Round 20: TITANS vs NZ WARRIORS

[JunctionBlock]

Great win. Didn't see it coming to be honest. Gotta give a wrap to rein too.

[DIEHARD]

Gotta give a wrap to rein too.

True. He had a hand in many things, including the Brimson try with the offload to Gordon.

[DIEHARD]

This score hasn't helped the warriors for and against on the ladder

How good is it to hear the commentators talk us up saying "Which other big scalps will the Titans take in the run home?"

[Mr Bods]

Happy to eat my words today on Rein
Good times
Enjoy a win guys and gals

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What our club does post win needs massive improvements
The Western Members side are basically totally brushed

[DIEHARD]

Titans notch their biggest ever win over Warriors
https://www.nrl.com/news/2018/07/29/...-the-warriors/

A five-minute blitz from Brenko Lee paved the way for the Gold Coast Titans to score a 36-12 win over the New Zealand Warriors at Cbus Super Stadium on Sunday.

After Warriors halfback Shaun Johnson turned in a brilliant display in the first 40 minutes, Lee gave his side control of the match after the break.

The centre, who signed a one-year contract extension in the days preceding the Warriors clash, broke through the Warriors defence to send Anthony Don over for a try in the 42nd minute before doing it all himself with an intercept try four minutes later.

Those tries set the stage for the Titans to score their seventh win of the season.

A 65th-minute try scored by Phillip Sami featured him stepping his way past Warriors fullback Roger Tuivasa-Scheck. Sami later added a second try for the day.

After the Titans opened the scoring with a Konrad Hurrell try in the sixth minute, Johnson brilliantly stepped his way past both Keegan Hipgrave and Ryan James to score his side's first try in the 11th minute.

That solo display lifted the visitors and set them on the way to a 12-8 half-time lead. The lead would have been bigger if not for a forward pass ruling taking the gloss of what would have been a great Warriors try.

Johnson was heavily involved again, but the final pass from Solomone Kata to Ken Maumalo could have been better directed.

[Dooldog76]

Happy to eat my words today on Rein
Good times
Enjoy a win guys and gals

[COLOR="silver"][SIZE=1]- - - Updated - - -[/SIZE

What our club does post win needs massive improvements
The Western Members side are basically totally brushed

Totally agree bodsy, however we are in the eastern stand and unless you are in the legion, you get nothing.

[DIEHARD]

Totally agree bodsy, however we are in the eastern stand and unless you are in the legion, you get nothing.

The club needs to sort it out so it is as fair and equitable as possible. All members are equal in my view of the world.

Anyway... celebrating....

[NZFan]

Rein did have a hand in a few things but he still stifles our attack at times by overplaying his hand. I thought he had a very even game with Lawton. The Warriors were looking very tired when he came on though so he did bring some impact.

That Sami sidestep! Wow!

Ash just doesn't look happy out there and his decision making seems to be getting worse every week. Thankfully we have Brimson who likes like he's going to be superstar.

Both Koni and Lee were very good defensively too.

[DIEHARD]

Titans thrash Warriors, young gun stars
http://www.gcbulletin.com.au

THE Titans have given a glimpse into their future, with AJ Brimson leading them to their first home win against New Zealand in seven years.

The Titans scored 28 unanswered points in the second half to beat the Warriors 36-12 with Brimson outstanding in an allround display of skill and grit.

The 19-year-old had already shown himself to be an NRL-calibre half but in just his 10th game in the top grade, Brimson sealed his reputation as a matchwinner, orchestrating the Titans’ second-half comeback.

Coach Garth Brennan has been asking his five-eighth to step up and take some pressure off the beleaguered Ash Taylor.

And Brimson responded magnificently in front of a crowd of 15,149, with an allround performance that marks him as one of the rising stars of the league.

While he scored a try in the second-half rout, it was Brimson’s game management and defence that was most impressive.

Four tackle breaks, two line breaks, two line break assists and a try assist show how involved Brimson was in a game the Warriors were desperate to win to keep their finals hopes alive.

And after former Titan Karl Lawton scored in the shadows of halftime to give New Zealand a 12-8 lead at the break, it seemed as though their dominance on the Gold Coast would continue.

Lawton came into the match having scored two tries for the Warriors this season but neither was as sweet as when he crossed against his old side.

A Palm Beach Currumbin product, Lawton was praised as the future of the club when he re-signed last year but he was jettisoned by the Gold Coast not long after they signed Mitch Rein.

But in promising signs for the Titans’ future, generation next stepped up in the second half to lead them to a win.

The newly re-signed Brenko Lee made his mark early in the second half as the Titans charged back into the game, setting up a try for Anthony Don and scoring himself from an intercept to hand the lead back to the home side.

The tries continued to rain for the Titans, with Brimson and Phillip Sami scoring as the future of the club stood up.

Sami notched his double with an audacious step around Tuivasa-Sheck, with the Titans leaving the Warriors finals hopes on life support.

[DIEHARD]

'He got me' - Tuivasa-Sheck bamboozled by Titans youngster's savage 'ankle-breaker' step in big loss
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/

The New Zealand Warriors have missed a chance to nail down an NRL finals spot as Gold Coast ran away 36-12 winners at home.

The Titans turned it on in a five-try second half on Sunday afternoon to get one back against a Warriors side that had won their past seven games at Cbus Super Stadium.

It may have come too late to save their own season but the Titans' razzle-dazzle has at least given the Wests Tigers hope.

The result left the ninth-placed side just two wins adrift of the Warriors, who missed a golden chance to consolidate their first finals appearance since 2011 against a team they'd beaten in 14 of their past 15 contests.

Their dominance looked set to continue when the visitors turned the momentum to lead 12-8 at halftime, only for the Titans to produce some of their finest football under first-year coach Garth Brennan.

First, a Brenko Lee linebreak put Anthony Don over before the centre juggled a sharp intercept to jag one for himself.

When AJ Brimson backed up Mitch Rein's dart from dummy-half it was 26-12 and the Warriors looked out on their feet.

Winger Phillip Sami then capped a fine game with a wicked step on Roger Tuivasa- Sheck for the first of his two late tries.

"He got me," Tuivasa-Sheck admitted about the Sami step after the match.

The Titans survived a video review for obstruction as Konrad Hurrell opened the game with his first try since round one.

But they spilled the ball from the returning set and Shaun Johnson made the most of it, dancing through two would-be tackles to score almost untouched.

Gold Coast then ran 95m in three tackles but curiously opted to take the two points when awarded a penalty.

Michael Gordon missed the kick but made amends when put in the same situation moments later.

That put them ahead by two but also allowed the tiring Warriors to turn the momentum.

A reply eventually came through former Titan Karl Lawton after the Warriors were piggybacked by a needless penalty late in the previous set.

Jarrod Wallace's availability next week could be the only concern for the Titans after the Queensland forward's role in a tackle that sent James Gavet from the ground.

[Whats Doing]

He might not have been best on field but Rein changed the game when he came on with his running. Great game

[DIEHARD]

Match highlights https://www.titans.com.au/news/2018/...2825_107277889

[C-Whiz]

I was at the game on our attackng 20m line, and I can say Brenko Lee looked like the biggest bludger out there in the first 40 minutes. He was slow and lazy, seemed totally disinterested. I'm guessing he copped a blast (or I totally misread his effort) at half time because he was the best on field for the second half IMO.

[DIEHARD]

Young guns Sami, Brimson suggest Titans' future is bright
https://www.nrl.com/

Gold Coast Titans winger Phillip Sami – the man who did an RTS on the Warriors' RTS (Roger Tuivasa-Sheck) to score a stunning try on Sunday – admits he and Titans teenagers AJ Brimson and Moeaki Fotuaika still pinch themselves that they are playing in the NRL together.

The performance of the three in their side's 36-12 win showed what the Titans may be set to reap out of a frustrating and often heartbreaking 2018 season.

Sami, who turns 21 this Thursday, is the oldest of the trio with Brimson turning 20 in September and Fotuaika 19 in November.

Sami and Brimson had their best performances of the season against the Warriors while front-rower Fotuaika continues to amaze with his maturity and consistency as the youngest prop in the NRL.

In only the second time Sami has been put into the clear this season, after he latched onto a pass from Michael Gordon off a Ryan James offload.

He came to Tuivasa-Sheck and stepped from his left foot then right, at full speed, to leave the Warriors skipper in a tangle, almost tripping over himself.

"I surprised myself to be honest," said Sami, who has missed only one match this season, through injury, after debuting last year at 19 (and playing four games in 2017).

"He's the one doing it to everyone else, so do it to him was a bit incredible.

"My plan was to go right and make him commit then step left. I'm lucky enough it worked.

"That was pretty much the first time I was given a lot of space this year and to come to a fullback like that.

"I would love to have more opportunity to do something like that but I am just happy to be playing NRL and trying to improve.

"AJ, Mo and I often look at ourselves and say how strange it feels to all be in the NRL together this year after playing 20s last year. But we also talk about being consistent week in week out and earning our place in the team and I think we are doing that."

Brimson was brilliant for the Titans, scoring a try, and playing a hand in two others while also kicking smartly and coming up with some first-class defence near his line.

"I thought AJ stepped up; he feels more comfortable in his skin, like he belongs [in the team]," Titans coach Garth Brennan said of his performance.

"He is starting to really feel a part of it and has taken that role away from Ash [Taylor] a little bit which I have been asking from some of the players to do.

"I have been saying all year how exciting it is where this club is heading. We have some super kids coming through and some experience guys around then.

"You look around the side and Phil Sami is young, Ash is young, AJ is young, Jai Arrow is young, Mo Fotuaika is only 18 and to be doing what he is doing at 18 is enormous.

"They will be better for the experience and hopefully some of the older guys will be better."

Add 21-year-old firebrand forward Keegan Hipgrave, who was more subdued and controlled against the Warriors than what he had been in recent weeks, Max King (21), Jai Whitbread (20) and Morgan Boyle (22) and Titans certainly have a pack with their best days ahead.

[DIEHARD]

Do yourself a favour and pour a glass of your favourite and enjoy this.

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