Welcome to League of Titans

Round 3: TITANS vs WESTS TIGERS

You jinxed us.

- - - Updated - - -

I'm proud of the effort tonight. To be able to turn around the form from the first 20 mins. I'll have to watch a replay, but I didn't think (after the way the Tigers played last week) we would win this one.
 
Thank God the Tiger forgot how to play like that for the last 60 mins. Teddy is so dangerous and Naiqama has been the happy recipient this season.

- - - Updated - - -

That last try may have been Don's undoing for a spot next week. That was soft.
 
Newcastle did us a real favour with Roberts/T, imho.

Got some revenge on the airport mob here but must point out that the best thing Henry has done in three years is take my comment into the dressing sheds at half time ... I take full responsibility for that win :)

Great win lads!
 
Taylor's plea: Give me the ball
Eighty minutes opposite his idol Cooper Cronk has convinced Titans rookie Ashley Taylor that he needs to get his hands on the ball more often in order to better contribute to his team's performance.

After going head-to-head with the game's master tactician last Sunday, Taylor's assignment on Saturday night against the Wests Tigers is a vastly different one, facing off against fellow 21-year-old Luke Brooks.

Brooks is only three months older than Taylor – who turns 21 on Thursday – but is far more advanced in NRL years, his return from suspension against the Sea Eagles on Monday night his 46th top grade appearance after making his debut in 2013.

In his three career NRL starts Taylor has opposed Cronk and his Melbourne Storm team on two occasions and said the major lesson he took from Sunday's 34-16 defeat was the dominant hand that Cronk plays.

"I've always watched him growing up and idolised him so it's a moment I'll never forget, shaking the hand of the Australian Test No.7 and one of the best halves getting around," Taylor said of his post-game moment with Cronk, an opportunity he missed in Round 26 last year due to his fractured fingers.

"He just gets his hands on the ball a lot more. Obviously with Tyrone [Roberts] he's the senior half and he's trying to get his hands on the ball as much as I am.

"I just noticed a lot that he gets his hands on the ball early catch and always plays his cards right."

Although in running Taylor appeared to be more heavily involved than in Round 1 against the Knights, he in fact only got his hands on the ball one additional time (32) while Roberts' touches against the Storm totalled 59.

After Roberts took almost sole responsibility for the Titans' kicking game in Round 1 (393 kicking metres compared to Taylor's 70m) the duties were more evenly shared against the Storm (221m to 171m).

With three try assists in his first two games for Gold Coast Taylor is also hoping to see a more even share with ball in hand.

"I spoke to Neil (Titans coach Neil Henry) during the week and said that I wanted to get more involved in the game," Taylor told NRL.com.

"[Against the Knights] I didn't get my hands on the ball much so I want to slowly gain more confidence and running shape on our side.

"Obviously we don't get much ball because they tend to favour the right side in pulling shape and stuff so we've got to start calling the ball our way and running shape our side as well.

"I'd love to run the ball more, it's just the last few weeks the conditions haven't been great for the running game. It was raining last week and this week the field was really sandy and couldn't really run the ball.

"There wasn't much grip through the tags and stuff so hopefully this week it's a dry track and I'll be able to run the ball more."

Back-rower Chris McQueen said that like the team as a whole, Taylor's game will continue to develop as the season progresses.

"That's something that we expect from him and as he gets more experience he'll be doing that more and more," McQueen said of his increased involvement.

"As the season goes on he's only going to get better so certainly looking forward to what he is going to bring for us."

--

Should listen to him more often eh
 
John Smith Sith said:
Oh gee what a surprise, our captain subbed in at 24 minutes, wtf is the point in having Nathan Friend on the team if he only plays 25 minutes a game?
Click to expand...

he cant help getting concussed can he?

- - - Updated - - -

just got home. i remember after 20 minutes thinking ' we have done really really well not to let them blow this out to 22 or 24-0.

they got a freaky try for their second, but we turned away tonnes of sets, and by 35 minutes im thinking we are at least a cahce and are matching them for muscle. shout out to Ryan james again who somehow seems to be around when our forwards go forwarder and faster. not saying it was all him, but our ruck sped up when he came in. Him AND Paasi together are a pretty awesome combo.

Ash played really well second half. first half he was feeding Zeb just as Zeb was getting tackled and it was not good, then second half he starting turning him back inside and their was space, and then he did it for Hoffman who SOMEHOW had the pace to make it away and get clear. Kid can kick goals too. look so sharp from the tee.

Nene looked underdone and is better taking the second play form half than the kick return. but he was leaping high in second half and did well.

Don... cant recall him dropping that much easy ball ever.

Olive looked pretty good in centres i think. would like to know Neils reason for putting him there and leaving Nene wider. is it just Olive is better? or NEne not fit enough? would be interested to know

Pulu had his best game and had some Paasi like charges. still overran one ball and cost himself a try maybe.

Bird was awesome early. he is digging in for us and i like how he is playing
I think this was a game where once we wrestled momentum back we just pressed until we found gaps and used decent passing and hole running.

Really good game to win - and sets us up for a tough away game to canberra who have drawn and won by 1 point in the last two weeks against the two WORST sides in the comp - knights and roosters....

lets rip in and come back for the Broncos clash sitting pretty on 3-1.
 
Last edited:
Just got home and it's interesting reading the comments up to the 20 minute mark or so. I agree with all that was said and I really wondered just where we were going that first 20 as it was as bad as we have dished up for a while........but that would be one of the first games I can recall for a while where we lifted and turned it around. It seemed to coincide with Ryan James coming on.

Hard to fault too much after a win like that but Bird was great again and most forwards were solid. I also thought Dougy went well when he came on. Friend went well as well especially as he copped another knock. I'll forgive Don as he usually doesn't make many errors and Hoff picked up after a tragic start. I thought Olive went pretty well and hits the line better than Nene who seems to prop as he meets the defence.

I'll watch the replay now less the first 20.
 
Our halves are very quickly coming of age & Bird & James are in career best form with McDonald & Olive doing their best to own a starting spot in the team..

Exciting footy to watch
 
I just got home myself and it felt great once again walking out of the stadium on a high, especially with my Tigers supporter brother and his family. This same brother and my f...k..t ex son in law who when we got the spoon gave me hell and each time I saw them would give me a wooden spoon each. Made it even sweeter tonight. I prayed last year they would get the spoon so I could send them each one in the mail, hopefully one day I can repay the favour. The Legion are awesome and the atmosphere is fantastic there now. Seem to be a heap more of them too. Donkeys losing made my weekend,now just need Manly to get flogged on Monday night and my week will be complete. :banana:
 
can we get a straw poll on the drums at the game?

it got mentioned in commentary tonight i heard from someone, and i wonder what others think?

I really don't care for it, but it doesn't really bother me and it doesn't add much for the crowd / game, but id be interested to hear others thoughts. maybe if i were closer to that section it would annoy me.

- - - Updated - - -

Mexican titan said:
Just got home and it's interesting reading the comments up to the 20 minute mark or so. I agree with all that was said and I really wondered just where we were going that first 20 as it was as bad as we have dished up for a while........but that would be one of the first games I can recall for a while where we lifted and turned it around. It seemed to coincide with Ryan James coming on.

Hard to fault too much after a win like that but Bird was great again and most forwards were solid. I also thought Dougy went well when he came on. Friend went well as well especially as he copped another knock. I'll forgive Don as he usually doesn't make many errors and Hoff picked up after a tragic start. I thought Olive went pretty well and hits the line better than Nene who seems to prop as he meets the defence.

I'll watch the replay now less the first 20.
Click to expand...

watch his first hit up. after gettign smashed up for 25 odd minutes, he comes on, immediately gets a metre or two after contact, and a quick play the ball and the kicker had good time to get a long kick away. It ended up rolling dead, but James provided the space that hadn't been there earlier.
I cant stress enough for everyone to watch him a bit closer, which is hard without his signature hair anymore, but i promise you will see a player who would be close to the coaches favourite every week for all the small things he does that make a huge difference and benefits the players around him. And he isnt making many erros, and almost zero penalties. he is a different player and entirely for the better.

this post isn't a dig at you MT for not thinking he was much chop last week - just a plea to everyone as he looks to the naked eye to be a passenger, but he is as important as anyone to our successful periods of play
 
DavidBouveng said:
can we get a straw poll on the drums at the game?

it got mentioned in commentary tonight i heard from someone, and i wonder what others think?

I really don't care for it, but it doesn't really bother me and it doesn't add much for the crowd / game, but id be interested to hear others thoughts. maybe if i were closer to that section it would annoy me.
Click to expand...

I don't really mind whatever the Legion do to make some noise as our home games are like attending bloody church it's so quiet. Our fans are so polite we never give it to the refs generally whereas you watch the Souffs ferals and they are blueing about offside from the first minute to the last. So any noise and the drums are ok by me. Like you I wouldn't want to be sitting in front of drummer boy but where they are located means that very few other supporters would be affected.

- - - Updated - - -

DavidBouveng;373617 [B said:
this post isn't a dig at you MT for not thinking he was much chop last week - just a plea to everyone as he looks to the naked eye to be a passenger, but he is as important as anyone to our successful periods of play
Click to expand...


All good mate. I didn't think he was great last week but it was equally important I gave him a wrap this week because the team definitely seemed to lift when he got on. Which begs the question whether he is more value coming off the bench when you run the risk of the game getting away from us (like tonight) or starting him and being on the front foot from the start. I'm not sure myself which is the best way to go. It is great to see the penalties gone from his game as well as the errors.
 
We have to put Hoffman to fullback.. I think David mead is one of our best players week in week out and he's an awesome fullback.. The only problem is Hoffman really can't defend at centre.. And when you look at the try josh setup for ash it was literally a running fullback play that he ran and busted through.. So I guess I'm saying we may lose a little by putting Meady back on the wing but what we gain with Hoffman only having to do cover tackles at fullback would be what's best for our defense . 1. Hoff 2 Mead 3 Olive 4 Davis 5 Don... Tonight for me 3 Taylor 2 James 1 Nene
 
titanfan1980 said:
We have to put Hoffman to fullback.. I think David mead is one of our best players week in week out and he's an awesome fullback.. The only problem is Hoffman really can't defend at centre.. And when you look at the try josh setup for ash it was literally a running fullback play that he ran and busted through.. So I guess I'm saying we may lose a little by putting Meady back on the wing but what we gain with Hoffman only having to do cover tackles at fullback would be what's best for our defense . 1. Hoff 2 Mead 3 Olive 4 Davis 5 Don... Tonight for me 3 Taylor 2 James 1 Nene
Click to expand...
I see your pt and I too think Hoffy is a liability at centre but Mead is punching out some serious mtrs at the back plus the team is winning.

There is a monster hiding around the corner and his name is William Zillman :(
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom