Round 16: ROOSTERS vs TITANS

[gotitans101_]

Mortimer is so average, tackles a lot but really doesn't do much else. Hoff can't kick or pass but at least he busts the line a fair bit. I'd actually move him out to the centres when our halves come back, but then again we have Nene and Roberts out there already, so I'm not sure what else we can do with him.

[Hail Sezer]

Haha what just happened.

They gave it a crack. Mead is incredible. Plays with his heart on his sleeve.

[karnage]

I find it hilarious that the Roosters kept Daniel Tupou and off loaded Nene MacDOnald to us - on probably less than half of the money. Tupou was disgraceful today. We were on a flogging to nothing today but showed real character.

[K2G]

Hard to be mad at the team on the field today. All things considered, we did better than we had any right too.

Mead should ALWAYS wear #1 for us imo.

[DIEHARD]

Depleted Titans brave in defeat
http://www.titans.com.au/

The Aquis Gold Coast Titans, down 14 players from their squad and eight from their winning teams from side earlier in the season, took the fourth-placed Sydney Roosters right to the wire on the Central Coast this afternoon.

Down on hookers and halves which sae usual centre James Roberts start at five-eighth and fullback/centre Josh Hoffman at halfback, the Titans went close to posting a try in the final 10 minutes that would have put the Roosters under immense pressure but didn’t quite have the finesse to get over the line.

Behind 18-4 at half-time, the Titans scored the only try of the second half in a strong defensive effort against the all-star opposition.

The Titans could have had a dream start in the sixth minute after David Mead forced a line drop-out when he caught Daniel Tupou in goal from a Josh Hoffman bomb. From the ensuing set Nene Macdonald stood in a tackle and pass to Hoffman inside but the ball didn’t make its mark.

Instead the Roosters received a penalty and headed upfield and in the next set Shaun Kenny-Dowall was over in the right corner after a nice pass from Roger Tuivasa-Sheck. James Maloney converted from touch for a 6-0 early lead.

The Titans defended two sets well before Dave Taylor played at an inside pass from Tupou but knocked on and gave the Roosters a scrum feed. But from the set Anthony Don latched onto a pass from James Maloney and ran 90 metres to score to make it 6-4 with Daniel Mortimer missing the conversion kick.

The Roosters had 60 per cent of possession in the first 30 minutes but the Titans defended well. But NSW Origin centre Michael Jennings crossed after James Maloney held up a good ball for him and he beat three players from 20 metres.

Maloney converted from the left touchline this time to open up a 12-4 lead.

Yet the Titans continued to defend strongly and get through sets fine and pushed the Roosters on their line towards the end of the half. But the ending to their sets were not good enough, showing how much Aidan Sezer was missed, and Dave Mead ran from dummy half and was caught with just 30 seconds remaining.

From the turnover the Roosters shifted the ball left on the second tackle and Maloney put Michael Jennings into the clear and Maloney backed up to score under the posts in the last play of the half.

It was an absolute heart-breaker after such an encouraging effort in the first 40 minutes, with Maloney’s conversion making it 18-4 at the break.

The Titans started the second half with James Roberts, who took a knock to his left leg in the first half, moving back to right centre and Dave Taylor starting off the bench.

They narrowed the gap 14 minutes into the second half. After squandering possession with fumbles on the two previous set, Daniel Mortimer put in a neat grubber kick on the left edge and Roger Tuivasa-Sheck muffed the clean-up and Nene Macdonald came up with his first try for the Titans against his former club.

Roberts took over the kicking duties and landed the goal from 5m in from the left touchline to make the score 18-10 to the Roosters and the Titans were certainly in the contest with 25 minutes remaining.

But both teams made constant errors after that and there was no score until James Maloney kicked a penalty goal after the full-time siren had sounded.

The Titans’ defence was full of merit and effort and they snuffed out several Roosters raids, and forced them into error, with Agnatius Paasi particularly aggressive and willing, along with Eddy Pettybourne.

In the end it was finesse on the last tackle particularly that cost the Titans mounting more points, with the ball not getting to the designated kicker several times, which was a legacy of regular hookers and halves being absent and Aidan Sezer’s dominant voice being absent.

Roosters 18 (Tupou, Jennings, Maloney tries; Maloney goals) beat Titans (Don, Macdonald tries; Roberts goal) at Central Coast Stadium. Crowd: 12,569.

[Geeman]

Pretty good effort all round under the circumstances, but Myles is an absolute liability, he was responsible for most of our penalties today, and was left grabbing air a few times in defence. His hitups were slow and soft again, but I guess he wants to save his effort for origin.

[Nols of the Goldy]

Pretty scrappy game but was expecting a lot worse considering we have so many players out injured. Mead was great as usual and should be our fullback all the time. Taylor, well what can one say. McDonald looks to be a great buy and Passi was also good in a painful at times to watch game. Hope Roberts is OK but the bye and then the next game being Monday night against Flippers team will hopefully give the guys time to rest. Isn't Bird back in Round 18 and also Elgey?

[JunctionBlock]

Mortimer is so average, tackles a lot but really doesn't do much else. Hoff can't kick or pass but at least he busts the line a fair bit. I'd actually move him out to the centres when our halves come back, but then again we have Nene and Roberts out there already, so I'm not sure what else we can do with him.

Wing for Gordon or Fai Fai Loa I'm guessing. Or push MacDonald to the wing and play Hoffy in the centres. When we are full strength we will be looking formidable.

[ozynorts]

Lots of heart shown but it really showed how much we missed Elgey and Sezer. If we had either of them I think we might have won that game as the Roosters were terrible and there to be plucked.

[RenegadeGC]

Bring GL onto the wing for either Gordon/KFFL cant get any worse than whats happening here. Haha at least he will have a go.

[TITAN PETE]

Seriously can we not find anyone better than KFFL to fill the wing spot I would prefer Taylor on 1 leg than him...Greg L or Tyronne Roberts would be a long way in front of any of them..

Agnassius was fantastic today

[Titan4Life]

Expected us to lose by a lot more so credit to the boys (well, most of them anyway) for the effort. Honestly, Mead is really impressing me at fullback and I do think he is our best choice there. Has great positioning for kicks and desperate defence and also never stops trying 110%. Nene was good again and I think he will be a part of our backline for years to come. Another player I thought was outstanding was Paasi who really stepped up and put some solid shots on JWH. Finally, is there any way we can ship Myles off IMMEDIATELY to Manly. Our so called 'courageous' skipper gave away 4 penalties today and is just bloody useless. Anyone doubting the club for replacing him with Shillington obviously haven't watched many our games this year.

Overall, disappointing loss but hopefully some of our injured boys will be back after the buy. Go Titans

[DavidBouveng]

i have been saying this week that mead at the back with Don and Roberts one centre wing combo and Nene and Hoffman the other. not too fussed on which plays centre or wing out of Nene or Hoff. let them switch around during the game like Radradra and Taka do.

that is a good backline,

Tyrone is very much on outer at Knights...we have 2 days to get him here super dooper cheap for last 10 rounds to see if he is an option for next year.

Gordon is not worth half of his contract. Him and the Zip must have awesome coffee catchups laughing about how many horseshoes are wedged up there backsides.

[TitanSam]

i have been saying this week that mead at the back with Don and Roberts one centre wing combo and Nene and Hoffman the other. not too fussed on which plays centre or wing out of Nene or Hoff. let them switch around during the game like Radradra and Taka do.

that is a good backline,

Tyrone is very much on outer at Knights...we have 2 days to get him here super dooper cheap for last 10 rounds to see if he is an option for next year.

Gordon is not worth half of his contract. Him and the Zip must have awesome coffee catchups laughing about how many horseshoes are wedged up there backsides.

Tyrone Roberts?? Noooo wayy

[DavidBouveng]

Tyrone Roberts?? Noooo wayy

as opposed to morts or james roberts?

whats the harm in having a look if he is cheap enough? it has worked for passi, petty, and maybe Redman.

i think buying more players at reduced prices and then some stand up and deliver, to which you then reward and increase contract is better than our past model of buying name players and finding later they dont live up to it.