Round 1 2013: SHARKS vs TITANS

[titanfan1980]

Few things: Albert Kelly was rock solid in defence and good in attack but we need him and sezer with the ball in hand and kicking on the last.. Twice Harrison ended up with the ball on the last, once each the halves were tackled with the ball and Luke baileys soccer kick thing. That's 5 poor ends to a set can be easily fixed.. Ben ridge to start for Harrison and put Taylor into ridges spot.. Harrison literally watched Andrew fifita score. And last I thought Ryan James was very solid.. So why is he only getting 25 minutes? When the game was on the line surely we'd have him out there instead of Douglas? And not taking away from Douglas I just think in that last 10 we could of used James a lot more then Douglas.. And as I've always preached.. Mead to FB!! And zillman to cut the oranges at half time.. If you wonder why ask yourself this... When Melbourne make a break who is there everytime! (Slater) manly (Stewart) dogs (barba) have a watch at titans game zillman is the worst supporting fullback in the nrl. Titans by 14 against the raiders!

[Toads]

Very tense game. Sucks to lose but if we had to lose to anyone I'm glad it was the Sharks, given the circumstances.

This.

I'm just happy to have a halfback that can tackle

and this..

Not too worried just yet. Need to give it time for a few of the new guys to gel, that'll only come with game time. When they do.. lookout! Just hope it happens by Round 6.

[DavidBouveng]

Not sure why ppl want to lose to sharks if anyone... Are we sympathizing cos possible drug cheats are in the process of getting caught and copping too much pressure and having a rough week?

[Toads]

Maybe because of their situation reflects on the entire code (to some extent). Fair enough, we haven't been caught up in the same sort of circumstances. But we have nearly been down 'n out in other ways on various occasions.

Sometimes it's not until your **** has skimmed the ground, that you learn some of life's most valuable lessons.

Bit odd you don't see that, DB

[DavidBouveng]

Maybe because of their situation reflects on the entire code (to some extent). Fair enough, we haven't been caught up in the same sort of circumstances. But we have nearly been down 'n out in other ways on various occasions.

Bit odd you don't see that, DB

If ur talking about the fans sure, and even the new recruits perhaps, but a portion of the club has all but admitted dodgy happenings, its just the extent of which we are yet to find out.

I'm going to be pissed if later we find out we played and lost to a team with 5 or 6 players who shouldn't be playing our game anymore.

[Titanic]

After sleeping on it I haven't changed my thinking at all. Anybody think that the confusion on the fifth came when Falloon was on? Could that confusion have come from the players not adjusting to the change?

[Toads]

I'm going to be pissed if later we find out we played and lost to a team with 5 or 6 players who shouldn't be playing our game anymore.

Not me, because as teke hinted last week. They may actually take our 2011 spoon off us yet.

[Toads]

Don't worry, my sympathy doesn't run too deep for them. As I list them right below the Donkies, as my most undesirable NRL Teams.

[DavidBouveng]

Not me, because as teke hinted last week. They may actually take our 2011 spoon off us yet.

Yeah I'm waiting for that too. We might finish 14th if other rumours from 2011 prove true.

[DIEHARD]

Not sure why ppl want to lose to sharks if anyone... Are we sympathizing cos possible drug cheats are in the process of getting caught and copping too much pressure and having a rough week?

That's a good point. I guess it was thinking from a club and fan prospective. But these players may not be there next week and that isnt really fair on us.

[Titanic]

That's a good point. I guess it was thinking from a club and fan prospective. But these players may not be there next week and that isnt really fair on us.

The precedent was set when the Storm got docked points mid-season but the other teams didn't get their points ... we were on a hiding to nothing in that regard. Like the judge said in the Match Fixing case the other day ... the court doesn't change just because of a rugby league competition the man has his priorities upside down

[DIEHARD]

Speaking of the Storm, it was us who beat them before they fell to the salary cap scandal.

[C-Whiz]

Anybody who is happy with tonight's performance was happy with where we finished last year and was happy with the boring forward orientated play that we have dished up for the past two failures of seasons.

We have an outstanding pack of forwards and a young pair of halves that have all the potential in the world but we will not be moving up the ladder so long as we continue with the same stale and predictable attacking structures that have failed us for the past two seasons!!

Albert Kelly could be a superstar of the competition playing behind our forwards but there is absolutely ZERO structure around him. He was so fast with ball and so brave in defence but it was like he was playing a lone hand. Sezar too has so much potential but he will be wasted with Cartwright's constipated vision of the game bogging him down.

When the game was there to be won in the second half Dave Taylor, after bulldozing through defenders twice, ran to the line one out?!?!?! Where was the support? Where was the evidence that Cartwright had planned for Taylor's introduction and organised a structure around it?!

Somebody described the loss as promising?!?!?! What was promising about it?? We lost to a team that only managed 12 points!!

Was it the attacking set plays that looked promising?? There weren't any!

Was it our ability to fluently spread the ball to the flanks and create space for our wingers who have speed to burn that looked promising?? That did not happen on one single occasion!!

Was it the options our halves had when we attacked their line??

I could go on and on.

We have a good enough list to be a power house in this competition but it is all for naught while Cartwright dishes up the some stale rubbish that has been a proven failure since 2011. Next week will tell us a lot. A Panthers team that is genuinely well coached put 32 points through the Raiders today and we get them in the same time slot next week. The Panthers have an infinitely inferior squad to us and right now we are probably 60-40 to even win the game against the Raiders. Parramatta also has a much worse squad than we do and they did what a John Cartwright coached team has never done in his entire career - scored 40 points!! They are better coached than we are. Simple.

Mr May, you receive a lot of pats on the back around here and rightfully so. You have done a great job re-establishing the Titans as a brand but if you are not looking at coaching solutions in the short term you are dooming us to another failed year. We started 1-7 last year (from memory, correct me if I'm wrong) we simply cannot afford that sort of start again as there is absolutely no way back from such a start.

Karnage, I agree with EVERYTHING you say, except the negativity!

I would say we played the Sharks as good as they have been in the past few years, and we held them to 12, and it should have been 6. That's probably the best defensive effort we have seen from the Titans in the same time. That's a positive.

Our 5th tackle options were hopeless, so they can't get any worse. That's a positive.

Albert Kelly. 100% positive.
And pretty happy with the halves combo.

I was saying the same thing last night about no one running off the ball carrier. I agree we have these line busting giants and no support play. But i was also saying Taylor was MIA right before he was Johnny on the spot to fall over the line. Good to see he can catch the ball now. That's a positive!

Our defense was as good as I remember it, for the first 20, ruler-straight, moving up, no holes. Perfect! But as the game went on, player changes were made, the line bent and holes appeared. It was round 1. I liked what I saw.

We played the best Sharks they will be all year. We will get better. That's a positive.

[C-Whiz]

After sleeping on it I haven't changed my thinking at all. Anybody think that the confusion on the fifth came when Falloon was on? Could that confusion have come from the players not adjusting to the change?

I'm not sold on the changing hooker mid-way through the half thing, especially when we are on a roll. It seemed to change everything.

[gotitans101_]

Srama needed more minutes, thought Falloon was out there much longer than he should have been.