Welcome to League of Titans

Round 8: DOLPHINS vs TITANS (2023)

The Birdman said:
Haha your take has been shown again to be completely wrong and you yet again resort to making it sarcastic and personal.

I'm not here to blow smoke up the club's **** and D ride like a fanboi unlike some here. Hate to say I told you so but now you've left me no choice with the very public calling out.

I'm sure your Mensa idea of maintaining the status quo is definitely the way to go though. Maybe season 4 or 5 will be the one Holfail works out how to coach.

I swear he must tell players their relatives died at half time or something when you look at their frame of mind coming out of the sheds. He's a true horse whisperer.

- - - Updated - - -



But according to Holbrook's life partner NZTitan he's killing it
Click to expand...

He's not a life partner, more like a FwB if we're putting labels on it.
 
Upthetits said:
The fact he mentioned we lost control of the middle but wouldn't mention his pathetic bench and the rotations being cooked is it. I honestly don't think he the answer moving forward which is a shame as I really really like him. But it's just more of the same and he's had long enough and still suffer the same issues

The fact he couldn't even remember the dragons running through us from 4 weeks ago when he ran a tiny bench and make the connection that dolphins game is power through the middle and makes the same mistake is just simply not good enough

It's just not.

He needs to go I don't think he has what it takes to actually lead us to a premiership. He keeps making the same mistakes
Click to expand...

I hope the club bosses are asking harder questions? But who above him has that footy knowledge?

- - - Updated - - -

I think the worse thing that could happen now is Holbrook become the media target for first coach sacked. As again it will give the players an out, an excuse. The whole footy club needs to be put under pressure and gel as one.
I read on twitter a suggestion that the new slogan should be " foot on the throat" ch age the attitude of the club.
Do away with- proud to be, thru n thru and feel the energy. Maybe not foot on the throat but the club needs a harder edge no doubt on the field and off the field
 
Is it ok just to type that yesterdays match made me really sad as a fan, im not sure where the blame truly lies, this team will make some inner poet out you atleast.
 
REPORTER: You must be impressed with Wallace, what he did out there, he was a bit of a beast out there in the second half?

...

BENNETT: His problem is we can't play the Gold Coast every week.

wow hahahahahahhahaha
 
As much as that comment from WB hurts. I got to pay it.

It's a really difficult thing for fans to come terms with. But let's try to not get too stuck into each other or personal.

Years ago, I used to have a banner that said PUT EM TO THE SWORD! We need that allusive killer instinct.
 
On the bright side, we are so lucky to have a man like Tino as our captain. He tries his heart out. It's cathartic to hear him feel the same way. I do agree the team need some sort of simple motto to rally around and focus on. It's bigger than that, but it's a start.

‘S**t attitude’: Furious Tino torches Titans over ‘embarrassing’ Dolphins capitulation
https://www.foxsports.com.au/nrl/nrl-premiership/

A furious Gold Coast Titans skipper Tino Fa’asuamaleaui has ripped into his team after they blew a 26-0 lead against the Dolphins on Sunday.

Justin Holbrook’s side stormed out of the gates to stun the Dolphins, running in four unanswered tries to take a stranglehold on the Queensland derby.

But the Dolphins showed the resilience that has characterised their start to the season, fighting back from the dead with five tries of their own to claim a stunning 28-26 victory.

It equalled the Cowboys’ 1998 comeback over the Panthers as the biggest in the NRL era.

Speaking to Triple M after the game, Fa’asuamaleaui didn’t hold back in his assessment.

“Just the attitude, turned up in the second half with a **** attitude,” he said when asked what went wrong.

“We didn’t stop tries we didn’t want to defend our line. Just frustrating. Two weeks in a row, teams don’t do that. You learn from one week and then come out and do that again.

“It’s embarrassing. It makes you emotional, makes you angry especially on a day like this.”

Dan Ginane then asked Fa’asuamaleaui whether the Titans had “demons” letting a series of leads slip in recent times.

“A little bit because we’ve done it multiple times. This year I thought maybe it wasn’t going to be the same because we’ve worked so hard.

“It’s scary when you start well like this. But good teams don’t go back to back and lose like that. It’s just horrible

“I need to be better, the team needs to be better in front of our family and friends.

“We should be fit enough to finish a game off and get a win.”
 
Hi I’m new here, but have been reading LOT for many years (come back Mr Bods)
Whilst I’m am disappointed and even had trouble sleeping last night, I am rock solid.
I don’t know all the things you guys do, but these are my thoughts on yesterday.
Has anyone media etc commented how bad the dolphins were in the first 30mins of the game?
They conceded 26 points at almost a point a minute!
Stats from NRL.com
Both teams completed at 82%
Possession was 46% Titans 54% Dolphins
Titans 35 sets Dolphins 39 sets
Errors 7 each
Penalties 4 each
Ruck infringements 1 Dolphins 2 Titans
The rest of the stats marginally favour the Dolphins.
If you just read the stats, you would say the score was reflective in that the Dolphins just win.
Should they have won, definitely not (No team should concede a 26 point lead)
But it might put what happened a little in perspective.
The brain snaps from AJ and Foz, plus the lightweight bench I think was the difference.
 
Seaside Garbo said:
Hi I’m new here, but have been reading LOT for many years (come back Mr Bods)
Whilst I’m am disappointed and even had trouble sleeping last night, I am rock solid.
I don’t know all the things you guys do, but these are my thoughts on yesterday.
Has anyone media etc commented how bad the dolphins were in the first 30mins of the game?
They conceded 26 points at almost a point a minute!
Stats from NRL.com
Both teams completed at 82%
Possession was 46% Titans 54% Dolphins
Titans 35 sets Dolphins 39 sets
Errors 7 each
Penalties 4 each
Ruck infringements 1 Dolphins 2 Titans
The rest of the stats marginally favour the Dolphins.
If you just read the stats, you would say the score was reflective in that the Dolphins just win.
Should they have won, definitely not (No team should concede a 26 point lead)
But it might put what happened a little in perspective.
The brain snaps from AJ and Foz, plus the lightweight bench I think was the difference.
Click to expand...

Welcome mate, appreciate you sharing your thoughts and perspective
 
Welcome SG and great first post. Bodsie is back evidently as Mini-GF but only time will tell if he has actually returned to his beautiful Forum.
 
Hey Uppitippitty, that's the best assessment of our predicament imaginable, a compulsory read and such damning data. I am going to assume that the calculations are correct (they are too convincing to dispute) and with apologies I just have to quote some of it for those who won't follow the link:

In 2023 the Titans have led in every single game they have played in. In the 4 games they have lost they at one stage led by at least 8 points. The big problem is that this has become a habit and one they have had for multiple years.

In Round 8 2021, the Titan’s led the Brisbane Broncos 22-nil after 15 minutes. By half time the score was 22 all and once the final siren sounded the Brisbane that had only won a single game before this round would be ahead 36-28. In Round 15 of that same year the Titans led eventual top 4 team Manly 24 to 8 at half-time, they wouldn’t score another point and lost the game by 32 points. You’re thinking to yourself damn that’s crazy, no way that can happen again.

You might remember the Round 12 match between Brisbane and the Titans famous for a short kick off that led to a try, a game where the Titans led 18-0 25 minutes into the game then capitulated to 35-24, but that wasn’t even the biggest lead the Titans gave up in 2022, that illustrious stat belongs to the Round 3 game against the Raiders where the team led 22-nil before a Raiders try in the 39th minute started a comeback that ended with the Raiders up 24-22.

That’s a lot of history but what is causing this to happen. Initially you would blame the defence, which is wise because the Titans defence is made of cling wrap that is designed to dissolve in breathable air. The Titans are currently conceding 26 points per game, the highest amount in the league tied with the Bankstown Hospital Bulldogs and the Western Tyre Fire Tigers. This is nothing new for the Titans, last year the team was conceding 27.5 points per game but is extremely concerning as it is the 4th year in a row where the team’s number one weakness has been glaringly obvious.

Have the Titans tried to fix this weakness? They have, letting go of Assistant Coach Jim Dymock last year and bringing in Brett White from the Canberra Raiders. Has it worked? Not at all. Last year on average the Titans conceded 1784 run metres a game. In their first 7 games this year, 1823 metres.

I ran a comparison with 4 other teams to see what their conceded run metres were, Broncos (top of the ladder currently), Panthers (defending premiers), Tigers (Bottom of the ladder) and the Knights (a team that’s been roughly at the same ladder position since 2020). Titans were second last with only the Knights behind (1856 metres).

Last year after the Broncos loss much finger pointing was done regarding the offseason decision to let Jamal Fogarty go to the Raiders, conveniently ignoring that IT HAPPENED TWICE WITH HIM IN THE TEAM. Fine, whatever it was the lack of an experienced half that led to these issues, except with Kieran Foran in the side it has happened every single game. In fact, the two games in which the Titans had the smallest leads (against the Storm and the home game against the Dragons), Foran either didn’t play or wasn’t on the field his normal amount of minutes.

So, what the hell is causing this issue? Sadly, I think there is only one possible malady, and it’s coach Justin Holbrook.
Click to expand...
 
https://astonishingsports.wordpress.com/2023/04/24/the-titans-are-stuck-in-act-2/

- - - Updated - - -

Token posted a decent read off that titans fan zone page I'm struggling to link it directly as I don't have Facebook.

https://m.facebook.com/groups/238142596643583/

THE MATH AROUND INTERCHANGE
I had to drill down and get some solid stats around yesterday. Being a data scientist for work, I've gone through and found the proof. There are some caveats;
1. I’ve focused around only our interchange players
2. Dolphins only used 3 of their bench Totalling Phins 6 players, Titans 8
3. In terms of players used against weights and times, they coefficient difference is 75% against the Titans.
4. I’ve used a simple Power/Weight multiplied time spent on field to find out where the problem lays, you can see in the table the clear issue when Mikaele comes off and is replaced by leeming (115kg vs 87kg)
5. I’ve excluded both edge backrowers as both side’s 11 and 12 played 80mins each as they did not interchange.
6. Understandably we made a number of errors that helped the tide. But this should shine a light on the lead up to those erros.

HYPOTHESIS
Does the weight of the players make a difference in the terms of inertia and exertion? Did the Dolphins simply ‘outweigh’ us in size and turn the tide? Is bigger better?

METHOD
Look into the weight of the players against the total time spent on field for the interchange to form a comparison and see if this aligns with points scored.
Each cell indicates minutes X weight with interchanges as the columns. The totals at the bottom are calculated and then compared with the coefficient to give a comparison.

RESULTS
a) From min 38 to min 52 Dolphins scored 12 points to swing the tide of the game and put us on the back foot
b) During this 12min period we had 3 experienced hookers on the field and only 1 prop (who had already played 40mins straight).
c) From the 38min mark to the 73min mark (35mins total) the Phins Power/Weight varied between 3-7% higher than ours
d) The swing reflects the shift in weight of the interchange

CONCLUSION
1. In this instance weight of the interchange players and shift with differences on field correlates with the data shown on the table
2. Momentum of the game DID correlate with weight on field of the interchange.

RECOMMENDATIONS
Phins used 1 Hooker player all game with Jeremy Marshall-King clicking 80mins saving them interchanges for more specialty props on the bench, we don't need anymore than 1 hooker in the 17 to free up an interchange
Our only specialty prop spent 12 minutes on the field, with Phins bench props totalling 74mins. We're relying on Mo and Tino to do too much work.
"forwards win you the match, your backs will determine by how much" - Gordon Tallis
 
first comment in /r/nrl, thread where that is posted (dunno if it's any of you) mentioned that in Brimmo's halftime interview he said, "we know we can leak points". I didn't watch the game so I never saw this.

But wtf man. Mindblown how you can just casually say that then proceed to have 24(?) put on you in the next 40 minutes to lose the game.
 
Last edited:
gotitans101_ said:
first comment in /r/nrl, thread where that is posted (dunno if it's any of you) mentioned that in Brimmo's halftime interview he said, "we know we can leak points". I didn't watch the game so I never saw this.

But wtf man. Mindblown how you can just casually say that then proceed to have 24(?) put on you in the next 40 minutes to lose the game.
Click to expand...

I’ve been quite unimpressed with AJ’s attitude this season. When asked at the start of the season about which position he plays, after confirming it was fullback, he joked around about how much easier it is on the body because the defence is easier. It doesn’t really scream team first approach that he’s happy to let someone else do the hard yards in the front line.

I know the Gold Coast attitude is typically laid back and quite jovial but he’s been here a long time now (comparatively) and needs to step up as a leader.
 
NZFan said:
I’ve been quite unimpressed with AJ’s attitude this season. When asked at the start of the season about which position he plays, after confirming it was fullback, he joked around about how much easier it is on the body because the defence is easier. It doesn’t really scream team first approach that he’s happy to let someone else do the hard yards in the front line.

I know the Gold Coast attitude is typically laid back and quite jovial but he’s been here a long time now (comparatively) and needs to step up as a leader.
Click to expand...

I love AJ more then probably any Titan in a long but I am wondering if there's some issues with his leadership or position in the team as well. I know he's not really a leader with words but he's in the leadership group and we already have Tino leading with actions and Moe and Fifi to a lesser extent, We need someone who's vocal and won't let this stuff happen and he's an experienced player in this side. Fogarty was good in this regard but someone has to take the mantle and he's the clear option to be that role.

I know it's not his fault really with his injuries and our team being bad but he's not made the finals in his 5 years now (was injured 21). With Holbrook he's one of the guys that's constantly been around in these periods of just horrible football. At some point he's surely got to step up and say enough is enough because it can't all be on Tino.
 
I think AJ just isn’t great at thinking before he speaks sometimes, to be blunt.

He shouldn’t have said what he did at halftime but if that’s genuinely how he feels then the issue is deeper than him just saying it - it’s him believing it to be the case.

I know within the club AJ is highly respected as a leader and he takes his football very seriously/sets good standards within the group. He just communicates very casually and makes some tongue-in-cheek comments at times to the media that can get taken the wrong way. I wouldn’t take his throw away comments in interviews and podcasts as a reflection of his professional attitude
 
Hail Sezer said:
I think AJ just isn’t great at thinking before he speaks sometimes, to be blunt.

He shouldn’t have said what he did at halftime but if that’s genuinely how he feels then the issue is deeper than him just saying it - it’s him believing it to be the case.

I know within the club AJ is highly respected as a leader and he takes his football very seriously/sets good standards within the group. He just communicates very casually and makes some tongue-in-cheek comments at times to the media that can get taken the wrong way. I wouldn’t take his throw away comments in interviews and podcasts as a reflection of his professional attitude
Click to expand...

That's good to hear HS. I think he might actually believe what he said and I think he's not alone. A good psych will get to the bottom of that.

AJ hasn't come close to Ponga's strawberry milkshake comment yet but I'm concerned he might be heading that way. Hopefully as a leader, he'll be taking some responsibility for Sunday and it'll be a turning point for his communication.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom