Round 13: Gold Coast Titans vs Penrith Panthers

[teke]

Some pretty handy comments in here today. Can I add?

1. Commit the team to a 9, 7, 6 & 1 and stick with it ... specialist players with a view to the future. How can the boys do the "hard stuff" at training if they have to re-adjust each week? That's a complete waste of time and effort.

2. Get the pack to stand back and run onto the ball with purpose. Sadly this is related to point 1. If you play too flat the opposition spots you and forces handling errors because you have no space for setting your own personal defence against the defenders.

3. It is useless having a sprint attack unless you have space. How to create it? Either (a) turn the defence around with your forwards/quick plays, or (b) have your pivots AND their support standing deep.

4. Our defence is fine IF we don't have to make more tackles than the other team.

5. Stupid penalties can only be frustration or idiots (take your pick) but most likely the first one :-)

imho.

Absolutely spot on

[Titan_Blue]

How does a second-rower play 33 minutes and make 9 metres?

I never want to see Taga starting again.

[teke]

I noticed Mead everywhere in the first half, but in the second half he was very very quiet.....I wasn't sure why but perhaps he was still cramping?

He was everywhere in the 1st half cause he doesnt want to be dropped this led to him running himself to crampage early and 2nd half was the result, that plus a few snr players told him to go and sit in his position

[teke]

How does a second-rower play 33 minutes and make 9 metres?

I never want to see Taga starting again.

That's not a very flattering stat is it.

[titansrawesome]

if someone gets taga into some muay thai and boxing training and conditioning he will be really fit and he will play way better

[CairnsTitan]

^^lol awesome

im also thinking we give prince a heart transplant because that pea sized one really isn't doing the job

[Titanic]

That's not a very flattering stat is it.

Certainly not good enough but who is pushing him around the field?

Let's look at this objectively.

Team is choking with frustration + captain/s choking with lack of confidence = team totally disfunctional.

Those players who are workhorses need to be driven around the field, if they are not then they are lost. I don't want to defend Tagataese's lack of application but just like there is more than one issue to resolved here there also isn't any one player to blame.

[Coaster]

Certainly not good enough but who is pushing him around the field?

Let's look at this objectively.

Team is choking with frustration + captain/s choking with lack of confidence = team totally disfunctional.

Those players who are workhorses need to be driven around the field, if they are not then they are lost. I don't want to defend Tagataese's lack of application but just like there is more than one issue to resolved here there also isn't any one player to blame.

Maybe it's time to give the captaincy to bull, tell Bird he will be fined if he passes, tell mini to concentrate on meters and ball control nothing else.

Time to play up the middle, and stay there. Let Prince sit back and kick only.

[titansrawesome]

bull should be captain, i will get crucified for this but who cares, prince is not fit for that 7 jersey, he is easily the worst 7 in the comp right now, which is a horrible contrast from 07-10 when he was one of the best and the fact he can not tackle after all these years is concerning. i really dont know how carty can fix this he needs to sit down with ricky stuart or wayne bennett or bellamy or gould

[karnage]

Anybody who can find any positive out of last night's game is dead set kidding themselves. The 80 minutes we dished up was, quite simply, not up to NRL standard.

Reading stats is a waste of time when you are beaten comprehensively by a bottom 8 team off a 5 day backup at home.

Carty has officially last the plot:
1. Taga is not a starting second rower. He is an impact player best utilised from the bench.

2. We have had 4 different five eighths in the last 4 weeks - Campbell / Prince / Zillman / Bird.

3. Toopi might be killing it in the Q Cup but he is in his 30's, set to retire at the end of the year and incapable of making a line break. If good Q Cup form was a recipe for selection then surely Walker and Tomane would have been given a decent crack by now.

4. Thompson is still in the centres being hopelessly wasted. It is hard to remember just how good he was at the end of last year because he is being employed out of position. He won't be there next year so he should be given the opportunity to develop his skills in a position more suitable to his skill set.

The season is over. The only thing that we have to look forward to for the remainder of 2011 is the development of YOUNG players who can take us forward in 2012. James, Ridge and Srama are doing well but Tomane and Walker must also be given the chance to show what they can do - not just a one off make or break game. I'll even include Rankin in that, a guy I have been highly critical of, but we are going to learn nothing about him if he just keeps running around in the powder puff games that are Toyota Cup football.

Preston might have scored a good try last night but he needs to be tapped on the shoulder. He is not the answer to the clubs problems moving forward.

There were 12,000 people in the ground last night and none of them who weren't either members or Panthers fans were given any reason to return for the rest of the year.

[Nick]

Carty is a good coach, he doesnt need someone else to come and tell him something he already knows (like gould going to the cowboys for 30 minutes).

We just need some stability and confidence back. Last night they were forcing the unnecessary passes and making mistakes, if we can hold onto the ball and put a playmaker like Capewell in the 7 (prince to 6) I think it would make a considerable difference to our attacking plays. I hate to say it but Presto has lost a lot of his zip this year and is definitely more suited to a less endurance position than fullback.
We will be able to turn this around, we wont be winning the grand final, but surely with the amount of players coming off contract they should be playing their asses off for the rest of the year.

[titansrawesome]

ive been saying all season thompsons out of position he is a bloody prop and 2nd rower who puts on hits there, not a stupid centre

[Rage]

Laine Clark AAP Sun, Jun 05, 2011 - 11:08 AM

Downcast Gold Coast captain Scott Prince has held himself personally responsible after the dead-last Titans lost their fourth straight NRL game.

A team that was one win away from making the 2010 grand final found itself in one of its worst slumps after their 23-10 loss to Penrith on Saturday night.

An error-riddled Titans only had themselves to blame for yet another defeat - but Prince put his hand up for their season from hell.

"I guess I have to take responsibility as captain - I am not leading by example," he said.

"The coaching staff can't do any more.

"It comes down to the fundamentals in the end.

"And with fundamental errors you can't enjoy football and you can't win football games."

But there was still a hint of defiance in the former Test halfback.

"There are 17 blokes in there hurting at the moment," he said.

"But the one thing I know is that we are going to work hard at training, hang together and we will turn it around - we have to."

The Titans began their Skilled Park clash with confidence - winger David Mead scored off a Prince kick in the first five minutes.

The Gold Coast would claim that as a victory in itself after being denied eight tries the previous week before finally crossing in the final five minutes against the Bulldogs.

But their good fortune was short-lived on Saturday night.

The tone for the rest of the night was set when Prince's clearing kick somehow ricocheted off Trent Waterhouse and the Panthers backrower regathered to let a flying Michael Jennings loose in the 14th minute.

Still, the Titans locked up the scores 10-10 thanks to a Preston Campbell solo try in the 43rd minute but basic errors ensured they could not apply any more pressure.

"We realise we are not going to win a game pretty," Titans coach John Cartwright said.

"You don't come out of losing a few games and everything is going to click for you.

"You've got to grit your teeth and work hard,do all the tough things.

"We didn't give ourselves that chance in the second half."

Prince added: "Confidence comes from working hard.

"It is going to take a gritty performance to get us out of the situation we are in at the moment."

[shamus]

If good Q Cup form was a recipe for selection then surely Walker and Tomane would have been given a decent crack by now.

Won't be Walker, at least for a while now. According to a Tweed teammate he has done his hammy again.

[teke]

Won't be Walker, at least for a while now. According to a Tweed teammate he has done his hammy again.

The bloody hammy is such an annoying muscle to get right. He has done it multiply times over the years