Injury-hit Gold Coast Titans fall victim to Shaun Johnson’s Warriors
GUTS were not enough as the injury-ravaged Titans sunk to their ninth loss of the season, going down to the Warriors in New Zealand on Saturday.
THE injury-ravaged Titans have refused to make any excuses for their heartbreaking loss to the Warriors, despite losing another two players on Saturday.
The Gold Coast side was gutsy, tough and determined in a challenging hit out in New Zealand.
But once again, it was simply not enough to get the win, as they sunk to their ninth loss of the season, going down 27-18 to the Warriors.
The effort was definitely there for the Titans but, in heartbreaking circumstances, they just could not keep up with a ruthless Warriors outfit once their players started falling like flies.
With co-captains William Zillman and Nathan Friend ruled out in the lead up to the game, along with star halfback Ashley Taylor and forward Eddy Pettybourne, the last thing the Titans needed were more faces on the sideline.
However, the football gods were not on their side.
While drawn at 10-all, the Titans could do nothing but watch on as debutant Karl Lawton suffered a sickening suspected broken ankle in the 46th minute.
The centre, who was impressive in his first NRL outing, was caught in an awkward tackle with Bunty Afoa and Issac Luke and suffered the horrific injury as he fell to the ground.
The Titans were then left with just 15 players as Lawton joined a concussed Ryan Simpkins in the change rooms, with backrower Zeb Taia moved to centre yet again.
It is here where the Titans fell apart as the Warriors capitalised on the depleted Gold Coast’s obvious desperation.
While this would be a valid excuse for most teams, stand-in skipper Ryan James was having none of it.
It was clear the Titans panicked after the loss of Lawton, becoming sloppier and less disciplined towards the end of the match.
And James said it was not good enough from his side.
“You can’t really blame it on people going down,” he said.
“We have the fitness behind us. It just came down to ill-discipline and not being able to hold the ball. We sort of shot ourselves in the foot. We didn’t hold it together.”
Coach Neil Henry was similar in his assessment of the Titans, saying they were the “victims” of their “own ill-discipline”.
“There was a lack of discipline at times, a couple of penalties and a couple of errors coming out of our own end,” he said.
“In the end we didn’t have the field position to mount any pressure … we gave up the field position and they were too good.”
With Taia out on the left edge, the match was sealed for New Zealand with a try in the 65th minute, as Shaun Johnson sliced past the out-of-position forward to race 60m and break the Titans’ hearts.
They went on to score again seven minutes later through former Titan Bodene Thompson, but it was Johnson’s four-pointer that truly ended the Gold Coast.
The Titans were the better side for the majority of the game, with their forwards in particular setting a solid platform in the first half.
The likes of Taia and Agnatius Paasi outran and outmuscled the large Warriors forward pack in the opening forty but by the 80th minute, they were out of steam and out of answers.
The Warriors showed why they are genuine threats to the top eight, with a slick and classy second half performance
The Titans will be welcoming next week’s bye with open arms as it gives a number of their wounded players, including David Mead, William Zillman and Konrad Hurrell, a chance to recover for the back end of the season.
Originally published as Injury-hit Gold Coast Titans fall victim to Shaun Johnson’s Warriors