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Round 4: COWBOYS vs TITANS (2023)

our front row was magnificent today. Missing half the spine was tough.
Boyd is only 10 games in as a half back and is developing well, few good things, a few errors, that happens with young players.
Fifita and Stimson were good.
Outside backs were good.
Tough loss because of what could have been.
interesting to see what we do if Foran and AJ are missing next game
 
I know we've been dudded,,,, I hate keep harping on about it but Tannah is not the guy and Holbrook is part of it, He was talking Tannah up for being great last week, he missed 7 tackles. Mal alluded to it earlier with Fifita that he doesnt respect him compared to Foran.. I can cop the errors and mistakes, not the missed tackles with it...

He's 23..... He can't be doing this, I don't love the media about the broship tbh... Tannah should be questioning his spot...

That showed me none of the team have faith in him to lead us to a victory if guys go down. It seems reactionary but I'm over seeing someone being talked up by the coach when they miss 7 tackles...

Team was great and all effort, Losing Aj and Foran was massive but our defence and effort stood up..
Impressed by the effort.
 
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I actually thought we played much better than last week. The attitude was really good.

If AJ and Foran don't get hurt I think we win this game comfortably.
 
I really hope AJ is not out for an extended period. What a tough effort from the boys though (albeit the stupidity of 'keeping the ball alive'). 2-2, with the bye coming up. However, we then have the Dragons and Bronx B2B at home. May end up 3-3 or 2-4.
 
Cowabunga said:
I know we've been dudded,,,, I hate keep harping on about it but Tannah is not the guy and Holbrook is part of it, He was talking Tannah up for being great last week, he missed 7 tackles. Mal alluded to it earlier with Fifita that he doesnt respect him compared to Foran..

That showed me none of the team have faith in him to lead us to a victory if guys go down. It seems reactionary but I'm over seeing someone being talked up by the coach when they miss 7 tackles...
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The only issue is if we replace him this season we're back to square one with new combinations and spine. Let alone with injuries now we can't do a whole lot.
 
We also drop out of the 8 from this loss. I know the boys we have have it in them to perform at a top 8 level, IF healthy.
 
Appsy said:
We also drop out of the 8 from this loss. I know the boys we have have it in them to perform at a top 8 level, IF healthy.
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That is what made me happy regardless of the result in the end. The effort was there and quite frankly we looked the better team even for parts of the second half. An intercept and a jammy try the difference.
 
TitanPremiership said:
The only issue is if we replace him this season we're back to square one with new combinations and spine. Let alone with injuries now we can't do a whole lot.
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Tanah didn’t have a bad game today and in regard to defence, he only missed one tackle. He is a work in progress and he is progressing…that’s all we can ask for.
In regard to the fullback cover, I wonder whether the coach will put Sami back there and bring in Kenny from the Tigers
 
Cowabunga said:
I know we've been dudded,,,, I hate keep harping on about it but Tannah is not the guy and Holbrook is part of it, He was talking Tannah up for being great last week, he missed 7 tackles. Mal alluded to it earlier with Fifita that he doesnt respect him compared to Foran.. I can cop the errors and mistakes, not the missed tackles with it...

He's 23..... He can't be doing this, I don't love the media about the broship tbh... Tannah should be questioning his spot...

That showed me none of the team have faith in him to lead us to a victory if guys go down. It seems reactionary but I'm over seeing someone being talked up by the coach when they miss 7 tackles...

Team was great and all effort, Losing Aj and Foran was massive but our defence and effort stood up..

Boyd is 10 games in as a NRL half. Missing half his spine and the one remaining spine Randall is a second string hooker.
Give Boyd time, he has the ability but he still 40 games off having the experience to run a team.
Impressed by the effort.
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Totally agree with your thoughts on Boyd.

Anyone calling for change doesn't understand the time it takes to develop as an NRL half.
 
TitanPremiership said:
The only issue is if we replace him this season we're back to square one with new combinations and spine. Let alone with injuries now we can't do a whole lot.
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100% and we're stuck with it but I was saying this stuff in pre season.. I'm just over Tannah hype by our media that came from last year into this year... He's an amazing goal kicker... He's shown no other NRL skills yet we've put him at 7 it seems because of some wins over bad teams despite us still getting flogged when we went to their home grounds... We won a couple games at the end of the season when teams had gave up and he's our 7...

Besides his kicking I don't think he's a NRL player, Let alone a clubs chosen 7... I hope Tannah can become something... But he's about to be 23 and struggles defending and can't set up anything.
 
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willhelm said:
Tanah is fine. Anyone expecting him to single handedly drag us over the line like he’s JT needs a reality check.
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I'm not expecting him to win games, I want him to defend well and occasionaly set up the right side, Besides his kicking he's been a passenger in the worst way.
 
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Cowboys down brave Titans in tough Townsville tussle
https://www.titans.com.au/news/2023/03/25/cowboys-down-brave-titans-in-tough-townsville-tussle/

The Cowboys have outlasted an injury-hit Titans side to come away with a 24-12 win at Queensland Country Bank Stadium on Saturday night.

Coming off back-to-back losses to the Broncos and Warriors, Todd Payten's men were forced to dig deep after they trailed 8-0 in the shadows of half-time.

The Titans drew first blood in just the fourth minute when winger Alofiana Khan-Pereira finished off a slick right side raid, taking the final pass from David Fifita and touching down for his fourth try of the season. Tanah Boyd's conversion made it 6-0.

A double blow for the Titans midway through the half with fullback AJ Brimson (hamstring) and five-eighth Kieran Foran (calf) both leaving the field within the space of 90 seconds.

A penalty against Cowboys fullback Tom Chester for a strip handed Boyd an easy two points and the visitors led 8-0.

The Cowboys had several chances to open their account and the pressure finally told in the 36th minute when Chad Townsend put Jeremiah Nanai over from close range. Val Holmes added the extra to make it 8-6 at the break.

When veteran prop James Tamou crashed over in the 45th minute the Cowboys had the lead and all the momentum against the undermanned Titans.

Five minutes later the Cowboys went further ahead when Holmes intercepted a long ball by Boyd and outpaced Jayden Campbell on an 80-metre run to the tryline to make it 18-8.

Refusing to lie down the Titans headed left through skipper Tino Fa'asuamaleaui who delivered a great offload to David Fifita and he put Khan-Pereira away another four-pointer.

A shot clock violation against the Cowboys for failing to feed the scrum in time let the Titans off the hook with 17 minutes to play but the Titans were unable to capitalise.

Both sides then lost their way in attack with a number of errors creeping into the game before a bizarre try to rookie Cowboys No.1 Tom Chester gave the home side the breathing space they needed with six minutes to play.

An offload by Heilum Luki hit Chester in the head and then went down onto his boot and rolled towards the line where Campbell failed to clean up and Chester won the scramble for the ball. Holmes' conversion made it 24-12.

The Titans mounted a couple of late raids but the Cowboys hung on to make it 13 wins from their past 16 games against the Titans.

Match snapshot
  • Moeaki Fotuaika was immense for the Titans in the first half with 126 metres from 11 runs.
  • Jeremiah Nanai enjoyed a great night for the Cowboys with a try, 103 run metres, three tackle breaks and a line break.
  • Titans halfback Tanah Boyd had a streak of 12 goals in succession going until he missed the conversion of Alofiana Khan-Pereira's try from wide out in the 57th minute.
  • Tino Fa'asuamaleaui led by example for the Titans with 21 runs for 200 metres.
  • The Titans have won only one of their past 12 games in Townsville
  • Winger Phil Sami was a tackle busting machine for Gold Coast, coming up with 10 tackle breaks to go with 137 running metres.
  • Cowboys back-rower Jeremiah Nanai was put on report and sin binned in the 59th minute for a dangerous tackle.
  • Cowboys centre Valentine Holmes has scored nine tries from 12 games against the Titans.

Play of the Game
Back at the Cowboys after six seasons, 34-year-old James Tamou is savouring every minute on the paddock in Todd Payten's line-up. A member of the club's 2015 premiership side, Tamou played 170 games for the Cowboys between 2009-16 before heading to the Panthers. In the 45th minute of a tight contest he powered over from close range to give his team the lead but he was forced off soon after with a foot injury to put a dampener on his night.

What's Next
The Cowboys are in Sydney for a clash with the Bulldogs while the Titans get the bye in Round 5 before hosting the Dragons at Cbus Super Stadium in Round 6.
 
Cowabunga said:
I'm not expecting him to win games, I want him to defend well and occasionaly set up the right side, Besides his kicking he's been a passenger in the worst way.
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This pretty much sums up my grievances. Foran was out so try going down the right and at least organising your side. I think we went down there once the entire second half.
 
Halves from all teams are targeted in defence. Not many halves get thru a round without missing a few tackles.
Did plenty of good today Tanah. Club hopefully will stick with him all year and next as the best is to come.
 
Let me start by saying i was really proud of our effort today. When Aj & Foz went down I thought we would struggle, but we hung on bravely and really showed some ticker. Thought Fifita and Tino were great tonight.

I am not calling for Boyd to get dropped, but i am disappointed he didn’t step up tonight. I wasn’t expecting him to guide us to a win, but in numerous sets attacking their line he didn’t touch the ball until last tackle. JC on the other hand tried his ring off and was great.

Kelly can go end of this year. Seems lazy and makes a handling error every game.Jojo in the centres and i want us to persevere with Lofi on the wing, despite the signing of Mamaulo.
 
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Absolutely furious but starting to calm down.

It seems we lost the game more than cows beating us. We lost half our spine, defended what felt like an eternity on our line and still managed to throw rhe game away.

We finally got some ball on their line, we have 5 on 3 or 6 on 3. Play set up just have to run the play and we more than likely score, yet tanah for God knows why try's to throw a foran type ball to the winger which isn't called for. Intercept to Holmes for cowboys to go infront.

We then have the opportunity to tie the game. We have all the running cows on the back foot we must score with 13v12 to turn the game around. 2v1 and schpupp doesn't ****ing pass. Bulldogs supporters said he has glue hands and I had assumed they'd coached it put of him. Holbrook better ****ing blow up at him that is unacceptable at this level. If he doesn't then I don't even know what to say.

AKP making a break down the sideline and kicking on the 2nd tackle aswell. The boys need to understand if we finally get the run of play and some possession to not throw it away cheaply.

I'm still furious but reflecting on the game we really should have won that. Even with half our spine missing.

Our online defence was impressive and we got tied but we still had our chances to take that. Just need Holbrook to really drill then over this week as that's 2 crucial points that we're there for the taking and we gave them away. Simply cannot do that.
 
Not a fan of Tanah. He is way way down the list of halves in the NRL. I can't see us competing in the top 8 with him in the team. To be honest I don't think Toby is much better so that leaves Weaver who I am not sure is ready yet.
 
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