Blues utility Tyrone Peachey facing heat after Titans star makes three key errors in defeat to Sharks

Pressure is mounting on Tyrone Peachey over his NSW spot after Gold Coast coach Garth Brennan took a thinly veiled swipe while slamming the Titans for being ‘dumb’ and ‘mentally soft’.

Tyrone Peachey wasn’t in the coach’s good books after Thursday night.

• Injury-plagued Sharks dig deep to see off Titans

Pressure is mounting on Tyrone Peachey over his NSW spot after Gold Coast coach Garth Brennan took a thinly veiled swipe while slamming the Titans for being “dumb” and “mentally soft”.

Brennan couldn’t hide his frustration after Cronulla overcame key injuries to down the Titans 26-18 in Thursday’s NRL Magic Round opener at Suncorp Stadium.

And he appeared to take aim at Blues bench utility Peachey, who made three telling errors late in the match to help the Sharks pull off a come from behind victory.

Tyrone Peachey wasn’t in the coach’s good books after Thursday night.

With the game in the balance, Peachey gifted a 75th-minute penalty that gave the Sharks a 20-18 lead when the centre appeared to slap pivot Kyle Flanagan after bringing him down in a tackle.

In the next set he then inexplicably kicked a grubber on the fourth tackle that went over the sideline in the 77th minute, all but killing off the Titans’ chances of a match-winning play.

To make matters worse, Peachey gave away another penalty with a minute left on the clock which helped the Sharks piggy back down the field before Paul Gallen scored near the posts on full-time to rub salt into the Gold Coast’s wounds.

Brennan didn’t name Peachey but it was clear the NSW utility was not in the Titans coach’s good books judging by his post match press conference spray.

“There’s guys kicking the ball on play four, (giving away) penalties, discipline was poor - this one hurts,” Brennan said of their third straight loss.

“We had some players out there who have played rep footy and just didn’t dish that up.

“That second half was poor. We’re just dumb.”

Adding injury to insult, prop Shannon Boyd (concussion) was lost by the 11th minute.

But Brennan was not offering any excuses after the Titans were rolled by a Sharks outfit that lost front-rowers Andrew Fifita (hamstring) and Matt Prior (neck/shoulder) by the 20th minute.

“We’re mentally soft. It’s a hard thing to hear and a hard thing to say,” Brennan said.

“When the pressure gets put on them we resort to dumb penalties, lazy tackles, looking for a quick fix.

“We lack a bit of leadership. We are not a resilient football side at the moment.”

Originally published as Blues utility Tyrone Peachey facing heat after Titans star makes three key errors in defeat to Sharks