Round 9: TITANS vs SOUTHS

[DavidBouveng]

I thought Taylor, Ioane and Douglas were strong. Starting James was a mistake. Douglas came on and ran straight and hard.

Don good, mead strong but not really a night for a FB to run free.

Our game is based on attitude, and we were lacking tonight and it's not pretty when it happens.

Korisau au was a beast and we couldn't handle him, walker either.

I had a bad feeling about this game when a mate saw the whole team at a nightclub till 2am last week. I know it was the week off and they deserve a break, but Kelly and sezer were under huge injury concern and def shouldn't be out drinking and dancing. Are we hungry enough.

[DIEHARD]

Bird on report as Rabbitohs run riot

NSW's hopes of breaking Queensland's State of Origin stranglehold may rest with the match review committee after Blues enforcer Greg Bird was placed on report for a lifting tackle in the Titans' 40-18 loss to South Sydney on Saturday night.

Bird, who was engaged in a running battle with the referees for much of the evening, was part of a three-man tackle that got Rabbitohs winger Bryson Goodwin into a potentially dangerous position in the 60th minute of a lopsided encounter.

It was a controversial moment that could potentially overshadow a memorable evening for South Sydney centre Dylan Walker, who showed that he is as quick between the ears as he is with his feet with four tries at Cbus Super Stadium.

A week after enduring a tough afternoon in his senior representative debut opposing Jamal Idris in the City-Country fixture, Walker toyed with the Titans defence from his very first possession and had three tries by the 43rd minute of the game, adding a fourth in the 66th minute courtesy of a Greg Inglis offload close to the Titans' line.

And it wasn't just Walker who staged his own coming-out party, with fellow 19-year-old Alex Johnston adding two more tries to his four-pointer on debut against the Broncos in Round 8 and Kirisome Auva'a proving a handful for the Titans' right-edge defence.

In front of a crowd of 19,107 who created an atmosphere more reminiscent of Redfern than Robina, the Rabbitohs bounced out to a 22-0 lead inside the opening 20 minutes before the Titans worked their way back into the game with two tries of their own before half-time.

Walker's third try in the third minute of the second half extended the Rabbitohs' advantage to 16 points and they continued to pressure the Titans tryline. Walker was denied a fourth try before later righting the ledger, while Johnston's 90m effort was brought back as last year's preliminary finalists asserted their premiership credentials against a side still trying to convince many that they are genuine contenders.

After Walker scored his fourth try in the 65th minute, Johnston showed how quickly his NRL education is developing by following George Burgess up the middle of the ruck and being perfectly positioned to take a flick pass from the rampant Englishman and racing 20m to score under the posts.

The Titans may have been given first use of the football but from the moment Inglis collected an Aidan Sezer kick on his 20-metre line and charged into the Gold Coast defence the Rabbitohs completely dictated the terms of play.

From the very next tackle Walker went skirting around the Titans' left-edge defence and by the time he got to Gold Coast winger Anthony Don on the very outside and still had Auva'a in support the fast break was on. Auva'a was set free down the left and managed to hold off two Titans defenders for long enough to position Walker on his inside, his left-hand offload sending his centre partner on an unimpeded run to the line.

From the very next set George Burgess – who made 39 metres in his first two hit-ups – rumbled through the middle of the field on a trademark charge and in the seventh minute Auva'a went from provider to try-scorer, when he collected a John Sutton kick that deflected off Titans second-rower Dave Taylor before landing in his arms six metres out from the line.

Auva'a then burrowed his way towards the line and when the video referee had decided there was insufficient evidence of a possible double movement to overturn the on-field official's ruling the Rabbitohs had their second.

Just three minutes later they had their third when Walker danced around at dummy-half before using his speed and power to bullock his way over in the right-hand corner and the visitors had converted 65 per cent of possession into 16 points by the 10th minute.

George Burgess, Sam Burgess and Kyle Turner continued to make inroads in the middle of the field and when Inglis stepped in to first receiver with the Titans on the back foot the alarm bells should have reached maximum volume.

Inglis did a number on Sezer 35m out before releasing Adam Reynolds on a run into the backfield, where he sized up the chasing David Mead before sending a perfectly-timed pass for winger Johnston to score on the right and a 22-0 lead after 15 minutes.

The Titans finally began to work their way into the contest and although they wasted some attacking opportunities inside the Rabbitohs 20m line, they turned momentum against the run of play when Anthony Don seized a floating John Sutton pass before running 60m to put the home side on the board.

It was Don again just before half-time who gave Titans fans some glimmer of hope to cling on to at the break when he soared high above Auva'a and Bryson Goodwin to snatch a flat Albert Kelly cross-kick, Sezer's subsequent conversion making the deficit a manageable 10 points at the break.

It wasn't a night without some nervous moments for Rabbitohs coach Michael Maguire, with Reynolds having to leave the field with concussion in the 52nd minute and battling a back injury, and Inglis looking troubled by a leg injury throughout proceedings.

The Titans must now pick themselves up for a showdown with Brisbane at Suncorp Stadium next Friday night which will take on extra significance with the gruelling Origin period looming large on the horizon.

South Sydney Rabbitohs 40 (Dylan Walker 4, Alex Johnston 2, Kirisome Auva'a tries; Bryson Goodwin 4, Adam Reynolds 2 goals) defeated Gold Coast Titans 18 (Anthony Don 2, Dave Taylor tries; Aidan Sezer 3 goals) at Cbus Super Stadium. Crowd: 19,107. Half-time: Rabbitohs 22-12.

http://www.nrl.com/

[GCT_89]

We have never played as well as the Rabbitohs did tonight....ever
They are a force to be reckoned with....

Bring on next week, I hope Carty and the boys took some notes tonight....

[TITAN PETE]

Pathetic effort again & it shows we are a longway behind the likes of Souths,Rooters & Manly, our attack is easily the worst in the NRL, never looked like scoring in the 2nd half , 5/8 is a worry Sezar is very predictable & offers almost nothing.

Next Friday we have the Donkeys without Bird he will get a minimum of 1 week but I think Carter will get his 1st chance of a starting spot & he was missed tonight.

Zillman & Srama looked well short of a run.

Don,Ioane & Taylor were our best.

[Mexican titan]

Pathetic effort again & it shows we are a longway behind the likes of Souths,Rooters & Manly, our attack is easily the worst in the NRL, never looked like scoring in the 2nd half , 5/8 is a worry Sezar is very predictable & offers almost nothing.

Next Friday we have the Donkeys without Bird he will get a minimum of 1 week but I think Carter will get his 1st chance of a starting spot & he was missed tonight.

Zillman & Srama looked well short of a run.

Don,Ioane & Taylor were our best.

I think Bird was at the minor end and unless he has carryovers I hope he might be ok. But to the game and after just watching Manly blow a two try lead against the Storm with less than 10 to go my mood is not good, although Manly's spirit with all the players out is something few clubs have.
I think Pete's summary above covers it a nd everyone else who has commented about the Titans attack, or lack of it, is spot on. However it is what most of us have been saying for a while. This game just showed how far we are below the top group of sides and tonight showed that we were false leaders.
I am over reading about how we are tops for offloads blah blah but prior to tonight we were ranked 13th for points scored. Stats can be twisted to read anyway - a few years back Souths topped the completion rate but they came nearly last because even though they completed sets they did FA with the ball. I cannot understand therefore why the Titans do not have the highest completion rate!
Other than Taylor and Don there were no positives. I know on Forums it is poor protocol to type in BLOCK letters as it means you are yelling. So I will not type in block letters that Sezer must go. He is slow, cannot direct the team and other than goal kicking offers little.
Grrrrr!

[Bayside Titan]

To me it was the Titans of old. We lacked motivation , enthusiasm and respect. We looked disinterested and a
Team playing on one leg. Game plan what game plan? To me it was crap.

We have been lucky up to now and the Bunnies really pulled our pants down. Also looked like that somebody did the math last night and said if we loose the worst we will end up is 3rd on the ladder. Ione , Taylor and Don were the only ones that had a dig the rest were passengers. Zilly. Didn't even notice that he was on the field so his jersey won't need a wash this week. Maybe just a spray with some deoderant to freshen it up. If we play like this the next two weeks we will have some more pain come our way against the Broncos and Storm.

Poor performances like that will well and truly hamper or crowd numbers going forward. Why watch us get flogged at home when they can go and watch the Suns win.

[Nick]

I actually thought Srama produced much better service than Falloon, I have always thought this. Srama seems he needs a few more games under his belt but I have him ahead of Falloon in hooker. Zilly was next to useless out there, his defence the real low light along with many others tonight just ball watching rather than wrapping up Souffs offloads. We were made to look very poor out there and almost set some new records for missed tackles!

[Titanic]

Henry to 7, Kelly to 6

[teke]

You can highlight this person played bad that person played bad but when u have Ben Ikin chuckling before the game about the Titans woeful attack there is only one direction the finger should be at.

[Mexican titan]

You can highlight this person played bad that person played bad but when u have Ben Ikin chuckling before the game about the Titans woeful attack there is only one direction the finger should be at.

I think we know who that is. The one problem with our easy draw to start the season and us getting results that hid the real problems, is that the coach will survive - again. We may hover around the top 8 for most of the season and get a few ugly wins but the team playing the way they are is no threat to anyone.

[C-Whiz]

Missed tackles, simple as that.

Forget everything else that happened last night, and if we missed only HALF the amount we missed then it would have been a close game. Nothing else other than attitude tonight. Sure our attack was the typical useless, flat, uninspired crap we are renowned for, but this was a game to be won on aggression, attitude and defence. We leaked tackles, which lead to offloads, which led to line breaks which lead to points. Lots of them.

I don't know what happened by who exactly, I will watch the replay, but clearly it was just a lack of mongrel in the defensive line. They just smashed through us. We were embarrassed by them.

[Toads]

No point commenting about the game, I just want to know if they at least hung around and greeted the Fans, post match?

Hopefully that wasn't a half-ar$ed effort as well.

P.S. I'm tipping Taylor to get a Origin recall this year.

[TITAN PETE]

Missed tackles, simple as that.

Forget everything else that happened last night, and if we missed only HALF the amount we missed then it would have been a close game. Nothing else other than attitude tonight. Sure our attack was the typical useless, flat, uninspired crap we are renowned for, but this was a game to be won on aggression, attitude and defence. We leaked tackles, which lead to offloads, which led to line breaks which lead to points. Lots of them.

I don't know what happened by who exactly, I will watch the replay, but clearly it was just a lack of mongrel in the defensive line. They just smashed through us. We were embarrassed by them.

Come on Souths missed 4 tackles too we only had 40 missed , can't blames Zillman he only missed 4 but he did make 2 tackles throughout the 80 while his opposed number scored 4 try's

[Titanic]

I just refuse to comment on the game after watching the replay because nobody's opinion means anything to the people who matter in this … the players, the selectors and the coaching staff were equally responsible … Stuart may apologise but our Cartwright needs to take a good long look in the mirror.

[DavidBouveng]

Come on Souths missed 4 tackles too we only had 40 missed , can't blames Zillman he only missed 4 but he did make 2 tackles throughout the 80 while his opposed number scored 4 try's

he could have had 6 or 7 tries if not for some video ref calls.

I think Zill cleary needed a catch up game for burleigh before marking one of the quickest and sharpest 19 year olds ive ever seen.

Think James got the burgess guys fired up then didnt show up for the fight he called, and they just smashed us. Douglas made a huge difference when he came on. not saying we win, but i think the game wouldnt have been over after 15 minutes if he had have started.

Taylor is surely our second best player after Bird this year, and over last month its probably him and Mead (not a game for Mead to shine last night) who have led the way.