Titans Ratings 2023

[The Birdman]

Here is a brief summary of everyone and how I think they did in 2023 (in alphabetical order)....

Players

Jacob Alick N/A: Didn't really get enough opportunity to rate him but he didn't look out of his depth in limited appearances.

Tanah Boyd C: Solid but very unspectacular. Probably cemented his status as a serviceable but below average NRL halfback. A couple of shockers (loss to St George comes to mind) but overall pretty consistently OK.

AJ Brimson A-: As always the only issue with AJ is the injuries. Dependable and explosive as ever when he plays.

Jayden Campbell A: Always a threat to make something out of nothing wherever he plays and showed a great team-first attitude despite getting stuffed around by Holbrook and Lenihan with the nonsense #14, 15 minute bench role for waaaay too long this season. His contact in defense improved a lot this year as did his organisational skills at the back. Just an instinctual footballer.

Erin Clark C-: Rocks and diamonds. His first contact is usually poor or around the legs and we get rolled when he plays middle despite some strong carries. He's also not a hooker which means he's bit of a tweener and probably not someone worth keeping around despite his recent extension. Decent back end of the top 30 option.

Iszac Fa'asuamaleaui B-: He looks a bit overmatched physically at this level but does put in a lot of effort. The middle tends to hold OK when he is out there with other serviceable middles. He's never going to be a world beater but he's worth keeping around.

Tino Fa'asuamaleaui A+: Leads by example with his huge motor and quality work in the tackle and with ball in hand. He looked to be trying to work on his offload a bit late in the year, which is probably the only knock on his game. Hopefully it's another string in his bow for next season. I wish he was a bit more of a calming influence as captain over the team when they are under pressure. Great year as a player though.

Beau Fermor N/A: Injured all year - he would have made a huge difference as we had no strike at all on the right edge.

David Fifita A: Fantastic year on the left from the big fella and he looks like he needs to stay there. Foran deserves some credit but I think he would have had a great year regardless of who was playing inside him. He's not a great defender though for an edge forward and it really hurts your overall team defense because most guys in this position are good or elite defenders with a decent mix of size, strength and mobility. Teams running at him often exploited a quick play the ball as often the ball carrier lands on him and he is also a bit lazy getting to marker at times. Work on the defensive side of the ball in the offseason Dave as we all know what you can do with the ball.

Jojo Fifita C-: Frankly a pretty disappointing season from a player I had really high hopes for. He wasn't terrible but he looked a bit slower and less threatening than last year. He lacked a bit of confidence and I'm sure other teams starting to scheme him a bit didn't help. He blew a few defensive reads on the right but that is to be expected given his age and inexperience in playing league in a key defensive position. I'm still a buyer of his stock but I want to see a bounce back 2024.

Kieran Foran B-: He did a pretty good job. Ran good lines with Dave and gave the team a mature head. I just think we are better served with younger options with more strike at 6 as he's not really the game manager, line break threat and long boot we need. The fact his body is broken and he gets ran around at times, particularly in the last 20 minutes of games is what I'm concerned about.

Moeaki Foruaika A: Mo bounced back in style in 2023. He ran the ball hard and often and cut down on the handling errors from the last couple of years. He still can be a bit weak in contact and work in the tackle at times but he's not a liability in that regard.

Klese Haas C: Another who probably didn't do as well as I'd hoped based off a strong finish to 2022 (albeit small sample size). He showed glimpses (try against Melbourne) but his defensive awareness is very poor. He put his halfback and centre on an island a few times being out of sync with the rest of the defensive line and his defensive spacing in the line is woeful. He has no concept of keeping the spacing consistent either side of him. He really needs to work on these things in the offseason as he leaves big gaps in the line.

Jaimin Jolliffe B-: Jolly was solid as always. He's just a low maintenance guy you can depend on. He's not going to make 200 metres a game often but he makes and wins his tackles and keeps the middle tight if he's got other good middles around him. Missing a lot of time through injury robs him of a higher score.

Brian Kelly B: You know what you're going to get with BK. Some great yardage carries for a centre, some threat on the left mixed with some silly penalties, low IQ plays and blown defensive reads. I think he finished the year well but he shouldn't be a teams best centre, which he is for us.

Alofiana Khan-Pereira B-: I think he's a bit overrated. All he is good at is being fast and by association finishing tries. He has sooo much work to do in regards to decision making and effort. His kick returns are also pretty poor and he consistently gets dragged backwards carrying out of the red zone getting our sets off to a bad start. He's a player that could excel with some decent coaching that can get the dumb out of his game as physically he's worth persisting with.

Keano Kini B-: A little underutilised but I get it. Coaches are afraid to put faith in 19 year olds. I think he has a huge future in front of him and plays with confidence. He looked a bit off rhythm against the Bulldogs but still went looking for work. He has the usual young fullback things to work on defensively. Killed it for Burleigh this year.

Kruise Leeming D: I thought he played well in his first game but went downhill from there when he got his few opportunities. Super League level defense is to be expected I suppose. English players are clearly not our thing.

Isaac Liu D: We can't carry a guy in the middle who just has no ability on the offensive side of the ball other than the odd deft pass out the back. His defensive work has declined from excellent to merely good. He's expiring next year if I'm looking for a silver lining.

Thomas Mikaele N/A: He wasn't really given a chance and left abruptly before he got into match fitness.

Chris Randall B+: He significantly outperformed expectations and gives us a legitimate NRL level second hooker as well as someone that can play spot minutes at lock. We need him given Verrills' injury history.

Phillip Sami B+: I thought the Hound was great this year. Very consistent. Note to coaches: He's definitely a winger NOT a centre!

Aaron Schoupp F: Major disappointment. He's full of niggle and false bravado but he doesn't have the talent to back it up. Slow and full of errors and blown defensive reads.

Toby Sexton N/A: Only one game but capped it with the game winning try. Good luck in Sydney Sexy. Too slow to make it I suspect though.

Joe Stimson C+: I thought he started out the season very strongly and did a good job on the right edge defensively given the devastating loss of Fermor. Clearly not a threat though and he faded as games and the season went on. Good squad depth for 2024 that can cover edge and middle.

Sam Verrills B-: Really good when he was on the field which was barely ever. Given his history it is concerning. The first time we've had a decent option at hooker since Nathan Friend or the first year only of Nathan Peats, before he fell off the face of the Earth.

Joseph Vuna D: I'm going to refrain from giving him an F because he barely played and also was not signed to be a regular member of the squad. He's waaay out of his depth in the NRL though. He won't be back.

Thomas Weaver N/A: Again not really enough games to give a legitimate rating but he was very solid given his current physical limitations. He did not look overawed and I think he found the grass a lot with his kicks. Given he was playing off the back foot and kicking deep in our half mostly I was impressed with that.

Coaches

Justin Holbrook D-: In hindsight should have been sacked two years ago when the team conceded 50 points against Manly (at home I think) in a HALF. Nice guys finish last in professional sports. He didn't have the backbone to make players accountable and drop underperformers. Interchange rotations and team selections were very suspect too under Holbrook.

Jim Lenihan B+: We clearly showed more resilience and testicular fortitude under Lenihan despite winning only 3 of the 11 games he was in charge from memory. I still think his team selections were a bit suspect and from the Holbrook coaching staff echo chamber but he definitely got the boys up for the fight each week much better than Holbrook and his interchange rotations were better too IMO.

[Hail Sezer]

This is a really good write up mate. Pretty much agree with how you’ve ranked them across the board. My differences would be:

Id have Jojo a B-. He was disappointing in the sense that he didn’t grow from ‘22 but he also dealt with an AC injury, syndesmosis, and something else I’m sure as well. Couldn’t really get his rhythm going. The reason I still have faith is because of how he went in Qcup - was leaps and bounds ahead of ‘22 and when healthy, showed he was a fitter/stronger and faster athlete. He’s one I’m excited to see how Des improves his game.

Id also have Tanah a B- and Foz a B. The latter earns extra marks for how he got the most out of Dave and BK - it’s no coincidence that they both improved on the defensive side of the ball with Foz there. As for Tanah - his goal kicking won us a few games and he played his role, but it’s hard to rate him higher than that based on tangible try-scoring contributions not being there.


Great thread, thanks for taking the time. Look forward to hearing everyone’s thoughts

[NZFan]

Nice write up Birdman. Hard to disagree with most ratings.

I was very hard on Sami coming into this season but he deserves an A based on his wing performances. Be interesting to see if he can back it up as in the past he’s been very inconsistent.

Thought it was a little rough on Stimson as well. He plays his guts out every week, sure he doesn’t offer lots on attack but I thought he was one of the few that were above average defensively.