Round 15: TITANS vs MANLY

[5 Year Contract]

I think the physio report last week said Thompson isn’t back until the raiders

[DIEHARD]

Titans left to lament poor defensive lapses
http://www.gcbulletin.com.au

TITANS prop Jarrod Wallace has slammed the “crappy” part of the Titans game that has seen them slump to seven losses from the last nine games.

The Gold Coast came back from a 30-4 deficit to lose 35-34 to the Roosters on the Gold Coast on Saturday.

It summed up how inconsistent the team has been. That’s been the Titans in the past two months but the bad has outweighed the good in defence by a country mile with the side having conceded 380 points in just 14 games.

For Wallace, it was the rails run the Titans gave the Roosters attackers that stuck in his craw the most.

“The first try (to Matt Ikuvalu) was a barge over. Then Angus Crichton went straight through … even to the very last one (also to Ikuvalu). They are crappy tries,” Wallace said.

“It is not as though they beat us with shape, or that we can sit there and go ‘they were a better team’. We are just hurting ourselves and the disappointing thing is that we know we can defend really well but we are nowhere near where we need to be.

“We were (14) points in front against Souths. Last week we blew four tries against the Storm and should have won. We should have won tonight.

“We know we are far better team than 12th, and we have probably slipped further.”

The Raiders big 38-16 win against the Broncos has now consigned the Titans to 13th position and the finals are now looking like a pipe dream.

The red-hot Sea Eagles await next Sunday on the Gold Coast.

“We obviously have to play a whole lot better against them than we did in Mudgee that’s for sure,” Wallace said.

“I think our mindset is really good. We’ve just got to fix our execution.

“I’m really proud of the way the boys came back (against the Roosters) but once we get in front we’ve got to keep it there. That’s the next step we have to build, the resilience to close it out when we do get in front.

“Inconsistency … it is the rollercoaster that we don’t want to be on. Melbourne did it to us last week. We fought back into that and they were good enough to hold us out. The Roosters were good enough to get back in front.”

Meanwhile, Wallace said it was “very hard” to watch the Maroons get thrashed by the Blues in the State of Origin series opener.”

[JunctionBlock]

I think the physio report last week said Thompson isn’t back until the raiders

Yeah they said he'd be back after the bye round unfortunately.

[Mr Bods]

Given we are 5W 9L I’ve sort of tuned out now.
I’m more interested in development of players and getting rid of the older dead wood for the rest of this season.

[JunctionBlock]

Given we are 5W 9L I’ve sort of tuned out now.
I’m more interested in development of players and getting rid of the older dead wood for the rest of this season.

I'm not even sure who you are referring too with regards to development players. Haven't we been through everyone?

[Mr Bods]

I'm not even sure who you are referring too with regards to development players. Haven't we been through everyone?

Let’s see Farmer, Sexton and Spry and give the others we’ve already seen more game time.

[JunctionBlock]

Let’s see Farmer, Sexton and Spry and give the others we’ve already seen more game time.

Spry had his chance didn't he? Everyone keeps saying Sexton is a year or two away and Farmer, well, I guess we are stacked in the 2nd row.

[5 Year Contract]

I think we have pretty much exhausted what we can do halves wise unless you bring AJ in. I’d kick Sami out for JC. I like Stone in over Proctor in any team moving forward. I still would of given Marsters a crack over BK after the storm game but that ain’t happening.

The halves just need to step up. It’s obvious where their shortcomings are “5th tackle, varied playmaking, taking the line on, getting our backline organised” like FFS blind Freddy can see what our shortcomings are yet they don’t seem to be addressed each week.

3 things and we are 75% better

1. Defensive line/marking up: Move up off your line. Stay straight. Trust the ****ing bloke outside you abs stop coming in and tighten up around the ruck (again mark the **** up)

2. Silly mistakes/penalties/capitalising. We are a low IQ team. If we have structure we stop the dumb mistakes. Stop lying on the player as the rules have changed. Finally you cant have 65% of possession and come away with 4 points. The NFL talks about if all the time what is your red zone conversion. When we get 20m out I reckon we would be 2 every 10 at best.

3 (which links 1&2 in). Playmaking. FFS 6,7,9 needs to take charge. 9 needs to get us rolling and has the forwards running with momentum (you can’t have Tino and Fifita flat footed). Then it’s Upto 6,7 to direct the team. I’m sorry the stock ball to proctor doesn’t work. Hasn’t worked once. Just kills momentum. Where is the attacking kicks? Where is the repeat sets? Where is a giant like Marzhew running onto a ball at full speed 5 out? It has been pathetic. Too many times our mistakes come from someone trying to manufacture something and the ball goes down.

Thank you for listening to my TED talk.

[Firetruck]

Who is saying Sexton is a year or two away? Heck, he has been in our top 30 for 2 years now. He is currently playing against men. He has a good all round game from what I have seen but I have only been to two Seagulls games this year. If he is good enough he is ready.

I listened to an interview with Craig Bellamy last night and he made a very strong point regarding the current game. He said that, with the speed of the game now, the positions of 9,6 7 and 1 become even more important. The 9, 6 and 7 must be able to get in behind the defensive line with their speed and ball playing and quick play the ball and the fullback must be able to come into the line and play as a playmaker. It’s all No sh$t Sherlock stuff but when he says that your hooker and your halves must be the major points of attack and then you think back to what we currently have….oh well.
Looking forward to Turner next year but really concerned about our hooking prospects until Bryant or Sikahele come through ( if they are good enough)

[titansfanatic]

I thought SPRY played very good last year in the 5 game winning run This year he seemed to go walker bout for a period of time and has been playing fairly good for the gulls

[willhelm]

I thought SPRY played very good last year in the 5 game winning run This year he seemed to go walker bout for a period of time and has been playing fairly good for the gulls

Someone hinted at there being off field issues with Spry

[Upthetits]

I thought SPRY played very good last year in the 5 game winning run This year he seemed to go walker bout for a period of time and has been playing fairly good for the gulls

I genuinely thought he was 1 of our starting wingers come round 1 this season. I was very impressed with him.

[coreythompson]

Need Corey Thompson to take Sami's spot permanently, in all honesty I believe Sami is the worst starting winger in the nrl this year

I'm still wondering how Sami got picked for Origin over Thompson last year.
I would have even picked Kurt Capewell on the wing over Sami or even Sam Kasiano

[JunctionBlock]

I think we have pretty much exhausted what we can do halves wise unless you bring AJ in. I’d kick Sami out for JC. I like Stone in over Proctor in any team moving forward. I still would of given Marsters a crack over BK after the storm game but that ain’t happening.

The halves just need to step up. It’s obvious where their shortcomings are “5th tackle, varied playmaking, taking the line on, getting our backline organised” like FFS blind Freddy can see what our shortcomings are yet they don’t seem to be addressed each week.

3 things and we are 75% better

1. Defensive line/marking up: Move up off your line. Stay straight. Trust the ****ing bloke outside you abs stop coming in and tighten up around the ruck (again mark the **** up)

2. Silly mistakes/penalties/capitalising. We are a low IQ team. If we have structure we stop the dumb mistakes. Stop lying on the player as the rules have changed. Finally you cant have 65% of possession and come away with 4 points. The NFL talks about if all the time what is your red zone conversion. When we get 20m out I reckon we would be 2 every 10 at best.

3 (which links 1&2 in). Playmaking. FFS 6,7,9 needs to take charge. 9 needs to get us rolling and has the forwards running with momentum (you can’t have Tino and Fifita flat footed). Then it’s Upto 6,7 to direct the team. I’m sorry the stock ball to proctor doesn’t work. Hasn’t worked once. Just kills momentum. Where is the attacking kicks? Where is the repeat sets? Where is a giant like Marzhew running onto a ball at full speed 5 out? It has been pathetic. Too many times our mistakes come from someone trying to manufacture something and the ball goes down.

Thank you for listening to my TED talk.

100%, I thought our dumb errors were a lot better against the Roosters but in saying that Proctor should have seen 10 in the bin for his head shot but was only penalised instead so maybe the ref had his whistle in his pocket. I can't remember giving away a 6 again to be honest either.

[willhelm]

I'm still wondering how Sami got picked for Origin over Thompson last year.
I would have even picked Kurt Capewell on the wing over Sami or even Sam Kasiano

Blues had some tall wingers. Selectors may have been worried about Thompson getting dominated under the high ball.