Des Hasler is on to something with resurgent Gold Coast Titans
The NRL premiership ladder may not show it but Des Hasler has injected the Titans with a large spoonful of the fibre and grit they have been craving, writes ROBERT “CRASH” CRADDOCK.
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Des Hasler is on to something.
The NRL premiership ladder may not show it but Hasler has injected the Titans with a large spoonful of the fibre and grit they have been craving for too many years.
We deliver this praise cautiously because, despite a month of close finishes, the Titans have won only two games and, with a string of injuries against the Cowboys, could easily regress.
But Hasler has found something. The ship is turning.
The Titans still concede too many points but you no longer get the feel a decent coastal breeze will sweep them away.
The players looks fit and ready to fight for each other. They are becoming an excellent side to watch.
Holding on against the Cowboys last night for a 20-18 win, despite having no fit men on the bench, was quite something.
It’s a shame AJ Brimson strained a groin because he is such a big part of the machinery and the Titans will miss him badly.
Veteran Kieran Foran is having a fine season and, despite being injured against the Cowboys, expects to be back this week or next.
CAM LEAVES MARK FOR MAROONS
If you see the Queensland State of Origin team at breakfast in the city this winter – still in their playing gear – Cameron Smith will be a proud man.
Smith told Scott Sattler’s engaging Pure Origin show on SEN he was beyond thrilled that since his retirement, his habit of refusing to change from his playing kit overnight and having breakfast in it had been taken up by others.
“In my last few years as assistant coach the boys would come back to the hotel and the boys would not get out of their kit and I would think, ‘yes! I’ve left a mark’,’’ Smith said.
PANGAI’S TALENT GOING TO WASTE
It’s hard to believe this time last year Tevita Pangai Jr was chosen for his first and only State of Origin game.
Pangai Jr was selected by NSW for Origin I, which they lost, and that was the end of his career with the Blues.
Now, seemingly fully fit and supposedly in the prime years of his career at age 28, he cannot find an NRL club and, my oh my, there are some desperate ones out there.
The moral of the story is that no matter how talented you are, you simply cannot flirt with an NRL career and expect clubs to keep trusting you. Your rivals are too desperate and hungry.
Pangai Jr was knocked out in the first round of his final boxing match on Saturday and will now turn his attention to rugby league.
It’s never too late to rescue a career in rugby league but NRL clubs are wary of his flightiness.
STATE OF ORIGIN’S ROLE REVERSAL
Something strange has happened in State of Origin football – the Blues and Maroons seem to be morphing into each other.
The Maroons – and this will disturb them – have firmed into $1.80 favourites for the first game of the series in Sydney, if you don’t mind, on June 5.
In the space of one turbulent weekend, the sudden absence of injured superstars Nathan Cleary and Tom Trbojevic has put NSW in a state of disarray.
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