Round 5: TITANS vs BRONCOS

[mdrew]

Have to give Ash Taylor credit he was great also well done to the crowd brilliant stuff to every Titans supporter there.

[patskE]

all these new rules to speed up the play but yet they stop for play for a minute due to a guy out the back of play/off the field injured and let them get back in the line...

[gotitans101_]

Have to give Ash Taylor credit he was great also well done to the crowd brilliant stuff to every Titans supporter there.

Agreed, our supporters were LOUD on TV tonight, well done guys.

[Barrels]

all these new rules to speed up the play but yet they stop for play for a minute due to a guy out the back of play/off the field injured and let them get back in the line...

yeah that was a pretty dodgy call. We had two players down but the refs allowed bronx to play on. not sure how i feel about it.

[teke]

Nene and Olive side had troubles because the Bronx were eating the Titans up from the inside and allowing the outside men alot of room.

I expected big things from Nene this yr but atm Im almost certain Olive would be better on the left wing with greater speed and urgency than him. Olives a first grader and needs ball carry time.

[patskE]

We lack that edge in attack, seems like most our trys are simple, Its prob due to our back line being young, but we need to develop some decent set plays and start breaking the line a bit more. Only way we get down the field is from a error or a penalty.
the outside backs need to look at how mead attacked the ball, noticed in that cross field chip, I think Olive stopped as he thought Kahu was getting there first but the bounce would of been in his favour, or off a bomb, we had 2 titans players coming through on 1 broncos player standing alone, but instead of contesting(Olive with a running start with Kahu jumping from a standing start) they threw their arms up in the arm to put him off.


*edit*

Man its roberts that we are missing so badly... that speed, those line breaks are what we are lacking atm...

[Barrels]

I think Nene is better in at centre. Olive should maybe play a bit of Q cup, but he is still young. really wanna see Davis return though. Burr didn't look too bad either. The way I look at it...

It's not every week you verse the Broncos

[mdrew]

But when the Broncos had a player down out the back of the in goal the refs stop play money talks

yeah that was a pretty dodgy call. We had two players down but the refs allowed bronx to play on. not sure how i feel about it.

[Supergoose]

I think the common denominator on the left edge is Zeb Taia. Hoffman was far worse on that side in the last few weeks than Olive. I would rather Nene in the centres. Give Bird the left edge backrow spot and play Taia in the middle. Paasi should start at lock. Taia and McQueen have been running nice lines in attack but that left edge had been looking shaky all season. I don't think you can lay the blame solely on the half and backs out there, the backrower is responsible for holding it together.

[Ausphin]

Nene and Olive side had troubles because the Bronx were eating the Titans up from the inside and allowing the outside men alot of room.

I expected big things from Nene this yr but atm Im almost certain Olive would be better on the left wing with greater speed and urgency than him. Olives a first grader and needs ball carry time.

Agree. Defence is all about communication, experience and execution. We have a 19 year old centre and 21 year old winger. To me Nene looks nothing like the glimpses we saw late last seaon. He is a big unit, but stops and dances at the line on hit-ups or kick returns.

I like what i see in Olive and would be more tempted, despite what others think, to stick Zillman in the centres and put Olive outside him on the wing. McDonald also needs to find some form back in qcup.

Also, Don is solid and tries his heart out, but would like to see what else we have as the season plays out.

[TITAN PETE]

Just got home from the match & haven't read the previous comments but when you remember we went in without a true no6 & our no1 meter eater front rower were out I'm not too disappointed to be only beaten by 8 points by a full strength Premiership Favorite & when you consider the fact that the Donkeys were offside all night & we never looked like getting a penalty ... Every week I have mentioned how big a motor big Zeb has & tonight he destroyed them along with our rising star in Ash Taylor,,, 2016 is not looking too shabby

[DavidBouveng]

i think first one was shirt grabbing - but the second two their inside guy was no where to be seen and got confused so they both had to come in otherwise hunt or boyd scores inside them untouched.

good guts again to stay in the contest and fight till the death, Morts chip kick was low % and gave them the ball on the broncs 40 metre line and killed the momentum we had. we were on a roll and were making huge metres. then to make a good job of it he also knocks on after milf and one of our forwards both knocked on without it being picked up in previous few plays.

shouldn't be too hard on him, his wobbly pass rolling on the ground to no one ended up being a try assist.

Ash long licking was great early, but once Bird kick out on the full and it was all on Ash, they smashed him and the time he got tackled on the fifth with the ball meant there was literally not one effective kicker who could get it away decently. bird ended up keeping it inside the sideline so i guess that a positive.

Mead made an early error that cost us bad ( Nene probably could have shown more urgency ) but after that he was immense. taking two hit ups in some sets, smashing both wingers when they were near certain to score. He was awesome.

Pulu was great when he was on, he is a genuine NRL player now i think. will add some punch every week when he comes on.

James was great again - good metres, almost a try assist, and i was one who was all over Paasi as our gun prop in the pre seaon, but James has outperformed him every week after round 1.

Paasi has let people through for tries last week and this week by being fatigued or just not sliding well and he is far from the guy in the 9s and the preseason. he was jamming some blokes at the end and set up a try. really love him, and hope he gets back on track.

Neil Henry has got most right this year, but Bird to 6 was an error. Brisbane play a real territory game and we needed two kickers badly. especially as we don't have super creative hooker or Fb.. we needed someone with a playmaking skill set, and Bird hasnt really been a 5/8 since the days he was kneeing blokes in the head. and Bird has been so good at 13, we hurt two spots... I hope Neil sorts this out as it is not a solution if Tyrone is out for many more weeks

overall, cant fault the spirit or effort, our forwards are a genuine pack who work hard together. We are still heading in the right direction and a credible performance against one of the title favourites doesnt hurt

- - - Updated - - -

EDIT on mead: he ran for 50% more hit ups that any one else on our team. and almost 50% more metres.

thats a huge gap on both fronts

[teke]

EDIT on mead: he ran for 50% more hit ups that any one else on our team. and almost 50% more metres.

thats a huge gap on both fronts

He was sitting in 6th position in the League for All run mtrs last week and with another 150 mtrs tonight he's getting this team in great position.

Loving the Kumul hits to save the tries

[DavidBouveng]

EDIT on James: he is NOTHING like the player we thought we had. he is much better than the firebrand rookie that we have seen last few years. He also was very close to tears immediately after the game, was doing some heavy breathing to try and control himself, but his lips and red eyes were giving him away. love his effort and commitment and desire for us. he is a proud titan junior who will be as important as Kane and Ash in getting us to the promised land.

45 tackles tonight, along with 100+ metres. one error.

[Hail Sezer]

I don't post a lot, but it is sad to see so many people calling themselves Titans fans then throwing all the guys under a bus when they make some mistakes. This year was written off by so many people in the forum and outside, yet we have a few wins and all of a sudden you expect us to always perform?
We just took it to the team that is favourite to win the premiership, IF we were smashed by 30+ points then it would be a different story, but we came within 8 points. (Which should have only been 6 if it wasn't for some dodgy calls from the ref)

Give the team what they need, Support, not criticism.

We should all be proud, as Titans fans, that our boys are playing with heart and passion again.

I'm fine with criticism but there have been some ridiculous comments in this thread to summarise the game. Suggesting McQueen would have done a better job on Roberts than Olive could have? Hahaha yeah alright. Can only imagine the slaughter on that edge if that had happened.

Good game to spectate despite the result and Ash Taylor is going to be something special. Has been summarised well but I'd like to reiterate that Pulu is improving each and every week. He plays hard and can stick in the contact too, which is what we were missing with Burr who could hit but had trouble sticking. Pulu working over Parker in that tackle was superb!

Anyone else see how long the Broncos trainer was on the field for at particular patches? just walking behind the PTB and barking instructions? I swear it was a good 15 minute time frame.