NRL 2021: Gold Coast Titans defeat Wests Tigers 36-28, David Fifita on report for high shot
The Titans got their season back on track against a woeful Wests Tigers, who once again proved an on-field embarrassment with a soulless performance on a night dedicated to Tommy Raudonikis.
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The Titans got their season back on track against the woeful Wests Tigers but star forward David Fifita could be suspended following a brain snap in the Gold Coast’s 36-28 win.
The Titans snapped a three-game losing streak at Campbelltown on Saturday night after the Tigers once again embarrassed themselves on a night dedicated to late Wests legend Tommy Raudonikis.
Wests allowed the Titans to burst out to an 18-0 lead within the opening 13 minutes which ultimately proved too much to overcome despite a late flurry of tries.
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But the Gold Coast’s much-needed win was soured after Fifita was sin-binned and placed on report.
With only 80 seconds left in the game and the Titans leading by 12, Fifita lashed out at Tigers five-eighth Adam Doueihi close to line, slapping him in the head.
Fifita was sent to the sin bin for the remainder of the match and now faces a nervous wait before the NRL’s match review panel releases its charges on Sunday.
He faces a fine at best or could be suspended from next weekend’s Magic Round clash against ladder-leading Penrith at Suncorp Stadium.
“I honestly thought it was reflex action,” Titans coach Justin Holbrook said. “He got 10 in the bin. He clearly didn’t hurt him. He should be fine.”
Titans lock Tyrone Peachey was also placed on report for a shoulder charge in what could be a double blow for the Gold Coast.
TITANS STILL LEAKING
While it was a much-needed win for the Titans, the Gold Coast still has some major defensive flaws to fix.
The Titans burst out to an 18-point lead with their exciting style of attack but the scars of last week’s shocking loss to Brisbane were still fresh and they let the Tigers back into the contest way too easily.
Each time the Tigers went close to the Titans’ tryline in the first half it looked like they would score.
The Titans’ 18-0 lead went back to 18-12 within six minutes following two soft tries.
Unlike the Broncos debacle, the Titans steadied the ship in the second half and burst out to a matchwinning 36-12 lead after 63 minutes, winger Phil Sami bagging a crucial double.
But they once again let their opponents back into the game, with the Tigers scoring three tries in the last 12 minutes to flatter themselves.
The win kept the Titans in the top eight but if they want to be a serious finals contender they have to make some major defensive improvements because those types of efforts won’t beat the top teams.
They have conceded an average of 35 points per game in the past four rounds.
“I was really happy for 68 minutes,” Holbrook said. “We’ve been under a bit of pressure but we were up 36-12 against a side as desperate as us so I’m happy we won.
“In the first five rounds we defended fine. That effort is exactly what we need all the time.
“We need to play 80 minutes. The good sides keep the foot on the throat. We’re pretty good when we get it right.”
WIND UP WESTS
The NRL would never do it but they should seriously consider relocating the Wests Tigers or even shutting them down. The Tigers have not played finals football since 2011 and are simply making up the numbers every year.
While they are apparently in solid financial shape, the club is an on-field embarrassment with little soul and splitting their home between Leichhardt and Campbelltown robs them of an identity.
They should base themselves in Campbelltown and get in touch with the community instead of being just another inner-city Sydney club.
On a night honouring the passionate Raudonikis, the Tigers found themselves down 18-0 after only 13 minutes.
They conceded a try from a kick-off and didn’t touch the ball between nil-all and 18-0.
The Titans are so bad defensively that they let the Tigers back into the game but the damage had already been done. A few late tries flattered the Tigers but they were not going to win the game and the eight-point loss was not reflective of their effort.
The NRL is set to launch a new Brisbane team in 2023, but they should investigate moving or killing the Tigers in their current form and keeping the competition at 16 clubs.
“The group’s going to have to take control, we have to work out what we do around the consistency with this team,” Tigers coach Michael Maguire said. “We can’t think those things are going to happen. We’ve got to create it.
“We’ve got to do it every week if we’re going to be a fair dinkum team.
“It’s pretty embarrassing. I’m not going to come up with any excuses.”
MAGUIRE SET TO SHARPEN AXE
Braith Anasta said it looked like they were sleepwalking, and Michael Maguire didn’t disagree.
“I guess you can’t fault what he says when you have tries scored like that,” Maguire said.
By the time his players woke up, the damage had been done, and Gold Coast consigned the Wests Tigers to a dispiriting defeat in Campbelltown.
Gold Coast may have been the visitors, but it was the Tigers who failed to get off the bus after conceding three tries in a jaw-dropping four-minute blitz.
But, in scenes eerily similar to their round-five loss to North Queensland, the home side dramatically fought back from 24 points down to get within 12, only to fall to another agonising loss.
There was a scary moment late when Tigers winger David Nofoaluma, who scored two tries, tried to claim his third by diving for the corner in the 78th minute.
He was barrelled over the sideline and crashed into an exposed fence, but came up unscathed.
There was further drama in the closing moments when Titans star David Fifita was sin-binned and put on report for a coathanger on Adam Doueihi, who scored soon after to get within eight.
But in the end, the head start was all the Titans, led by star duo AJ Brimson and Fifita, needed to snap a three-game losing streak and consolidate their spot in the top eight. Souring the victory was the late citing of versatile lock Tyrone Peachey for contact to the head.
MADGE LOOKS TO YOUTH
The club went to great lengths to honour the late Tommy Raudonikis at the ground he coached, including renaming the eastern grandstand after him, and wearing a Western Suburbs strip.
But, in a similar start to their first tribute to Raudonikis at Leichhardt three weeks ago, the team fluffed their lines for the event.
Titans winger Phillip Sami finished off a Tanah Boyd grubber in the ninth minute, but it was their second try from the ensuing kick-off that left the crowd of 8411 gobsmacked.
Instead of carting the ball up on play one, Gold Coast prop Jarrod Wallace passed to Brimson, who broke into the backfield before Peachey finished off the 100-metre play.
And when Brian Kelly completed a stunning four-minute blitz by scoring from the next set, the locals, not for the first time this year, might’ve begun reaching for their pitchforks.
Maguire, fed up with his team’s inconsistencies, might also be reaching for his axe.
“We’ve got some good young players coming through in reserve grade who are performing well,” he said. “I’ve got to have a look at the dynamics of what we’re doing because I’ve got to do something to fix this consistency around what’s been going on for quite some time.
DOUEIHI DOES IT AGAIN
However not for the first time this year, it was Doueihi who engineered the comeback.
The improved five-eighth put Joey Leilua over for their first in the 19th minute, and scored a try himself late, finishing with three line break assists and two try assists.
Gold Coast doubled their cushion early in the second half through two contentious calls – a dubious pass for a Sami try, and a missed Wallace knock-on prior to a Boyd four-pointer.
Nofoaluma tried to will his team back with two tries in three minutes, but in the end it was too little, too late to prevent the side from dropping to their fifth defeat in six games.
“There was ebbs and flows in his game. He was part of all that out there. I won’t talk about one individual,” Maguire said.
TITANIC TRYSAVER
His team has now conceded 140 points in their past four games, but Titans coach Justin Holbrook took plenty of satisfaction out of the scrambling defence that denied Nofoaluma his hat trick.
Fifita, Brimson and Boyd – arguably his team’s best three players on Saturday – showed plenty of desperation in preventing the Tigers from potentially drawing within six.
“It was a big play, wasn’t it. We were scrambling and Brian Kelly was looking a bit busted. For the others to cover for him was a great sign, and we needed that,” he said.
“We’d been under a bit of pressure not playing as well as we should’ve. For 67-68 minutes we were up 36-12 against a side as desperate as us.”
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