Round 13: TITANS vs COWBOYS (2022)

[Mexican titan]

JC is needed to give us some threat but my lord he is Dufty levels bad defensively. With the amount of ball we've had we should be up by 16 but we are just a horrible football team.

I agree with you regarding JC's defence and frankly I don't know what we do with him. His spark in attack is just about all we have but is that because he is brilliant or the rest are duds. The first two tries against us tonight JC should have stopped but his pea size weight couldn't. You can't have a fullback that offers nothing in defence. My problem with him is that I don't think we can hide him in the team to use his attacking ability but cover his defence, or lack of. No way am I blaming him for the loss though.

The coach should be getting very nervous. I doubt successful business owners like our owners will tolerate this for too long. Holbrook decided to run with this team this year and not sign others so it's in his lap. Running with Clarke as hooker again was inexcusable in my opinion. The way the team plays is just hopeless - often sets without forwards hitting it up, mindless kicking game, selecting the same duds week after week - the list in lack of basic skill is endless.

[Whats Doing]

The difference in structure was so obvious. Cows knew their position on every tackle and we were a leaderless rabble with no organisation or structure. And the Cows had 6 players out.

It is time this place is cleaned out completely where Mal the con is finally given the boot and followed by Holbrook who has shown he is out of ideas and is not the coach needed for our club.

There is so much wrong with this club through lack of fitness, poor defence, lack of structure and effort and shocking recruitment decisions.

[DIEHARD]

Oh boy... The last 60 of that was really tough viewing and plenty of evidence of being really confused and disorganised. This was a game that we could have won. But the Cowboys gave us a class in defence but also making use of their chances to show their killer instinct.

Elliot was everywhere and it pains me to say it but Taumalolo's fend on AJ will be on next year's NRL promo. Monster game from him.

I hope JC is ok. Absolutely agree that Marzhew should have been in the team weeks ago. The bench is constantly baffling to me. I was expecting a lot more from plenty of players to night.

Pressure is mounting on everyone at the club. Bunnies next and it isn't going to get easier.

[Titanic]

Watched replay as late from work and on my birthday. Well because I’m so goddamned old I feel I have the right to vent a bit.

Our team has gone so far backwards that we couldn’t beat and got flogged by the Cows reserve grade. AJ is NOT a 6 in any form. JC cannot play NRL if he can’t tackle. Clarke is a 13. Sexton needs a 6. And our 2022 is gone.

This is one of the worst seasons I’ve endured. Holbrook’s halftime message should have torn the paint off the wall but instead he stuck his head fair up their clackers … goodbye!! Pathetic and having to listen to all the media geniuses analysing our crap isn’t fun or entertaining or worth investing in in any shape or form. It’s killed a lifetime love of the sport.

[a_guest]

You guys have the worst hooker rotation in the NRL. Clark/T.Boyd are not first graders.

Isucko is just cancer to a team, he has the ability to lose games on his own. Baffling recruitment decision.

Marsters is **** and well past it, Campbell needs to develop in QCup. Brimson back to fullback. Find someone to play 5/8.

Bench is absolute garbage and has no impact on the game except to give starters a breather. Just all round ****. This will take years to fix.

[JunctionBlock]

I was done trying to find good in the team before this but what ended my interest in the NRL was the bunker overturning the knock on call when, I think it was Elliot, knocked the ball out of his hands with his own knee and called it interference.

Having a rest from the game. Bring on NFL

[Randomologist]

The biggest thing that stood out to me last night (amongst many issues) was that we went sideways seemingly every second tackle. You have to earn the right to do that off the back of big runs up the middle, catching the defence back peddling. No one was making those runs, then we would spread it wide and they would be ready for it every time. Absolute basic but we just weren't getting it. Not sure if that's coached or just inexperience and falling into wanting to score , but it looked bad. Wallace should be making more runs than passes...

[lonegull]

Good point Random, I thought the same our attack well if you can call it that goes sideways nothing direct at the line, it is so predictable its like they run it as a training run with no purpose and only have one option in their set pieces. Sexton needs to dig into the line and pass late, a few of his passes last night the defenders were already moving towards the outside of him to the next player as he was just so predictable and passing 5 metres before the line. Our attacking shape is non existent this is caused by the sideways movement when the first receiver catches the ball and don't get me started on service from dummy half being crisp and out in front, the speed of clark passes the opposition must be laughing, not one of the passes last night from clark was a tracer bullet hitting the man in front of him with the runner having momentum, 99.9% of the time the ball is passed with no purpose and either hit the players late or behind them which stops all the go forward, take a look at the first set of the match and the second tackle and the pass clark throws to wallace it stops all momentum then for the rest of the set the Cowboys are on top with line speed pressure due to that one pass.
I agree AJ is not a 5/8th, id like to see him developed as a centre I know that sounds weird but he has all the attributes that a centre needs he needs early ball in space or as seen last night on a couple of occasions he knows how to hit a hole or step to take the hole.
I could go on an on but our biggest problem in the lack of depth at the club at present, I was looking at the bench and was asked who do we bring onto the bench rotation and I couldn't name a player that was outside the squad last night that could come in that has experience and would be a fit, and that's is saying something when we have an outside back on it and a prop that can only play in 10 minute stints.

[Hail Sezer]

Pretty dire. Not even looking at the attack side of things. The need for a new hooker, AJ needing a more rounded game, and JC not making last ditch tackles are all 100% true but it's not our primary issue. We leaked 32 points. This team comes completely unstuck at executing simple effort areas defensively.

WD has made a good point for over a year now about our inability to compete under fatigue (conditioning, personnel however you want to look at it). We've conceded zero tries in the first 20 minutes the last 3 weeks, but have gone on to get pumped when we start rolling through our interchanges and the team is made to make defensive decisions, work hard and execute effort plays under fatigue. Our edges get smacked when our ruck is ugly and we don't set and push from A. Look at our right side specifically - having a slower halfback makes this inside pressure extra important becuase they know that he as the 3 man can't bounce, so teams just play shape on his outside shoulder, the outside edge squeezes and voila, overlap.

We're a very easy team to coach against. And we don't have the players to make necessary changes (i.e. our roster no good). I am however mindful that recruitment needs to be considered with a) salary cap, b) 30 roster positions, c) availability of players and d) collateral damage + opportunity cost.. Our roster is poorly constructed, but the solution isn't as simple as go and sign an entire new squad during an off-season, unfortunately.

MT raises a good point about the administration at the club and I agree that they won't just sit and watch. I'll be watching with curiosity as pressure mounts.

[DM13]

Paul Turner has to be in the team next week, the biggest head scratcher I’ve found is turner has been a half his whole career and with our lack of depth in that position it’s made no sense to me why he’s been playing fullback in qcup this whole year where he has never played before.Just another confusing call from the coaching staff where every week they’ve basically made these calls who’s are indefensible.

[Titanic Believer]

I felt the forwards were the problem. It was highlighted in the pregame how much they depended on Tino last week. This week I felt Fermor and MacIntyre had a dig and Clarke for the
short time when Boyd took the hooking role but the middles were pathetic. Other than that they play dumb. I am not a seasoned judge but I know the role of the middles is to bend the line, pull in the defence and create openings out wide or second phase play. So until we get players that can concentrate for 80 minutes we're cooked.

[Titanic]

Nothing from the middles except Clarke showed what a scheming running ball playing middle can do and that’s his position or maybe Herbert. Tino goes up front where he has matured into. Mo, Fermor and McIntyre (Fifita when he’s back) with Boyd at 9. Get rid of Kelly, Thompson, Isaako and Marsters for Sami, Jojo, Herbert and Marzhew. Turner with Sexton plus AJ. If we do that then the bench becomes Booth, McIntyre, Wallace and some other youngster like Liyou.

[Whats Doing]

As HS has said , I have been banging on about our fitness levels or lack thereof.

Where you are not fit enough, you use shortcuts, your effort is not there 100 per cent of the time, you don’t do the 1 per centers, your mind wanders and you fail to concentrate on your job and where you should be positioned, your reaction times are slower.

It is evident we are nowhere near the fittest teams in the NRL as there is a continuous pattern of letting the opposition stroll 60 metres a set, we get run down when we have unbeatable leads, we let multiple tries in very short periods of time.

Storms pre season is legendary for its brutality and is a key factor in their success. The Cows changed their preseason this year where they did a lot of brutal training which was specifically designed to condition players in situations which they hate to train in order to make them mentally tougher under fatigue. The Broncos sacked their SOO trainer last year and word is it was their preseason this year was such a more intense training environment.

It is not surprising that the higher intensity in training for the Cows and Broncs has played a large role in turning their 15th and 14th positions last year around to now being in the top 4.

Unless you are competitive on the fitness front, you will never be competitive no matter how much better you may be. A beaten up V8 Holden will always beat a 4 cyclinder Maserati.

The Titans brought in highly credentialed trainers but they were not NRL experienced. They should do studies with their NRL peers on training programs from the current successful clubs so that can incorporate into the Titans fitness programs. Give them the opportunity to do so but if they fail to that, then show them the door and get people in who can put in the highest fitness programs.

Unless we have the motor under the bonnet in terms of fitness, it won’t matter who coached us as we will continue the unacceptable early fatiguing in every game and lose more games than we win resulting in our current 15th position being the norm.

[RavShamrock]

WD I think this fitness thing is valid and yes leads to mental softness to a bunch that can least afford it.
You got the normal position of 15th wrong though mate there is no doubt in my mind we're getting the spoon.
We are just clueless right across the board at this club and I'm seriously concerned A_Guest is on the money and we're in for many years of pain under the current regime.

As HS has said , I have been banging on about our fitness levels or lack thereof.

Where you are not fit enough, you use shortcuts, your effort is not there 100 per cent of the time, you don’t do the 1 per centers, your mind wanders and you fail to concentrate on your job and where you should be positioned, your reaction times are slower.

It is evident we are nowhere near the fittest teams in the NRL as there is a continuous pattern of letting the opposition stroll 60 metres a set, we get run down when we have unbeatable leads, we let multiple tries in very short periods of time.

Storms pre season is legendary for its brutality and is a key factor in their success. The Cows changed their preseason this year where they did a lot of brutal training which was specifically designed to condition players in situations which they hate to train in order to make them mentally tougher under fatigue. The Broncos sacked their SOO trainer last year and word is it was their preseason this year was such a more intense training environment.

It is not surprising that the higher intensity in training for the Cows and Broncs has played a large role in turning their 15th and 14th positions last year around to now being in the top 4.

Unless you are competitive on the fitness front, you will never be competitive no matter how much better you may be. A beaten up V8 Holden will always beat a 4 cyclinder Maserati.

The Titans brought in highly credentialed trainers but they were not NRL experienced. They should do studies with their NRL peers on training programs from the current successful clubs so that can incorporate into the Titans fitness programs. Give them the opportunity to do so but if they fail to that, then show them the door and get people in who can put in the highest fitness programs.

Unless we have the motor under the bonnet in terms of fitness, it won’t matter who coached us as we will continue the unacceptable early fatiguing in every game and lose more games than we win resulting in our current 15th position being the norm.

[jacksonm]

I agree with you regarding JC's defence and frankly I don't know what we do with him. His spark in attack is just about all we have but is that because he is brilliant or the rest are duds. The first two tries against us tonight JC should have stopped but his pea size weight couldn't. You can't have a fullback that offers nothing in defence. My problem with him is that I don't think we can hide him in the team to use his attacking ability but cover his defence, or lack of. No way am I blaming him for the loss though.
JC will improve his defence as he grows. Be absolutely madness to move him from fullback. No one e else offers whst he can do in attack
The coach should be getting very nervous. I doubt successful business owners like our owners will tolerate this for too long. Holbrook decided to run with this team this year and not sign others so it's in his lap. Running with Clarke as hooker again was inexcusable in my opinion. The way the team plays is just hopeless - often sets without forwards hitting it up, mindless kicking game, selecting the same duds week after week - the list in lack of basic skill is endless.

- - - Updated - - -

You guys have the worst hooker rotation in the NRL. Clark/T.Boyd are not first graders.

Isucko is just cancer to a team, he has the ability to lose games on his own. Baffling recruitment decision.

Marsters is **** and well past it, Campbell needs to develop in QCup. Brimson back to fullback. Find someone to play 5/8.

Bench is absolute garbage and has no impact on the game except to give starters a breather. Just all round ****. This will take years to fix.

Show yourself out please a guest