Round 22: STORM vs TITANS

[gotitans101_]

I'd have Tighe over Nene, at least Tighe can tackle.

Roosters must be laughing their asses off at us.

[Toads]

Good game.. We got a couple of areas to work on, but definitely not something we cant have sorted by 2018.

[Titanic]

Gee JB that's a stretch he got the ball once in attack in 80 minutes but his defence really is crap. That last effort, he looked up and saw he had no one to mark so he took the wing rather than helping Elgey inside … what's that?

Having typed that, I think he is worth persevering with because that's what a rebuilding year is about. More worrying is that Paasi and Hala, in particular, seem to have taken a leaf out of Myles' book on plodding.

[JunctionBlock]

We have no other choice but to persevere as we have no other options.

As for Paasi, I've been saying for the last three or four games that he shouldn't be playing in the 2nd row. Hala has never been impressing enough to deserve a spot in first grade and showed it tonight.

Nene seems to be rocks or diamonds. Unfortunately it takes millions of years for diamonds to form.

[gcboyz]

I'd hate to see the scoreline if Birds kickoffs weren't somehow blessed by a unicorn.

- - - Updated - - -

If last weeks penalty try wasn't a penalty try then this one won't be.

Assuming the infield ref did not see it (which he did) and the video ref then excused it, then both these refs should be back to under nines next week. Holding a player back in the act of scoring is ten in the bin.Professional foul all day long. Jarryd Maxwell hang you head in shame.

Not even a penalty this week. WOW!

[teke]

I'd have Zillman back over NENE.

I'm in a dark place.

id have Nene on the wing, he looks like he could be good there and I'd def have zilly over him at centre

[DavidBouveng]

missed parts of the game cos i had it on in the office at work, but from what i saw,

the forwards early on looked good, and mortimer looked his best yet as a hooker. he was really sharp.

Nene is a handful with the ball, threatens often, but that D needs work. He is a kid played 10 or so games...so im not worried really. He offers plenty and the rest is coachable.

Mead had a mixed day. held back from one or two tries, then hoff stole it. radradra then koribete...Meady is ready for a holiday.

Kane and Aiden are a great mix and each week goes by the Sezer loss hurts me more and more. he has probably been ou best this year after Dougie and maybe Pettybourne. Mention to Jr for his freaky efforts too.

We need to run run run this off season and get fitness into our young raw forwards.

[TITAN PETE]

Titans capitulate in second half

Sun 09 Aug, 2015, 7:06pm
By William Botoulas, Melbourne Correspondent, NRL

Gold Coast came to AAMI Park prepared to take the game on but a failure to do so for the entire 80 minutes ultimately sealed their fate against the Storm.

The visitors resembled witches hats at times in the second half as they helplessly watched their 8-6 halftime lead turned into a 36-14 dismantling that condemned them to their sixth loss from seven games.

The capitulation left coach Neil Henry with a simple cliché summation to make post-match.

"It was a bit of a game of two halves wasn't it?" he said.

"A pretty good first forty [minutes] and a pretty ordinary second forty. Conceding three tries in the last 10 minutes was very disappointing for the effort that had gone before.

"We turned some possession over cheaply at times instead of getting some points or repeat sets and we had some defensive issues when they switched the play.

"It is a bit of a work in progress for some of our young players as well to be consistent defensively and we weren’t today."

As the game wore on Gold Coast appeared to tire defensively, committing 18 missed tackles to seven in the second half.

They enjoyed 53% of possession but again shot themselves in the foot time and again with ill-timed errors in Storm territory.

Skipper Nate Myles withdrawing from the side for a second straight week with a shoulder injury did not help the Titans' cause, with the club is hopeful he will be available next Sunday to take on the Bulldogs.

After racing out to an 8-0 lead after 20 minutes the Titans rode their luck in the first half as the Storm had five tries disallowed, three from forward passes.

While their defence appeared somewhat shaky under pressure stand-in captain Greg Bird said the side had been confident heading into the sheds at the break.

"We felt good, we felt confident at halftime that we were playing well and deserved the lead," Bird said.

don't know whether a few blokes went out to defend the lead or what happened but we didn't have that tenacity or enthusiasm that he had in the first half in defence."

[JunctionBlock]

We didn't miss Myles, we missed Pettybourne (and a sheet load of tackles).

[DavidBouveng]

also with Burr...he is a big lad and i think can be something, but he is lost positionally in defense as much as slipping off tackles.

sometimes they slide past him and he looks confused AF

[Titanic]

Totally agree DB. I repeatedly notice the young guys struggling to find their position. It's like they know where to go in theory but get lost when faced with any variation from the norm. That may come in time with juniors but at this level they should be able to compensate and so it smacks of an inflexible structure or rigid game plan or some players not buying-in or all of these.

[JunctionBlock]

Or the very few other "senior" players choosing to do whatever it is they feel like doing and leaving gaping holes in our defence.

[lonegull]

I agree Burr was caught out a few times in the middle of the ruck not reading the storm and was left grasping at thin air, needs to work on his positional play in defence as this is not the first game he has been caught out more than a few times

[shamus]

We need to get over this Jimmy the Jet crap which is all well and good in attack but defence is an equally important part of the game. A lot of them might do some great things but the fundamentals then show them up to their real ability.
As Sterling said re Sandow, there is no point scoring three great tries and then letting in 4. Too many of our blokes (and supporters) live by that philosophy.

You can read him like a book..Anyone comes down his and Mead's side he will ALWAYS come out of the line putting Mead in 2 minds as to what to do next. Don't get me wrong, he is a very exciting player with ball in hand but DM must get concerned every time the play come their way.

[nimud]

Or the very few other "senior" players choosing to do whatever it is they feel like doing and leaving gaping holes in our defence.

I recall that the majority at least three tries were let in by some very unenthusiastic inside defence by Matt white.

Funny saying it, ,but we lost our attacking mojo when Mortimer went off.

Looking fwd to seeing the boys again down at gosford this weekend. Always great going to a Titans game!