Round 14: St George-Illawarra Dragons vs Gold Coast Titans

[karnage]

Something just occurred to me.

St George are on the top of the ladder and have only lost twice all year - both to teams sitting equal last on the competition ladder.

[teke]

All good. Mead said supercramp, whatever that is

[Tamwelg]

All good. Mead said supercramp, whatever that is

Awesome. Thanks mate.

[AmericanTitan]

All good. Mead said supercramp, whatever that is

great news, thanks!

[Rage]

All good. Mead said supercramp, whatever that is

Cheers for the good news, seems we got a good win without anything to dampen it then

[DIEHARD]

Titans break shackles with much needed win over Dragons
Adam Gardini

The Jetstar Gold Coast Titans have bounced back to form with an encouraging 28-14 win over the St George Illawarra Dragons at WIN Jubilee Stadium tonight.

Trailing 8-4 at halftime, the Titans were again staring down the barrel of defeat before breaking the shackles to run away with the match courtesy of four second half tries.

The much-needed win snapped a four game losing streak and put an end to a tough month of football in which the club has suffered from a combination of poor form but also little assistance from lady luck.

Rookie hooker Matt Srama, who scored his first NRL try in his third first grade appearance, was again one of the club's best while captain Scott Prince also showed signs his best form was not far away.

Forward Mark Minichiello scored a try in his landmark 100th match for the club while his backrow partner Anthony Laffranchi made a strong return in his comeback from an ankle injury.

Srama's 68th minute try off a great ball by young forward Ben Ridge sealed the result for the visitors after the Dragons had got within striking distance at 20-14 with 17 minutes remaining following a second try to rookie Dragons centre Alex McKinnon

A Prince penalty goal from close range in the 74th minute extended the final winning margin to 14 points.

Tries to Prince, Minichiello and winger David Mead helped set up the victory as the Titans were able to turn a hafltime defecit into a 20-8 lead inside the final 20 minutes of the match.

The Titans could have gone into the halftime break level or in front of the Dragons but were denied what looked to be a fair try to fullback William Zillman off what was ruled a forward pass.

The Titans were the first to score through a spectacular try to centre Joseph Tomane after only three minutes but the Dragons levelled through a try to winger Peni Tagive and then edge in front at 8-4 courtesy of McKinnon's first try.

However, the Titans rallied in the second half to run away with the match.

http://www.titans.com.au

[Steelers]

Titans looked alot better tonight than they have so far this season. Yes they were playing an understrength Dragons team, but we still played very well and were still beaten. Good signs for the Titans.

The refereeing was quite poor though. Some of those forward pass calls you guys copped in the first half were terrible. I was happy with the Minichiello try, it is just a shame that the other 9 times out of 10 that call goes the other way. The Srama try was a bit iffy, I felt that he should have been called held before he passed it but to be honest you guys deserve some luck with the refs, they have been against you all year.

Well done boys, hope you can back up next week and have another good win. I'd rather help the Titans get 2 competition points with an understrength side than help anyone else at the moment.

[patskE]

HAD A word with tomane. he hopes to stay with titans, but he dnt know yet :S waiting for a offer

[patskE]

btw just want to thank michael searle mum for getting me a scarf as i was naked pretty much after the game.
much love.

[Boofhead]

Could cut glass with those mate!

[DIEHARD]

Hahaha Patske! You are a top class fan! Painted up in ridiculously freezing conditions! Well done and thanks for the pic!

[AmericanTitan]

haha awesome pic!

[Rage]

Steve Jancetic AAP Sat, Jun 11, 2011 - 2:39 PM

They've taken down the NRL premiers, but veteran Gold Coast prop Luke Bailey says the Titans can't fool themselves by claiming they've turned the corner in what has been a disastrous season to date.

Bailey said there was still plenty of work to do for the Titans to haul themselves back into finals contention after winning just three of 12 games over the opening half of the season.

The second half got off on the right foot with a 28-14 win over the Dragons at WIN Jubilee Oval on Friday night, but Bailey said it was worth remembering the premiers were without six of their best due to State of Origin commitments on top of injured trio Matt Cooper, Brett Morris and Kyle Stanley.

"We can't get carried away, they still made some linebreaks at us and ran around us off kick-offs, just some stuff that's not first grade standard," said Bailey, who came up with a powerhouse 186 metres off 17 runs against his former club.

"Everyone will be talking it up at training that we've still got a lot to improve on.

"It was desperate times I suppose.

"They were understrength but it was just good to get a win, get a bit of confidence back."

For a while it looked like the Dragons were going to continue Gold Coast's misery after taking an 8-4 lead into halftime, but the Titans came out a different side after the break as they gave the ball a bit more air.

"We had a chat and promised ourselves we were going to do something a bit better than what we did," Bailey said of the second half performance.

"We did that in the second half and I started to see some glimpses of good footy which I haven't seen for a very long time.

"For 20-30 minutes of that second half, I just noticed something, we were doing what we do at training - it was good.

"It's a lot to work with but it means nothing if we don't front up next week."

For coach John Cartwright, the win - which temporarily at least moved the Titans to within four points of the top eight -vindicated his decision to stand down from his role as NSW Origin assistant.

"The decision was made easy - I just wouldn't have been comfortable in camp for a week knowing what was going on back home," Cartwright said.

"There's a lot of hard work been going on ... I probably felt I needed to be there."

[DIEHARD]

patkE mate everyone is pretty well impressed with your show of passion in ridiculous conditions. I look forward to catching up some time after knowing you for years on here. I bet the players got a real kick out of it.

[Coaster]

btw just want to thank michael searle mum for getting me a scarf as i was naked pretty much after the game.
much love.

ROFL Patske funny stuff mate, how cold was it?