Gold Coast Titans Discussion

[Waynesaurus]

Yep, they've flashed the cash, with that comes expectation. They should go ok and top 8 should be the expectation but injuries will play a big part.

 

[Huge]

Holbrooks test will be next year when the titans are on everyone’s raidar. Even when the broncos are trash no one takes them lightly, they all want to flog us.

From what I’ve seen he looks good

Oh true, nothings certain and expectation weighs heavily but if they start well, they'll believe. Pretty sure Newcastle didn't take them lightly. If the new guys aim up then top 8 for sure. When a teams earned respect you know no one will take them lightly. I'm committing early next year before even the trials. The money goes on. Top 8, 4, make gf, win gf.

 

[BroncsFan]

Holbrooks test will be next year when the titans are on everyone’s raidar. Even when the broncos are trash no one takes them lightly, they all want to flog us.

From what I’ve seen he looks good

Yeah I think you're right... and I think the big test will come if they have a poor run at some point.

They're currently flying and playing for each other, but if they cop a few losses, pick up some injuries, etc. the test will be ensuring they dont drop their heads.

There's a few teams this year that have come out flying based on attitude alone (titans, knights, parra, tigers, etc.) and set the comp alight in the early rounds only to see them floundering now that the mental side is dwindling in the face of a long season.

They say the good teams can kind of switch off and take a mid season break before ramping up into the finals... they're not going 110% all year and can rely on falling back to their systems to get a win and keep the season ticking over

They also run a risk of being the current knights squad who were running dead last for several years and then picked up Klemmer, Pearce and Ponga in one off season. They immediately went from also rans to contenders and the scrutiny and expectations that come with that.

The knights have arguably failed to live up to that hype and fade out as soon as the finals hit... if they even make the finals in the first place

 

[Kooly87]

For me one of the biggest stories of their season is the emergence of Fogarty.

Gets a debut for the club in 2017 and then drifts off into QCup wilderness for a couple years then just pops up with a sublime year and is now captain after 20 games in the NRL. Obviously as a half a fair bit of that comes down to maturity (he's 27) but Holbrook deserves credit for identifying him as the exact halves partner that Taylor needed when it would have been really easy to stick with Tyrone Roberts or move Brimson into 5/8 once Thompson joined the club.

Cartwright aside, basically every member of their side has improved this season or at the very least shown glimpses of their best footy and that's a credit to Holbrook.

My suspicion is that they're going to miss Arrow at alot less than we expected.

The Fogarty comparisons to Cody Walker's career trajectory were being made earlier this year and they're starting to look pretty reasonable indeed.

I also agree about Arrow, he's hardly going to be hugely missed when he's been missing for huge chunks of their season for a couple of years now already. He's not been Jack Bird bad, but I'm pretty sure he hasn't played more than 20 games in a season for a while now.

 

[Foordy]

The Fogarty comparisons to Cody Walker's career trajectory were being made earlier this year and they're starting to look pretty reasonable indeed.

I also agree about Arrow, he's hardly going to be hugely missed when he's been missing for huge chunks of their season for a couple of years now already. He's not been Jack Bird bad, but I'm pretty sure he hasn't played more than 20 games in a season for a while now.

his last 3 seasons have been

2018 - 21 games
2019 - 17 games
2020 - 17 games

 

[Huge]

Yeah I think you're right... and I think the big test will come if they have a poor run at some point.

They're currently flying and playing for each other, but if they cop a few losses, pick up some injuries, etc. the test will be ensuring they dont drop their heads.

There's a few teams this year that have come out flying based on attitude alone (titans, knights, parra, tigers, etc.) and set the comp alight in the early rounds only to see them floundering now that the mental side is dwindling in the face of a long season.

They say the good teams can kind of switch off and take a mid season break before ramping up into the finals... they're not going 110% all year and can rely on falling back to their systems to get a win and keep the season ticking over

They also run a risk of being the current knights squad who were running dead last for several years and then picked up Klemmer, Pearce and Ponga in one off season. They immediately went from also rans to contenders and the scrutiny and expectations that come with that.

The knights have arguably failed to live up to that hype and fade out as soon as the finals hit... if they even make the finals in the first place

Maybe the others you mentioned had a flying start but the Titans certainly didn't!! They only won 3 of their first 12! I take your point on the others. The Titans form came late so getting off to a flyer doesn't count with them. They won 6 of their last 8. I think of the ones you mentioned the Tits are well served by the late season form but a slow start in a full season won't stop them believing.

 

[BroncsFan]

Maybe the others you mentioned had a flying start but the Titans certainly didn't!! They only won 3 of their first 12! I take your point on the others. The Titans form came late so getting off to a flyer doesn't count with them. They won 6 of their last 8. I think of the ones you mentioned the Tits are well served by the late season form but a slow start in a full season won't stop them believing.

Correct... I guess by flyer I was thinking more along the lines of their performances being much improved on the previous year and it was being noted by the commentators.

I didn't really go through and check the results was only thinking of teams that were getting noticed early on, but appeared to drop away.

Titans didn't necessarily drop away from a results perspective at the back end, but they did have periods in games where they dropped away and started conceding points heavily, such as the storm game. It's not necessarily unexpected against the storm, but they did get some decent scorelines put up against them as well... it may be a sign that when they're up and competing it's all good, but if they have some setbacks they can drop their bundle.

 

[The Don]

Correct... I guess by flyer I was thinking more along the lines of their performances being much improved on the previous year and it was being noted by the commentators.

I didn't really go through and check the results was only thinking of teams that were getting noticed early on, but appeared to drop away.

Titans didn't necessarily drop away from a results perspective at the back end, but they did have periods in games where they dropped away and started conceding points heavily, such as the storm game. It's not necessarily unexpected against the storm, but they did get some decent scorelines put up against them as well... it may be a sign that when they're up and competing it's all good, but if they have some setbacks they can drop their bundle.

We were always going to have blowouts early in the season with Holbrook largely playing with the team to find out who he wanted going forward along with injuries playing a key part. We literally had no centres left at stages. Once we started having something resembling consistency with the line up along with Brimson returning about Rd 12, we've been competitive in every game bar Raiders when Ash was ruled out and from what I recall we got dominated in possession and field position. In terms of resilience I'd actually say it's the best it has been in a while. They have won at least 3 games this season in the last 5 minutes and don't get me started on officiating. I reckon injuries are going to play the biggest role in how they fare but I guess that's true for most sides. Forwards have some quality depth but backline is a bit light on.

On Arrow, I think the fact he was played off the bench in his last few games says it all. He had a breakout couple of years for us but form has definitely dropped recently (averaging 104m a game this season when RM was his strongest trait in the past). Still a decent player but given the reported 800k price tag, definitely not worth fighting over and wish him all the best at Souths. Tino has been a much better all round player this season. Even Ese'ese is closer than expected given he was on the bench most of the season I think. Definitely Holbrook's year to prove himself a quality coach or not.

 

[Huge]

Correct... I guess by flyer I was thinking more along the lines of their performances being much improved on the previous year and it was being noted by the commentators.

I didn't really go through and check the results was only thinking of teams that were getting noticed early on, but appeared to drop away.

Titans didn't necessarily drop away from a results perspective at the back end, but they did have periods in games where they dropped away and started conceding points heavily, such as the storm game. It's not necessarily unexpected against the storm, but they did get some decent scorelines put up against them as well... it may be a sign that when they're up and competing it's all good, but if they have some setbacks they can drop their bundle.

No doubt about setbacks! What about Souths-Roosters! Holbrook inherited the side he had and season 2020 really was all about assessment. The team he started with looked a bit different by seasons end.

The thing for me is that for 4-5 rounds after the covid break I could see the first signs of structure and planning in the way the team performed. That's what made me pay even closer attention to them. I'll always be a Broncos fan but I'd love to see the Tits become a massive force in the comp.

The game against the minor premiers seemed to be a turning point for the Tits even though they lost the match. The rounds 11-14 saw them play Penrith, Roosters, Cows and Sharks. 3 top 8 teams. The combined losing margin was just 26 points! Not quite 9 points average.

When you consider the team WASN'T BUILT by Holbrook and the same team had come dead last the previous season it's the sort of effort that indicates solid coaching, a united team and growing belief.

Here's some interesting detail:
Games 1 -10. Average losing margin. 17.4
Games 11-20. Average losing margin. 4.6
The biggest blowouts happened in the first 10 rounds, the two biggest in the second half of the season were only(two) 20 point losses.

As I said, things turned around after the Penrith game, game 11 of 20.


The first thing the viewer needs to do is pay attention and not assume they know how the team and coach are going after a quick glance at the ladder and based on previous seasons. The viewer doesn't have to be a sage, he/she just has to actually watch a game and have an open mind!!!

 

[Xzei]

Will be interesting to see if the titans improvement is genuine or if it is just a dead cat bounce like in seasons past.

 

[Huge]

Will be interesting to see if the titans improvement is genuine or if it is just a dead cat bounce like in seasons past.

I think it might be more substantial than if their 9 wins were spread across the board but the fact it was 9 wins over 16 rounds seems to indicate there is more to it. We always say 'time will tell' and I'm definitely looking forward to what the betting agencies put up for the odds, preseason.

 

[broncos4life]

Will be interesting to see if the titans improvement is genuine or if it is just a dead cat bounce like in seasons past.

They will be found out next year. The bar is so low for these flogs that all they need to do is string a few wins together against rubbish sides and everyone starts cracking a fat and talking finals.

 

[The Don]

Well hopefully good news on injury and conditioning front with Mal getting in Sam Madden (Physio) and Steve Hooper (S&C) from the Aus set up. Hooper was at the Broncos in 2015... Definitely the reason you made the GF (hehe). Can't be worse than the ones leaving. Don't remember the last time we had a player back on time.

Patrick Herbert on a 1 year deal to cover centre/wing sounds like a good cheap buy too. Should cover Young T leaving.

 

[Sproj]

Well hopefully good news on injury and conditioning front with Mal getting in Sam Madden (Physio) and Steve Hooper (S&C) from the Aus set up. Hooper was at the Broncos in 2015... Definitely the reason you made the GF (hehe). Can't be worse than the ones leaving. Don't remember the last time we had a player back on time.

Patrick Herbert on a 1 year deal to cover centre/wing sounds like a good cheap buy too. Should cover Young T leaving.

Good pick ups. Do you want our current conditioning guys by any chance?

 

[The Don]

Good pick ups. Do you want our current conditioning guys by any chance?

If they did I'd have to Lodge a complaint.

 

[The Don]

Can't remember what thread Haas' brother was talked about in but I believe he may have picked up a development contract at the Titans. He will be training with the squad in the preseason anyway.

 

[Sproj]

Can't remember what thread Haas' brother was talked about in but I believe he may have picked up a development contract at the Titans. He will be training with the squad in the preseason anyway.

You'll end up with the older gun brother too if our side is as bad as expected next season I suspect.

 

[The Don]

You'll end up with the older gun brother too if our side is as bad as expected next season I suspect.

"Haas joked there was no way of joining his mates at the Titans, "especially now David has taken all the money", but added another Haas, Payne's younger brother Klese, would join them in the pre-season." That's from the article so doubt it. I wouldn't say no just don't ever see it happening with the cap which is fine. Happy enough with our current middle anyway.