Round 5: TITANS vs PARRAMATTA (2022)

[JunctionBlock]

tbf Fermor's appearances there are often without success too and gets torched against quick centres. That Parra right edge plays some fast front-foot football

I'm happy enough with Sami there (2022 version)

Say it, say the line

[DIEHARD]

Tino letting actions speak louder than words in first month of top job
https://www.titans.com.au/news/2022/...th-of-top-job/

The only thing new Titans captain Tino Fa'asuamaleaui feels has changed since getting the 'c' next to his name is doing more media.

The rest is why coach Justin Holbrook chose him to hold the honourable position.

The 22-year-old declared when first appointed captain that he wanted his actions to do the talking to help lead the side... and there's no disputing he's done just that.

Leading the Titans' Dally M tally count with five votes so far, as well as being on top the club's tackle count with an average of 34 per match in his usual 60 minutes on the field each week, it can easily be said he's been one of the Gold Coast's best in the opening month of the competition.

"I don't think much has changed. I've still been myself around the boys and I just want to lead with my actions and make sure I'm doing that at training and on game day," Fa'asuamaleaui said.

"I guess as captain, I've just got more media... that's about it really."

With the help of other senior players, the Origin enforcer has brought a lot more to the youthful side than just fronting the microphone as the skipper, but it's his work-rate, effort and commitment that the rest of the squad are inspired by.

"A lot of the boys have helped, especially our leadership crew like Isaac Liu, Brimmo... they've been helping me out a lot," Fa'asuamaleaui said.

"I don't really want to talk too much. I just want to lead with my actions and that's about it really.

"Those boys then back me up and help me."

His try-saving tackle on David Nofoaluma in the 59th minute against the Wests Tigers epitomises how he wants to be seen by his peers as a leader.

"When does it get tough, I want to lead from the front and make sure I'm doing the hard work first, and all the boys will follow," Fa'asuamaleaui said.

"This is something that I've always been doing since I was a kid and I guess that's why I'm captain now.

"I guess that captaincy does push you more to make sure that you're there at the right time to make sure that you're working hard and being there for the boys."

Going down narrowly against the Eels in Round 1, the Titans are out for revenge at Cbus Super Stadium on Saturday night, building nicely after getting the two points at home last Thursday.

Although the affair against the Tigers was a little scrappy, the captain was most impressed with his side's defensive effort.

"There's a lot of things that we need to improve from that game, but the best thing is that there were no tries. I know the game was scrappy and that but there was only one try in the 79th minute, so it was good effort from both teams," Fa'asuamaleaui said.

"Attack wise, we need to fix up a lot and we've got to make sure we go to another level with our defence, but there was no tries at the end of the game from our side anyway, which was good.

"We obviously get confidence from that, but we need to make sure we go to another level this week."

[coreythompson]

We lost this game

They got Mitch Rein on

[Titanic]

Expecting a lot from you this weekend CT back on your preferred wing.

[GCTTSD]

Gutho gonna be going after Sami in the centres now will be out for revenge

[TitanPremiership]

This game is literally worse than ours last week. 13 penalties/set restarts and 13 errors just in the first half so far. I get that rain plays a part but gees if it weren't for soft Knights defence this game would be going nowhere.

[gotitans101_]

Knights making Manly look a million bucks.

[5 Year Contract]

Will be interesting to see which team turns up this week. Our next 6 weeks are pretty brutal and our season could be on life support if we dont split some of these games against the higher teams.

Our attack I think can recover but our defence is putrid. As long as we are happy to just sit back on the line and give the teams 10m+ a hitup and then pray our outside backs can hold a team out 20m out we are going to lose far more than we win

[Titanic]

Our defense is nearly the worst in the comp but are our players nearly the worst in the comp? If the answer is yes then fair enough but if the answer is no then it’s the strategy and execution that’s wrong.

[willhelm]

Knights making Manly look a million bucks.

The scoreline flatters Manly. It was a close game until the final 10 mins. Rain really ruined that game, handling errors galore.

- - - Updated - - -

Our defense is nearly the worst in the comp but are our players nearly the worst in the comp? If the answer is yes then fair enough but if the answer is no then it’s the strategy and execution that’s wrong.

On paper I have us around 7th-8th. We have a good (but not great) squad with nice depth. Our problem is a lack of experience, which is where someone like Liu should be stepping up. We don't have an equivalent of Liu in the spine though which is our biggest issue.

[Hail Sezer]

This will stir things up a bit..

Below are season 2022 stats and where we rank amongst the NRL (based on average). Taken from Fox Sports.

1st = worst in NRL, 16th = best in NRL

Points conceded - 4th
Line breaks conceded - 12th
Tries conceded - 6th equal
Missed tackles - 13th
Offloads conceded - 7th equal
Penalties conceded - 15th
Running metres conceded - 4th

I've bolded stats that put us in the top 4 of teams in the NRL.

Now before I get smoked by some data experts - yes small sample size, yes average, yes we've had perhaps lesser opposition than some other teams so far. Acknowledge all of that. Nonetheless.

No surprise we're bottom 4 in run metres conceded and average points conceded because when we leak, we really leak. But we're also not giving away many penalties, our ruck is efficient, our tackling is efficient, and we're in the top 4 at not conceding linebreaks.

Draw from that what you will, but I really don't think our defence is that much of an absolute abomination as it is made out to be. It's not good, and maybe those "good" stats aren't necessarily worth celebrating about...but putrid and worst in the comp...I don't reckon

[lonegull]

HS geez them stats tell a different story to what I thought

[Hail Sezer]

HS geez them stats tell a different story to what I thought

Yeah I mean clearly there is still a bunch of things that those high-level stats don't account for, and there's no denying our line speed sucks and our edges make some awful decisions, among other flaws. But I think there's some things that we are doing reasonably well that aren't really being acknowledged.

[willhelm]

Nice post HS, really puts things in perspective.

I think what it shows is that, apart from metres conceded, the fundamentals are pretty good. That we are getting the fundamentals mostly right but still leaking points is probably an experience/lack of confidence thing.

[Titanic]

Now HS, as our champion of all things good about our team I wouldn’t have expected anything less and you didn’t disappoint … but you’re also right about data. Sometimes if you want to check the weather you need to close the app and stick your head out the window … if we put 20 on the Eels tomorrow everyone will be correct and if they put 40 on us then the data will be spun again. I’m predicting Titans x 4