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2024 End of Season Discussion/Post Mortem

Cowabunga

Cowabunga

Rep Player
Thought I'd steal 5YC's and Birdmans posts from last year. Let's hear everyones feelings on the season and an overall grading from F to A, There's some questions from 5YCs last year to use if you want but also talk about anything and everything involving the club because I know everyone has a lot of different issues on team selection/squad/coaching/front office changes you'd like to see so let's hear it.

Favourite Moment:
Worst Moment:
Best Player:
Most Disappointing Player/s:
Most Surprising Player/s:
Team changes for 2025:
What went wrong this season:
Will we need to do to be better at in 2025:
 
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Favourite Moment: Sammy V's tackle on Feldt after mass injuries and an intense final 10 minutes of D to secure our second win of the season. The sheer jubilation from every player was great to see.
Worst Moment: Tino's ACL
Best Player: Jojo
Most Disappointing Player/s: Iszac
Most Surprising Player/s: Erin Clark
Team changes for 2025: The lack of size in our pack is overstated and was only a major issue because we lost Tino. That said, another big body like RCG, Welch, or an Eisenhuth would add value to the roster. In the backs, BK has to go, but I get the sense that Des likes him for some reason. I'm leaning towards keeping Beau at right centre and playing Randy at second row purely for defense. That boy is one of the best defenders we've ever had and could lock down an edge despite his size, though I acknowledge he adds very little in attack. JC looked like the second coming in that Warriors game but then went to mud. That left edge became completely dysfunctional and Dave/Lofi saw very little ball in the final month of the season. No idea what to do with him but unless he develops big time as a 6 in the off season I feel like his days as a Titan are numbered as CG will eat his lunch.
What went wrong this season: New systems, attitude adjustments, Billy Slater psyching out DF, lack of on-field leadership, Foz having to provide all of the creative spark on his lonesome, BK's idiocy.
Will we need to do to be better at in 2025: I think we're on the right track and can see us finishing somewhere between 9-12 in 2025 if we can keep building on the things we did well in the middle portion of this season. We showed that we have the defensive grit in us at times and that we can come back from a half time deficit whereas in the past we just didn't have the mental resilience. Just need to do it consistently now and fix up some roster issues for a run at the top 8 (dare I say top 4?) in 2026.
 
Favourite Moment: The second half comeback against the Broncos at CBus
Worst Moment: Every team list Tuesday the last month of the season when Kelly was named again at left centre
Best Player: Keano Kini - honourable mention Chris Randall & Jojo
Most Disappointing Player/s: Brian Kelly/Pillowsia tie
Most Surprising Player/s: Erin Clark (I'm a Kini truther)
Team changes for 2025: Some decent middles and a decent left centre - but there's not much out there :(
What went wrong this season: The middle got rolled most weeks and poor defensive decisions on the edges - Take some pride in the defensive side of the ball FFS!
Will we need to do to be better at in 2025: Same as every year. Don't quit during the tough periods of the game and win the tackle.

I rate our season a solid D+. Poor to very poor with just enough flashes to keep a sucker for punishment like me watching in 2025.

This will be a controversial take but I don't think Fifita can be a starting edge forward in the NRL if he continues to defend so poorly. Bench impact player only if he's going to be responsible for a ton of quick PTB's conceded and poor marker play. You CAN'T have a speed bump defending there - it's non negotiable. It's a shame he didn't stick with the Roosters is my honest opinion based off the second half of the year.
 
With all due respect, stating that we are on the right track to finish 9-12 IMO is another season of failure. Finishing outside the top 8 is a season of failure.

The club should be looking at what changes in our squad do we need to make this year to finish in the top 8 in 2025 and then top 4 for 2026.

All teams plan to be involved in the finals each and every year and as our club has only reached the finals twice since 2011, a line in the sand needs to be drawn now.

The club has delivered the right coach IMO who has now observed the squad for 12 months, it is now time for recruitment to deliver the right squad which will require getting about 2 NRL quality players one of which must be a prop with strategic mid tier players to fill the gaps.

No more excuses, no more we are a young side, no more we still building the team. It is now time to deliver results and taken the necessary required action in recruitment to have this team make the finals in 2025 and be premiership competitive each snd every year.
 
Favourite Moment: Tom Weaver's heroic tackle on Corey Oates in the dying stages of the Battle at Suncorp. It's probably actually my favourite Titans moment ever honestly, I hope Tommy has a long footy career wherever he goes, and I will never ever forget that moment.
Worst Moment: Brian Kelly in general or maybe that Wests game we lost.
Best Player: Jojo. Big honorable mentions to Randall, Kini and Beau Fermor.
Most Disappointing Player/s: Keenan Palasia. Sneaky sneaky shout to Phillip Sami, who was just injured most of the season.
Most Surprising Player/s: Maybe Kini?? Way better than I expected and i've always been a fan. Jojo absolutely no surprise for me, he's playing for QLD next year. Pahulu went well enough.
Team changes for 2025: Get some huge units in there, guys that just work hard, and send Brian Kelly into outer space.
What went wrong this season: Bad middles and couldn't quite figure out how to use some of our players.
Will we need to do to be better at in 2025: Not spend all of our perfect defensive and attacking strength on our Broncos & Warriors matchups.
 
If my company was judged as a C- I would sack the bloody lot of them, starting with myself.

I have faith in Hasler and the following players: Tino, Jojo, Kini, Fermor, JJ, Randall, Mo and Difita.
I am prepared to give the following players another run: Pahulu, JC, AKP, Weaver, Foz, Palasia and AJ.
I have expectations from: Hau, CG, JDG and Francis.
I would axe these guys to QCup or release immediately: Haas, Sami, BK, Boyd, HSS, Izsac, Maumalo, and Verrills.
We desperately need: an elite middle and a right edge forward.
My ideal half's by Round 3 ... CG/Foz and by Round 10 CG/Weaver. I am very tired of trying to put square pegs in round holes.

Summary, why are we so poor: we never dominate the tackle and we never dominate the play the ball in attack. A small hearted middle can't defend against anybody and a team of entertainers (AKP, JC, Kini, AJ) who can't get on the back of a quick play the ball and good delivery are cannon fodder for any opposition's defence.
 
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I'd probably go C-.

Favourite Moment: Cowboys win and the big victories.
Worst Moment: Bulldogs Round 3 - Not only Tino going down but one of the flattest performances I can ever remember, We've played bad A LOT but I can't remember looking so so out of our depth in every way and it was one of the worst days I can remember as a fan. Sharks second game second.
Best Player: JJ stepped up before his pec, Foz is still our toughest player and wound back the clock, Clark was our most consistent forward, Jojos jump and Kini. AJ was one of the best players in the comp for about 4 weeks for his 4 week healthy spell and Randy never lets us down.
Most Disappointing Player/s: Considering where the level he's shown and being in origin this year, I thought Moe was really poor and on stats it's his worst year since his debut year, When we needed him most I think he kind of went missing, I only really remember one good game from him and it was the Dolphins second one. Obvious candidates would be Keenan and BK but that seems to easy, Dave was shocking the last 2 months.
Most Surprising Player/s: Fermor at centre or just on the right side, once he moved he seemed defensively way more solid.
Team changes for 2025: Left centre, Right centre figured out and the spine settled.
What went wrong this season: All new systems and workloads most of the team would've never had to deal with, Some very bad players and some of the same errors from previous years.

Will we need to do to be better in 2025:

For me it's a majority of the time the same culprits always letting the team down rather then previously with the whole team lacking defensively and it's up to Des to get them out of the 17 week to week. Lofi and BK average 1.4 and 1.5 errors a game each and rarely were they errors that didn't haunt us in the back field, First 10 weeks Fermor struggled then Dave decided to go on holiday early with JC next to him not helping in anyway.

Hot take - If CG or whoever hopefully does replace BK and defend just at an average level, We'll be a top 8 team, The middle/forward depth is just a bonus and makes us better
 
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Favourite Moment: Weaver’s tackle on Oates at Suncorp
Worst Moment: Sharks Rd23. Just when you think we have finally clicked. 0-44
Best Player: Randall just shadows JoJo
Dissapointing Player: Lui or Palasia. AJ as a centre.
Most suprising player: Foz, I thought he was gone last year.
Team Changes: Would love a creative dummy half. More form related selections.
What went wrong: we looked tired for the first month, I think Des’s pre season took its toll first up. The AJ experiment failing put the combinations back a bit. Mid season Fifita fiasco was an awful distraction.
What we need to do better in 2025: Bench performance, The AJ, JC, CG and Kini positions sorted early.
 
Whats Doing said:
With all due respect, stating that we are on the right track to finish 9-12 IMO is another season of failure. Finishing outside the top 8 is a season of failure.

The club should be looking at what changes in our squad do we need to make this year to finish in the top 8 in 2025 and then top 4 for 2026.

All teams plan to be involved in the finals each and every year and as our club has only reached the finals twice since 2011, a line in the sand needs to be drawn now.

The club has delivered the right coach IMO who has now observed the squad for 12 months, it is now time for recruitment to deliver the right squad which will require getting about 2 NRL quality players one of which must be a prop with strategic mid tier players to fill the gaps.

No more excuses, no more we are a young side, no more we still building the team. It is now time to deliver results and taken the necessary required action in recruitment to have this team make the finals in 2025 and be premiership competitive each snd every year.
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Except nobody said 9-12 is success. It’s just realistic based on what we saw this year. Rome wasn’t built in a day and if you try to force success in one pre-season then we risk slipping even lower than 14th.
 
GC Giant said:
Favourite Moment: Weaver’s tackle on Oates at Suncorp
Worst Moment: Sharks Rd23. Just when you think we have finally clicked. 0-44
Best Player: Randall just shadows JoJo
Dissapointing Player: Lui or Palasia. AJ as a centre.
Most suprising player: Foz, I thought he was gone last year.
Team Changes: Would love a creative dummy half. More form related selections.
What went wrong: we looked tired for the first month, I think Des’s pre season took its toll first up. The AJ experiment failing put the combinations back a bit. Mid season Fifita fiasco was an awful distraction.
What we need to do better in 2025: Bench performance, The AJ, JC, CG and Kini positions sorted early.
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Verrills is a creative dummy half, but that side can’t show when he’s making 50-60 tackles per game. It’s just how Des has always played his hookers and I called it when we first signed Des. I’m honestly surprised Verrills made it through the season.
 
willhelm said:
Except nobody said 9-12 is success. It’s just realistic based on what we saw this year. Rome wasn’t built in a day and if you try to force success in one pre-season then we risk slipping even lower than 14th.
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Have to disagree with you there Willy. If coming 9-12 is seen as being realistic, then we are accepting failure. Any season not making the finals is a failure.,Des and the recruitment team have set their benchmark this year and they need to recruit in the quality and positions they see fit in order to make the finals. That is what they are being paid to do.

Des was bought here and being paid to deliver success and he has had 12 months to know who and what he needs to bring success. This is not a shot at Des, but an expectation on his and the recruitment staffs performance outcomes .

IMO There should be an expectation that anything other than a finals position next year should be seen as a failure.
 
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Whats Doing said:
Have to disagree with you there Willy. If coming 9-12 is seen as being realistic, then we are accepting failure. Any season not making the finals is a failure.,Des and the recruitment team have set their benchmark this year and they need to recruit in the quality and positions they see fit in order to make the finals. That is what they are being paid to do.

Des was bought here and being paid to deliver success and he has had 12 months to know who and what he needs to bring success. This is not a shot at Des, but an expectation on his and the recruitment staffs performance outcomes .

IMO There should be an expectation that anything other than a finals position next year should be seen as a failure.
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Only if I’d be happy with forever coming 9-12. In 2025, it’s a realistic improvement. In 2026, it’s failure.
 
Favourite Moment: As good as the 2 wins over the broncos are and they are nearly some of my favourite wins as a titans fan I would have to say our dolphins win for the sole fact it was redemption after the worst capitulation loss we have ever had and the robberies of the other losses to them.
Worst Moment: Loss to the tigers. We should or put 50 of them but blew every opportunity through dumb play.
Best Player: Kini! An absolute superstar in the making and special shout out to JoJos end of season form.
Dissapointing Player: To me Liu, Palasia, Kelly were to be expected. I would say Fifita. While he had a bit of form coming into origin he did not perform like a player on a superstar contract.
Most suprising player: Kini. After his debut I was pretty so so on him but he just took it to another level.
Team Changes: Need to move on from Foz at 7. I like him but it’s time to pass the torch. Need to find away to have Kini, AJ, JC and CG all on the field at once. Need some big body forwards and solve our centre issues.
What went wrong: Putrid start to the season, Tino going down, poor player rotations but honestly the bunker/refs fucked us out of 5 wins that would have seen us maybe sneak into the finals. End of season was the same old titans we have seen for years now.
What we need to do better in 2025: Best players in best position, have a bench that actually comes in and makes and impact. Have a half who can utilise attacking kicks when you have JoJo/Don2.0 out there. I’d say higher footy IQ but I’ve been saying that since the Henry days. Hopefully recruit some big body forwards.
 
Favourite Moment: Any Win
Worst Moment: First 6 games to kick the season off
Best Player: Randall, Jojo, Kini, Clark
Dissapointing Player: Lui or Palasia. AJ as a centre.
Most suprising player: Clark
Team Changes: A centre that can tackle and read defence
What went wrong: Injuries
What we need to do better in 2025: Defence and play for 80 minutes stop the lapses of letting in tries in bunches.
 
willhelm said:
Except nobody said 9-12 is success. It’s just realistic based on what we saw this year. Rome wasn’t built in a day and if you try to force success in one pre-season then we risk slipping even lower than 14th.
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The years of mediocrity and poor performances has made you soft Willheim Haha.

I dont accept that after 12 months with the team, that we should be accepting a 9-12 finish as being a realistic expectation based on this years form. We are paying Des (huge money) and recruitment to find the necessary solutions to signiifcantly improve the Titans and make them a finals team (short term objective) and further improve the team to be premiership contenders (longer term objective). That is their role and should be held accountable for.

The issue is what time frame should this be achieved in. IMO the short term objective should be reaching the finals in the 2nd year of coaching. This can be done and we have seen it done this year with Siebold whose 1st year with Manly saw a 12th place finish and in his 2nd year Manly finished 7th. Likewise Ciraldo's 1st year was a 15th place finish and in his 2nd year they finished 6th. What did they do, they recruited wisely with quality and moved players on. They did not sit on their hands and recruit reserve graders hoping that they all turn out diamonds.

The club has been in a rebuilding phase for 10 years now without success. They have brought in a high quality coach in Des who has done a lot of good in setting up the Titans off field in terms of training facilities and hiring of more assistant coaches.

The club should now be having expectations that Des and the recruitment team start delivering on field results in Des second year as Manly and Canterbury has shown it can be done. Anything less than a finals appearance next year should be seen as a failure and not accepting this as a failure just continues to reinforce the widely held view in the press that the Titans are only in the comp to make up the numbers.

Anyway thats enough from me on this subject.
 
willhelm said:
Verrills is a creative dummy half, but that side can’t show when he’s making 50-60 tackles per game. It’s just how Des has always played his hookers and I called it when we first signed Des. I’m honestly surprised Verrills made it through the season.
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Thinking creativity like Api, Grant, Egan.
 
GC Giant said:
Thinking creativity like Api, Grant, Egan.
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Tend to agree with Willheim on this one. I really like Verrills as a dummy half. Granted, he is not the most creative d/h out there but there are some nice subtleties to his game. Issue is that he spends most of the game defending. As noted above, Des loves that in a hooker and doesn’t typically run game plans that require the d/h to be a key creative threat. Our backline certainly doesn’t struggle to score points.

We have had some real bludgers as d/h over the years, if Verrills is given time with a stable spine and a forward pack that isn’t constantly retreating on defence, I reckon he’ll get back to his Roosters form.

Without doing a full break down, the biggest disappointments for me this year has been the instability in the spine and making the same bungled team selections that have been proven to fail in previous seasons.

Sami is not, and will never be, a centre. He has also been overtaken by Jojo starting winger now. Fermor struggled with his transition from left to right - why we keep putting him a centre baffles me, just let him develop. AJ to centre reminds me of the time Holbrook put Fafita at centre because it worked for Talakai. AJ is on record that he wants to play in the spine. We played him a centre so we could start Boyd - that worked well.

Next year I’d like to see us have a proper plan to manage not only the 3 fullback issue, but also life beyond Foran. Time to put AJ in a position and leave him there for good.

If it was me I’d be playing AJ at 6, JC at 1 and Kini from the bench, with the intention of moving JC to 7 the following year. CG to cover halves where injury occurs. Kini obviously covers fullback at takes jersey from 2026. Kini could alternatively play wing if either Lofi or Jojo go down, just as the Storm do with Faalogo. If Des can’t make it work early, I’d be happy with looking for trade to strengthen other positions.

Something has got to change in the forwards. We don’t have any leaders. The willingness to give up on plays and take shortcuts is something that has plagued us for years. While it was still another year of growth, it’s hard to see where the toughness is going to come from (except Tino)..
 
Favourite Moment: 2nd half v Broncos
Worst Moment: Cronulla 44-0 next game or Brimo's "I'm too good for centre" schtick.
Best Player: Kini (special mentions: Randy, Jojo, Clark)
Dissapointing Player: AJ and his attitude to centre/team.
Most suprising player: Kini
Team Changes: No BK. A good D-reader inside Lofi.
What went wrong: Big heads after the Broncos game. No accountability in team selections. Bench rotations.
What we need to do better in 2025: Tackle efficiently, read when to jam in, use our bench efficiently, kick better in every way, more supports, ask more questions of their defence, better offload choices, linespeed for 80, end of sets, organising edges in D, work harder from the inside for 80, stronger carries, quick PTBs (forget about the Refs DF - they hate us), I could go on.

Also, top 10 is a pass mark for me next year WD, so I understand where Willy is coming from. It's a bit of realism. Obviously (channelling Mal there), if we were talking to the players it would be Top 6 as a goal early in the year with a limit of top 8 but this is just between us. Getting beaten that first week of finals or just missing is pretty similar. Sign up some gun recruits and I'll convert to top 8 or die but our roster so far says top 10 if we're decent. I mean, show me a centre - just one. After that, a kicking game.

It'll be about where we are in 2026 and Top 8 will be that year and every year after. I'll be hoping top 6 in 2026 and going deep. Top 4 the following year and a GF. Des can do it if the players are rock solid (and BK as players' player and AJ's attitude doesn't suggest this lot are).

I think one of the reasons I've been so bummed out this time of year (each year) is because I've had expectations too high for what is really there. I'm a slow learner but I'm expecting much better next year just like every club. Only recruitment can lift my hopes from a top 10 spot. Show me a centre!!!
 
NZFan said:
Tend to agree with Willheim on this one. I really like Verrills as a dummy half. Granted, he is not the most creative d/h out there but there are some nice subtleties to his game. Issue is that he spends most of the game defending. As noted above, Des loves that in a hooker and doesn’t typically run game plans that require the d/h to be a key creative threat. Our backline certainly doesn’t struggle to score points.

We have had some real bludgers as d/h over the years, if Verrills is given time with a stable spine and a forward pack that isn’t constantly retreating on defence, I reckon he’ll get back to his Roosters form.

Without doing a full break down, the biggest disappointments for me this year has been the instability in the spine and making the same bungled team selections that have been proven to fail in previous seasons.

Sami is not, and will never be, a centre. He has also been overtaken by Jojo starting winger now. Fermor struggled with his transition from left to right - why we keep putting him a centre baffles me, just let him develop. AJ to centre reminds me of the time Holbrook put Fafita at centre because it worked for Talakai. AJ is on record that he wants to play in the spine. We played him a centre so we could start Boyd - that worked well.

Next year I’d like to see us have a proper plan to manage not only the 3 fullback issue, but also life beyond Foran. Time to put AJ in a position and leave him there for good.

If it was me I’d be playing AJ at 6, JC at 1 and Kini from the bench, with the intention of moving JC to 7 the following year. CG to cover halves where injury occurs. Kini obviously covers fullback at takes jersey from 2026. Kini could alternatively play wing if either Lofi or Jojo go down, just as the Storm do with Faalogo. If Des can’t make it work early, I’d be happy with looking for trade to strengthen other positions.

Something has got to change in the forwards. We don’t have any leaders. The willingness to give up on plays and take shortcuts is something that has plagued us for years. While it was still another year of growth, it’s hard to see where the toughness is going to come from (except Tino)..
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I hear ya NZF but how is JC gonna learn 7 from 1? He showed that he needs to learn how to use the players outside him in A and how to organise them in D. He's not going to learn that at the back. Besides, Kini is better and getting better every second. Why hold him back?

If AJ's attitude to the team is good enough and he develops a kicking game, then 6 is his spot unless CG comes along but he might also be a 7 and they might end up good together in the halves. The future is cloudy. What do I know?
 
MaroonTitan said:
I hear ya NZF but how is JC gonna learn 7 from 1? He showed that he needs to learn how to use the players outside him in A and how to organise them in D. He's not going to learn that at the back. Besides, Kini is better and getting better every second. Why hold him back?

If AJ's attitude to the team is good enough and he develops a kicking game, then 6 is his spot unless CG comes along but he might also be a 7 and they might end up good together in the halves. The future is cloudy. What do I know?
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Yeah it’s a fair point and maybe he makes that transition to 7 later in the season. JC is best when his hands are on the ball. I don’t think he’ll ever be a 6 for that reason. Not only that but he absolutely killed Fafita’s game playing inside him. DF needs some stability at 6. Hes had far two many seasons either being moved from left to right or with different halves.

AJ is a left foot kicker, a natural attacker down the left side, a bigger body in defence and played 6 all through his junior years. He’s also a leader now so I’d like him to take some responsibility rather than waiting for the game to come to him at FB.

I don’t doubt that Kini is up to the task at 1 but he’s got so many years ahead of him. One year of playing interchange/wing wouldn’t hurt his progress. I realise that in a perfect world it shouldn’t count for anything but both JC and AJ are important to our DNA (for different reasons). We need to build an identity for us to be successful long term and for that reason I think we have to prioritise keeping those two in the team.
 
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