Round 1: NZ WARRIORS vs TITANS (2021)

[Boonarga]

Smith. He may never play for us but he is living on the coast. Get him in as a specialist coach. NOW.

[GCTTSD]

Loved ash running the ball more but our attack was really poor our halves really struggle to get the run the show and create opportunities, wonder how things would've played out if ash scored that try early on. I really want to love Fogarty but he seems like a poor man's Cooper Cronk lacking alot of creativity. Hopefully things change as the season goes on I hate getting myself so hyped up every year and being disappointed

[JunctionBlock]

What surprised me was how well their big blokes handled the heat. For a big side, their defence was admirable and their power game impressive.

We may have just underestimated their will, and got lost in the fight.

I hope Holly will have our heads straight next week.

We gave them the ball back when we built all the pressure. On our third attacking set after the early drop outs we lost the ball early and it stopped us being able to rotate our forwards out. Warriors returned serve down the field and scored through the middle.

The supposed half time message was get through your sets and keep ball in hand. If we ever want to challenge for the 8 should that ever be a message? Even if it wasn't the message it was apparent through possession stats and mistakes that is what we weren't doing.

I'm very disappointed that we left our attack to a bloke that can't pass (KP) and a centre who has a fraction of the offensive skill as the centre on the other side.

Anyway, another loss to start a season. Like I said early on, how do you emulate a storm start? What are we missing?

[DIEHARD]

Press conference
https://www.titans.com.au/news/2021/...stin-holbrook/

[DIEHARD]

Warriors v Titans Match Highlights | Round 1 2021 | Telstra Premiership
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[Titanic]

We play a lot better without Proctor especially on the right ... there I said it. I can’t really fault his defense but he is a ball magnet and blocks the system like 10kgs of cheese.

[Whats Doing]

We lack of creativity in the backline as AJ is used as a pure support player where we need to have him involved as an extra man to create overlaps. We are too one dimensional and easy pickings for the defence

[Hail Sezer]

For anyone wanting to keep their brain cells I encourage you to avoid reading the Facebook comments on the Titans FB page and the multiple “Titans fan” pages on there as well. Good lord.

[DIEHARD]

'Huge effort' for Fifita to play after hospital stint: Holbrook
https://www.nrl.com/

Titans coach Justin Holbrook praised David Fifita's "huge effort" to face the Warriors after an ankle infection meant he didn't train in the lead-up to Saturday's 19-6 loss at Central Coast Stadium.

The star second-rower spent two days in hospital before the clash in Gosford but still managed to pump out 71 minutes, 117 metres and 25 tackles - even if he wasn't his usual explosive self on club debut.

"[David] wasn’t able to train all week but he was OK come game day. To his credit, he ran out there today and did his best, which was a huge effort," Holbrook said.

"We've got to get him to recover well so he's right next week."

Holbrook said Fifita wouldn't need to manage his load leading into Friday's match against his old team in Brisbane.

Fifita, who turned 21 last month, had to wait 11 minutes before taking his first carry on the left edge but was regularly involved thereafter.

"I didn’t think we gave him too much ball. I thought we were OK with how we played," Holbrook said of the Queensland and Indigenous All Stars representative.

"We want to rely on everybody, not Dave. The whole team didn't come up with much. I was OK with that, it was a tough game, but what we had to do was stop their little barge-over tries.

"If we did that we could be sitting here talking differently about the whole game completely."

Lock Tino Fa'asuamaleaui, a premiership winner with Melbourne last year, "tried hard" in his first appearance for the Titans along with former Warriors centre Patrick Herbert, according to Holbrook.

Fa'asuamaleaui made 149 metres and 32 tackles.

"Full credit to the Warriors, they played really well and played the conditions great. They were the better side," Holbrook said.

"It was hard work out there. It was always going to be. We just let in a couple of soft barge-over tries."

While Holbrook wasn't displeased with his team's attack despite the fact they only scored in the 73rd minute, he wanted more from talented playmakers Jamal Fogarty and Ash Taylor.

"I think we've got to be a lot better there. I thought their halves ran a lot more than we did, and we were a bit slow to start like we were last year," the mentor said.

"We didn't have Ash and AJ [Brimson] for a lot of the pre-season [due to off-season surgeries] until the end there. We'll definitely get better; I'm OK with that."

[Menoitios]

Big effort by DF!!

This is why I love coach Holbrook...he sees things as they are. Nothing gets past him. Gracious in defeat, but you can probably bet the boys (halves in particular) will cop it on Monday...which we all agree with!

[Mr Bods]

These days I might have to do my contributions well after Fulltime HS.
I have to be extra committed to my wife and daughter at the moment so I did a media blackout and just watched our game now. That will be the normal for me for quite a while.
When I saw it was going to be blazing hot down there I was worried as it’s then not anymore a normal footy game.
AND then when I saw the discussion of the Drongoes game this morning in the forum I got massive bad karma alarm bells blaring in my head. Those concerns came to fruition.
Warriors were friggin tops in their low errors and they made us pay big time for ours. They have a natural brotherhood from the Covid stuff too whereas our blokes need to develop it again.
If Taylor doesn’t get held up Early in the game then I think the result is very different.
The close calls went against us too as per usual. The marginal knock ons, the forward pass calls and non calls weren’t our way.
Could be a very costly two points dropped later in the season.

Anyway onto what’s always the Titans fans most important game now and that’s those cheating dastardly always protected by Murdoch horrible big headed Drongoes.

[willhelm]

Really disappointed with that effort. Hoping we’re just blowing the cobwebs out against one of our historical bogey teams.

The good:
Mitch Rein was by far our best player. I’ve never been a fan because I think he really struggles with his decision making and general read of the game — the anti-Cam Smith in a sense — but his darts out of dummy half and defense were top notch yesterday.
Peachey 124 m, 35 TK/1MTK off the bench. Again, never been a fan of Peachey, but he put in yesterday.
Tino was a monster in attack in the first half. Great effort.
Thompson was all heart as usual. Loved that line break.
Herbert was solid without being spectacular. I really liked his defense and think that he might offer us something we’ve never really had — a strong defensive centre. Hoping his attack picks up as the season goes on.

The bad:
MoFo’s worst game for us by far.
Tino’s defense — 6 MTK is unacceptable for a middle forward.
Ash did absolutely nothing after being denied that solo try by RTS. Can’t afford to be back to the old bottom lip drop when something doesn’t go his way. Not just for us, but also his own career considering he’s playing for a new contract.
General lack of creativity in our spine — Fogs is our little general and did well in defense but he needs to be setting up tries.
Don’s powder puff hit ups have somehow gotten less effective. I’ve long been a Don defender because I think he’s one of the best in the NRL under the high ball and can finish a try like no other, but if his hit ups continue to cost us ground then the pros will no longer outweigh the cons and I will be calling for him to be dropped.

Much like the Eels in their first half against the Broncos, we were our own worst enemy and just couldn’t hold the ball. Meanwhile, the Warriors barely made a mistake. They weren’t spectacular but ground us down and locked us of the game. They deserved the win and I hope we bounce back next week against little brother.

[NZFan]

I think that is a little tough on Ash. It wasn't a million dollar performance but he gave us repeat sets and his defence was solid. Our attack just lacks direction. There is no creative spark and the go to play just seems to be kick the ball to Don. I feel that our halves take the ball too wide and run sideways which cramps our attacking players in Fafita and Kelly for room.

There is also nobody ever pushing up in attack. We create half breaks and nobody is there.. AJ and the halves need to be in and around Peachy, Tino and Fafita not setting up the next play constantly.

[Mexican titan]

I think that is a little tough on Ash. It wasn't a million dollar performance but he gave us repeat sets and his defence was solid. Our attack just lacks direction. There is no creative spark and the go to play just seems to be kick the ball to Don. I feel that our halves take the ball too wide and run sideways which cramps our attacking players in Fafita and Kelly for room.

There is also nobody ever pushing up in attack. We create half breaks and nobody is there.. AJ and the halves need to be in and around Peachy, Tino and Fafita not setting up the next play constantly.

I agree with the general thrust of your comments but I don't think he was hard on Ash at all. He gave us a few repeat sets which were great but his general kicking was just hit and hope rubbish. Between he and Fogarty they need to set us up but they offered little.
I am prepared to forget one game but I fear that with Ash we might see his bottom lip a lot this year especially as the season progresses and he may not get a new deal. I am not in favour of keeping him at a reduced rate - he either good enough to make the team or not, regardless of his salary. I hope the club has a contingency plan around him. Of course I hope he gets it together and is with us for a while yet.
But hey, after watching Manly, the Titans were top shelf.

[DIEHARD]

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