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Pre-Season Challenge 2025 DOLPHINS vs TITANS Match Thread.

The consistent sign from both weeks is the edge defence looks actually competent compared to last year. Sami looks like he's really worked on his body to be a centre, might not have the explosiveness but he looks bigger in the shoulders so his defence is better which contact for him has always been a big issue. I don't think I've ever seen him read games as well as the last 2 weeks, His contact has been night and day imo so far, If that continues that is a massive bonus to the team.

It was hard to get a tell before seeing him again on the field but how good does Tino look physically???? He got bigger last year but for some reason this year it looks more suited gaining all the weight. Think it will take him 8/10 rounds to get fully up to Tino level but he'll still give us very good minutes.
 
Great game, I expected a bounce back from last week, but wow...

Really impressed with the lads.

I'm one of Kelly's biggest haters but I honestly thought he went alright. Seems to be really hitting in defence, and his attack is solid with his leg drive...the offloads will come as he always does.

Sami was solid too, really made great defensive decisions and when he hit, he hit and drove. Wingers seemed well connected to their centre parters aswell.

Not seeing fifi lying through the ruck once a set was refreshing also. Can we expect him coming off the bench or was des just putting a rocket up him for this game?

Watched it with one of a mate who's a broncos tragic and he was blown away by how exciting it was between jc, aj and kini. If we can not get blown off the park early, and get some above average go forward, they could light the comp up and really bring eyes to our games.

Tino mentioned des blew up after last week and it is good to see the boys responded.

Hopefully the positive feelings remain throughout the group, and they can start strong this season.

I will mention though, I think JC missed atleast 3 kicks i saw. I fear that'll hurt us in those closers games. Not forgetting the feeling that we lost a good 3 or 4 games last season by less than 4 points
 
In hindsight, the early work by the pack gave us a platform although Mo needs to compete every week … Des has some decisions to make but that starting pack allows a bench of Randall, Difita, RCG and Pahulu where we lose next to nothing in rotation. Haas and Gray should keep each other honest.

Sami and Jojo look to have the right locked down but I’m not sold on Francis or Fitzgibbon so AKP and BK probably have the inside running while De Groot can be considered unlucky.

I didn’t have Foz in my best 17 so I hope he’s ok and as mentioned he’ll be handy depth and coach.
 
Pahulu could be an option over Moe?? I trust Pahulu more in a late game situation defensively already.

I feel like Moe is a bench prop we've tried to make into a 60 min+ starter and even if we're paying him big it shouldn't mean big minutes, Play him where he's most useful and that's off the bench imo and straight up against weaker props and let him dominate in that middle period then bring the big boys in to finish the job..

Moe is a bench prop which might be the most important spots in the team to re-set the tone, Moe can't really do it against the best props but him at 40/45 mins of destruction is much better then 60 mins of missing assignments and giving penalties.

He also looks thicker so I wonder with RCG looking skinnier if that's the plan.
 
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One thing about Verrills for all the dislike he seems to get which I personally don't really get at all... He's a lot better then at least 4 starters imo and I thought his passing looked way crisper remembering he's had massive collarbone problems and he finally has a year under his belt of fully first grade and when he played with Tino had 4/5 try assists purely to him. He's 26 and hitting his prime but still hasn't played 100 games, He's a pretty big body for a 9 and has more in attack then we've seen.

He gets blamed for a lot of stuff but imo when watching him it's similar to Randy, To me Verrills issues are because he works himself to a standstill because he's put effort into every tackle around the ruck and constantly making 2/3 efforts in every set and on the fourth when he's going back or at marker he gets let down like Moe for example tonight which happens every single game and it's not really Verrills fault.

He has a different style of tackling getting under the ball and holding up where as Randy cuts down low, One looks more effective but it Verrills is just as handy imo, A lot of our best moments last year came of the back of him and Randy just being Jack Terriers on defence, They lead the line speed.

The way he gets talked about seems as if there's a picking of great 9s to choose from... I love Randy, Verrills is a better 9.
 
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Verrills is no doubt the better 9 and, like all of the spine, he needs the pack to be going forward while Randall is a small utility forward. Mo doesn’t do it for me either but as we saw today Pahulu is still very green and most effective off the bench. I think JJ and RCG need to be tag partners. Must admit I liked Brock Gray’s effort too.
 
A lot of the stuff that negatively gets mentioned about him I do wonder if anyone is seeing the set in context, He does have a few times down but he's also usually made 20 tackles 10 mins in covering. I know stats aren't everything like has been said but they all meet in the middle.

I disagree completely with the bad defense stuff around Verrills and think he's one of the better defenders with not much back up which is really being ignored, With better defensive props and some size around him like Tino and RCG behind him it's a world apart of JJ and Moe besides you as your best props, Our best props last year were basically JJ and Clark.. Of course he can't defend with that and everyone else sucking.

I feel Verrills cops blame for things that he's kind of late to and trying to make up for the previous tackles defaults, a lot of them are him getting back to marker after making 2/3 tackles that are good and then either the middles or Fermor or Dave lose the tackle and he has to try and make ammends...

He's so much more defensively sound then is made out imo. I reckon I trust Pahulu if it was crunch time defensively more then Moe tbh... RCG, Tino and Randy can do that though.

Everyone will say go get a 9 without being able to name one who's even close.
 
Homer said:
I know some fans might just see this as a preseason trial but they are very important to see what lineup works best, who to be blunt is not good enough, get our work rate up, etc. I hope that this one goes alright to all the above. Rough league not for the faint of heart and if we want to improve on our position from last season, need to start off quick. I do think we have more than enough talent to avoid the spoon mind but still.

And hey glad to be here! American fan since last season lol. Follow the Suns in the AFL due to a co-worker from the area who also follows the Titans and just went right along with him haha. Kinda hard to watch the games live but can find replays which is cool!
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ONE OF US ONE OF US, Welcome to the mostly unfulfilling but always hopeful life of a Gold Coast Titans and Suns fan.

If you want to watch live and the games are on but late at your time, I've heard apparently you can type in NRL and who ever is playing and on Twitch something might pop up, There's also a couple good oceans to sail for those things and if not "someone" might have ways to search the seas with good streams.

Being a Commanders fan and now supporting the Titans + Suns is either the most sick cruel fate in history or a match made in heaven, Commanders feel pretty similar to us in the last 25 years but more successful but also never living up to it, One simple change in ownership though and a 'decent' rookie changed everything and maybe it's the same for us.

RC3 was the first guy was who made me enjoy watching the NFL with his running game. I reckon there's a bit the NFL could use from league tbh with the side passing, Why not run a block play, Absoluetly no one will be able to defend that with blockers allowed.

The auto correct to Rough for Rugby is quality. Ro
 
Sadly, it seems skysportsnow here in NZ hasn't got the replay up yet, so only had a quick check of the highlights... so from the very limited footage;

- Jojo looks excellent (as usual), and frankly, he's the best outside back in QLD by a mile. If his season goes as planned, he may be in the running for winger of the year, don't expect him to play for QLD as Billy is a clown and will just keep trotting out bad players such as Murray Taulagi and Selwyn Cobbo instead which is great for us!.
- The attacking shape looks waaaaaayyyyy better, wtf, decisive, quick, to the point, slick up the middle, loving it.
- While we're on the topic, the second-phase play + using our forwards to attack more outside-in is a filthy combo that sort of allows the 3 fullback combo to just swarm the center of the park together and someone will break free, happened multiple times tonight and will be just so hard to stop as the season goes on.
- AJ, welcome back, looks great up the middle, JC too looks comfy, exciting times.

Overall, much happier with tonight, and very thankfully Des has an extra week to tinker around. As for Foz, one of the legit great Titans signings as far as value goes, he's been awesome and tough for us, no matter what happens the club needs to keep him around in some capacity.
 
On our OB’s that I was a bit worried about going in -

Agree with some of the comments around Sami here, in the small sample size that is the last 2 weeks his defensive contact has looked improved. He looks stronger and is making better decisions

Jojo is best as a winger and last night showed that again IMO.

Lofi is still our other winger. Tony didn’t take his chance last night and his heavy carries in cup aren’t quite translating yet. Looked to lose some confidence after the dropped ball and was found off the pace of the play on D a bit.

Fitzgibbon has some ability for sure but even in his limited minutes last night he had some really poor effort areas and at times seemed to have lapses (could be due to the pace of NRL). Sounds harsh but that’ll keep him out of top grade in Des world until he sorts it out. There’s a decent NRL player in there if he works on those details.

BK is BK. I’m going to get mad at him every week but he doesn’t lack involvement or physicality. Carried well last night in exit sets.

Think that group is a pretty easy selection piece but from a roster perspective our centres are still a weak spot I think
 
Hail Sezer said:
On our OB’s that I was a bit worried about going in -

Agree with some of the comments around Sami here, in the small sample size that is the last 2 weeks his defensive contact has looked improved. He looks stronger and is making better decisions

Jojo is best as a winger and last night showed that again IMO.

Lofi is still our other winger. Tony didn’t take his chance last night and his heavy carries in cup aren’t quite translating yet. Looked to lose some confidence after the dropped ball and was found off the pace of the play on D a bit.

Fitzgibbon has some ability for sure but even in his limited minutes last night he had some really poor effort areas and at times seemed to have lapses (could be due to the pace of NRL). Sounds harsh but that’ll keep him out of top grade in Des world until he sorts it out. There’s a decent NRL player in there if he works on those details.

BK is BK. I’m going to get mad at him every week but he doesn’t lack involvement or physicality. Carried well last night in exit sets.

Think that group is a pretty easy selection piece but from a roster perspective our centres are still a weak spot I think
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BK is BK. So true. The way I look at is when he first started he would be solid and have one genius play and five to ten brain farts. As we have steadily progressed his genius to brain fart play percentage has steadily improved. We are now down to 1-2 brain farts and 5 genius reads/effort plays/carries etc. I think we need to be resigned to at least one complete cluster **** a game unfortunately.
 
The Dolphins middle was putrid last night. They lost Safiti early to an injury, and never recovered. I will be interested to see how we preform against stronger middles.
 
I scoffed at the idea of moving JC to 7 when someone suggested it last year (Bods I think) but after seeing how they went last night I’m intrigued to see how the fullback zerg rush strategy works out.
 
I just watched the game this morning and I am impressed, only a trial so I don't want to get too excited but man did we play with so much more energy since last week.

- I thought our spine played terrific. Jayden and AJ played great together, they were dynamic playing both sides of the field. Loved watching them both in the kick chases and even putting kicks back on the inside, which the Titans need as we have been very predictable in a lot of recent games.

Cronk raised a good point, that AJ and JC been playing really well because our forwards have put us on the front foot. It will be interesting to see how they handle it when we arent winning the ruck all the time. Good example is Nicho at the Sharks, on the front foot he dominates but when his forwards don't make it down the field he really struggles to create anything. Excited to see that challenge throughout the season, and hope they can adapt.

- What more can I say about Kini, he's an energizer bunny who is always in the right place at the right time, and doesn't shy away into running into a wall of forwards.

- Tinos impact from the very start of the game can be felt. I honestly think his energy taking carries and trying to put a shot on, really sparks the forward pack. It was night and day compared to the energy against the Broncos last week. He is a genuine leader who leads by actions, very excited to see RCG added to the starting line up. It will hive Tino another big body to carry some of that load.

- I didn't even know who Brock Gray was but was thoroughly impressed by his effort. I think if he continues to play like this, he might easily cement a bench spot.

- Was pleased with the effort of our outside backs, in particular Jojo, think he might really have a standout year.

- Beau was great, a lot better than last week. He was running with a purpose but I also liked how he was given early ball with a lead run up off AJ which gave him so much more momentum.

- I am huge Foran fan on and off the field, but I think his injury might be a bit of blessing in disguise. At least this way Des has to stick with AJ and JC in the immediate future. We all know they need reps together before they can properly be judged.

- and finally offloads!! Our team plays so much better when offloading really makes it so hard to defend against our instinctive attacking players (Kini, JC, AJ, Dave, BK). Completely adds another layer of unpredictably into our attack and I think actually compliments our style as a run first team as opposed to structured set plays.

Can't wait for round 2 boys! Great weekend all in all, and in all honesty this trial has got me excited. But can't get too excited just yet, need to see this consistently but pleased after last week.
 
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