Round 20: TITANS vs RAIDERS (2022)

[Whats Doing]

NZF there has been thousands of junior representatives that have been unable to push thru to the adult game.
IMO Sexton's main attribute is kicking but I'd suggest this is still only of average quality.
I'll tell you now if he is seen as our future 7 we are royally f@cked.

Agree that being an Australian Schoolboy does not guarantee you success. Have a look on Wikipedia which lists every Australian Schoolboy since 1972 and the majority do not make it to any real degree of real success.

 

[Titanic]

In the half’s you need speed: in your feet, in your hands and between the ears. I won’t insult Sexton about the third point but he certainly doesn’t have the first two. Walking around like a puffed up rooster when you’re a lame duck doesn’t help. I never thought I’d say this but perhaps we should buy Brooks now.

 

[RavShamrock]

At the right price T I'd be in on that but I doubt the new regime will want him gone

 

[T0ken]

Agree. He’s having a dig at the player that are not having a dig was the way I see it.

There’s been fractures in the dressing room since Wallace left for the dolphins. We just sacked the other locker room problem. Tino just calling the cats who are kicking stones and trying to live in a pre Holbrook world when they thought they were good

Sami / Kelly / Liu all should be on notice as well imo

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Holbrook brings out the same old excuses. Sorry but woulda, coulda and shoulda don’t win NRL games.

Why can Kimmorley galvanise his players to bring enthusiasm and effort to knock over the Broncos and should have beaten the Cows where our excuse of a coach cannot get any effort or desire out of our players to even be competitive in a game. There was no effort to get off our defensive line, no effort to put pressure on their kicker and no effort to chase our kicks where the Raiders kick returns were twice as much as the Titans.

Unless our players show commitment to the effort areas in the defensive parts of the game, it does not matter who plays in what position in the team as the team just won’t be competitive in any game. Holbrook has shown he does not possess the ability to galvanise commitment or effort from the players.

Holbrook talks about inexperience in his squad but all I see is an inexperience NRL coach who thinks he is playing chess with his constant changes of players during the game. 3 hookers used, swapping edge forwards around, moving your fullback to 5/8. It is just a recipe for disaster as their is no continuity for players to gel.

Holbrook has been a failure in so many areas including selections, recruitment, accepting poor performance through continued selection of poor performing players, non recognition that you need a good 7 to steer your team, lack of ability to get players to put in effort in the basic effort areas of the game.

There is something rotten throughout this club but if the coach cannot get the basics right, he needs to accept that he is out of his depth at the NRL level and it is time for the club to act and move in another direction with an experienced NRL coach with proven results.

I have a view that the Board, being inexperienced in Rugby league, rely heavily on the advice of Mal who himself was a complete failure as a club coach and who was the principal supporter of hiring Holbrook in the first place. He would be very reluctant to admit he was wrong.

Besides Holbrook’s unsuitability as the Titans coach, I see Mal’s position in the club as one of the biggest problems who has not improved performance or culture in his 4 years at the club and who needs to be moved on and replaced by a proven performer at NRL club level.

I am far more inclined to think the real problems are deeper than just a coach who lets be real here, we knew would take time to adjust to our turbulent situation. He was the right correction from the dictatorship style of Brennan but he does need help bringing a harder edge and speaking up for himself and the front office also need to shut up

Dennis Watt told the world sexton would be our halfback on a radio interview, not Holbrook. Mal pushed the titans to go above and hit the 1.25m for Fifita, not Holbrook. The retention and development committee needs a look at too

Holbrook cops the most of the public brunt’s and media mud but he’s shielding a cluster**** of a front office from what I’ve heard and we need to address that too or risk our juniors and their families pulling away from us again

 

[gotitans101_]

In the half’s you need speed: in your feet feet, in your hands and between the ears. I won’t insult Sexton about the third point but he certainly doesn’t have the first two. Walking around like a puffed up rooster when you’re a lame duck doesn’t help. I never thought I’d say this but perhaps we should buy Brooks now.

oh dear god no.

 

[Titanic]

oh dear god no.

I’m horrified, I thought you’d relish the opportunity to create another voodoo doll

 

[MaroonTitan]

A few observations from the 40m line yesterday:
- Booth played less than a half of footy. Any ideas why?
- We then had both Boyd and Clarke at 9. Why?
- The second rowers switched back to their preferred sides at half time. What was that switch beforehand all about?
- JC has errors when he tries to make things happen but eventually, he makes it happen. Too good not to start.
- Herby's stats were better than Herby looked. Would Marzhew have run 180m in that game?
- Our downtowns were terrible. Not a decent one all game. Not nearly enough hangtime on our kicks and our chase is poor.
- Would Alick give us a nice bit of youthful enthusiasm off the bench?
- BK looked ok but what about next week and the week after? Why switch a left edge that seemed to be working?
- Toby is a defensive liability. Even opposition wingers are taking advantage of him at A defender.
- Is our coach second guessing himself?

 

[Hail Sezer]

A few observations from the 40m line yesterday:
- Toby is a defensive liability. Even opposition wingers are taking advantage of him at A defender.

This is very true and IMO part of the reason our right edge is constantly getting pummelled. He's so slow to move across and cover space at 3 or 4 man that the rest of the edge is late to move, moving backwards, or already beaten and the centre/winger has to diagnose early and try to shut it down. Either the system needs to change or they need a backrower + centre who's going to compensate but that shouldn't really be necessary.

Good post MaroonTitan and I think all your observations raise some good questions

 

[MaroonTitan]

Thanks HS. You're a well respected 'Voice of Reason' on here, so it's reassuring that I'm not just 'seeing things'. You don't have to be crazy to be a Titans fan but it helps.

One of the most underrated traits of modern halves, is their communication skill in D. If the half has the respect of the team, he can marshal his edge in D. If he's not, the fullback has to do it all. I think our talk in D has let us down all year. A lot of our edge issues are coming from inside out but the edges get the blame. I've always thought it's up to the halves to get their numbers right and keep talking to their insides and outsides to keep it tight. It's a part of Toby's game I'd love to see him develop.

Hopefully Foran will bring that and to start the year defending well, maybe AJ is our only other talker in D, who could play 6. I'd prefer to see AJ in the centres to start 2023 but if our halves aren't talking, changing centres won't be the silver bullet. Maybe Tannah's talk in D is ok?

 

[JunctionBlock]

Had to watch a replay as I was at a wedding Saturday. We didn't look as bad as we have. We tended to force a few things that caused issues and in turn let points in. Fermor combining with JC was great to see. Defence is what is killing us and like the rest of you I can't work out why our outside backs are being played where they are or why they are being chosen in the first place.

I shuddered when Holbrook said "Foran can't get here fast enough" I hope we aren't pinning our hopes on him. Scary thought

 

[Whats Doing]

Agree with HS and MaroonT on the defensive frailities of Sexton. One thing you cannot coach is speed which is a critical criteria for a half and that is why IMO he has such a low ceiling.

He will always get exposed for pace where there is room to move and the attacker has speed and footwork which is often the case out wide. Also if the centre decides to jam in, the half is required to cover his space and if he doesnt have the pace, he will be brutally exposed.

In attack, defenders are laying off him and picking off the support players knowing that if they make a mistake, his slow pace is very easliy covered from the inside defenders.

He would be much slower than Fogerty who was no speed merchant himself and I just dont understand why, although I have no problems in signing him for depth, we would sign him on huge money (23/24) when the physical deficiencies were obvious but the titans are known for paying overs and we fail to learn from our mistakes.