6 & 7 for a while longer. Mead once again proved he is inconsistent under the high ball. We'll win next week v bye but the bulldogs will test us for sure. I think Harrison has played himself out of origin. Interesting to see where Carty goes from here I fear that need to be said

[DIEHARD]

Titans Go Down In A Thriller

A spirited late charge was not enough to get the Jetstar Gold Coast Titans across the line in a nail-biting 16-12 loss to the Manly Sea Eagles at Skilled Park tonight.

In a tight encounter Manly took a 16-6 lead into the final 25 minutes, but when Esi Tonga crossed for the Titans in the 71st minute to reel the deficit back to 16-12, a comeback was on the cards.

In front of a crowd of 12,360 the Titans threw everything they had at Manly in the dying minutes of the game but were unable to crack the desperate Manly defence and pull off the fairytale comeback.

Jetstar Titans coach John Cartwright said despite the loss his side showed some real potential but need to work on building pressure and consistency across the board.

“You can handle losing games when that sort of effort goes in, it’s just the consistency of our football and our effort hasn’t been there this year, we seem to save it for the better teams in the competition,” Cartwright said.

“If we turn up like that week in week out I know we’d be sitting a lot better than what we are, but that’s our challenge.

“We defended very well tonight on the back of a lot of possession on Manly.

“A couple of simple little errors in defence and we got punished they were good enough to take advantage of it and that’s the sign of a good sign.”

Jetstar Titans captain Scott Prince said he was proud of his side’s ability to stick in the game but it was the team’s errors which worked against them in the end.

“I think across the board, just generally in the game it was little unforced errors that cost us in the end,” Prince said.

“I guess a positive is that we didn’t die wondering we gave it a fair crack and ran out of time in the end.

“We defended really well on the back of our errors, but with the amount of possession they had, it was just good that we were able to defend it.”

After taking advantage of an early penalty, it was Manly who opened the scoring in their first set when Daly Cherry-Evans rocketed a cut-out pass to Jamie Lyon who flicked a pass out the back for David Williams to score in the corner, with Cherry-Evans conversion sailing wide Manly took an early 4-0 lead in the opening two minutes.

Manly extended their lead in the 23rd minute when some good team play created space out wide for winger Michael Robertson to cross, with Cherry-Evans adding the extras Manly lead 10-0.

On the back of repeat sets the Titans crossed in the 32nd minute through Prince who stepped his way around the Manly defence before converting the try to reel the half-time deficit back to 10-6.

Manly extended their lead in the 55th minute when Steve Matai made a break down the wing only to be denied by Prince who raked the ball out, but it was Robertson who swooped on the loose ball to bag his second, and with Cherry-Evans converting Manly lead 16-6

The Titans responded in the 71st minute when a scrappy play on the last tackle turned favourable after a string of passes found space out wide for Tonga to cross, with Prince ‘s conversion successful the Titans trailed 16-12.

With the home crowd behind them and the momentum swinging in their favour the Titans had a list ditch attempt to get across the line, but in the end the Manly defence proved too much for the Titans.

The Titans have the bye next week before looking to get things back on track when they take on the Bulldogs in two weeks time in a double-header at Suncorp Stadium.

Manly Sea Eagles 16 (M Robertson 2, D Williams; D Cherry-Evans 2 conversions) defeated Gold Coast Titans 12 (S Prince, E Tonga; S Prince 2 conversions)

Source: Titans

[DIEHARD]

Sea Eagles soar over Gold Coast Titans

No Brett Stewart, no Jason King - no problem for the Manly Sea Eagles.

Despite missing two of their biggest names, the Sea Eagles continued to soar with a 16-12 NRL win over Gold Coast Titans on Monday night.

It was the fifth win in six games for Manly - and their first at Skilled Park since 2008.

Not that they had it all their own way.

Indeed the Titans had the 12,360 fans on their feet when they cut the deficit to just 16-12 with a 71st minute Esi Tonga try.

Then Titans skipper Scott Prince had a chance to apply the blowtorch in the final minute, but his cross-field kick came off the side of the boot and into Manly's willing hands.

It was the Titans' third loss in four games - relegating last year's preliminary finalists to a woeful 3-7 record.

He may have muffed the final play but Prince's heroics kept the Titans in the match.

He scored a brilliant individual try in the first half, and looked to have pulled off a miracle try saving tackle in the second - only for Manly winger Michael Robertson to collect his second four-pointer.

After Manly led 10-6 at halftime, Robertson claimed his second in the 55th minute despite Prince's quick thinking.

Manly centre Steve Matai looked to have bulldozed his way over for a try, only for Prince to rake the ball free.

Yet Robertson pounced on the spilt ball and was given the green light by video referee Chris Ward.

After Manly jumped to a 10-0 first half lead, Prince finally got the Titans on the scoreboard in the 32nd minute when he dummied and stepped his way through three defenders to cross.

The early signs were ominous for the Titans.

In the first minute, winger David Williams ran off a wonderful Jamie Lyon backflick pass to score.

Manly were over again in the 23rd minute when Kiwi half Kieran Foran switched the play to the left and quick hands helped Robertson expose an overlap and cross untouched.

Daly Cherry-Evans' sideline conversion made it 10-0.

Robertson looked to have a third try in the 66th minute but he spilt a Foran cross field kick.

It was an impressive win for Manly who lost co-captain King (rib) barely 24 hours after he was named in the NSW Origin team.

Stewart had also succumbed to a hamstring strain - he missed five weeks with the injury before scoring a hat-trick on his return last round.

MANLY 16 (M Robertson 2 D Williams tries D Cherry-Evans 2 goals) bt GOLD COAST 12 (S Prince E Tonga tries S Prince 2 goals) at Skilled Park. Referee: Gavin Badger, Adam Devcich. Crowd: 12,360.AAP

Source: Titans