LIVE GAME Round 27 v Titans

[orange&black]

That comes from lack of leadership on the field.

I think you’re right with this - certainly against the Cows and again tonight.
What I saw was one team wanting to win more than the other. They ran harder and tackled harder than we did. Their forwards were much tougher and stronger and when they got a sniff they were too fast for us. AJ Brimson smashed us as did Kini - both had too much speed for our guys. Toa got schooled all night.
Again we seem to fall away in games and lose the contact battle in D. We start looking slow to get off the ground and give away huge meterage up the middle. We are constantly on the back foot and this happened for the last 25 mins of the game.
Don’t know the run metres but it looked like their pack had it all over ours.

 

[Rock Hopper Steve]

That comes from lack of leadership on the field.

Can't blame luai for that he's always barking at them.

I just put it down to the thick heads and the young, dumb, full of (you know what) players in the team.

They need to wake up over the summer or we won't improve much.

 

[Droppy05]

Can't blame luai for that he's always barking at them.

I just put it down to the thick heads and the young, dumb, full of (you know what) players in the team.

They need to wake up over the summer or we won't improve much.

He might bark, but what is saying and showing? Get to your 5 th tackle, kick long and chase hard. It's a simple game when analysed. If we did the simple things consistently we can compete with any team. We may not beat them but would win more than we lose. Certainly not when 16 up against the worst teams in the comp.

 

[watersider]

Perfect reflection of our season that one. So much promise that you almost start to believe but then just horrible weak mentality and massive disappointment.

There's a lot of quality footballers in our team now but we are collectively fragile. They need the best psychologists and physical training in order to make them more resilient. Until we show some of that we're a nothing team.

The Mays look like our most resilient players, not many with them. It's not easy teaching mental toughness but that's all this team needs. That and a dose of common sense on tackle 5.

We leave the year having lost three in a row and not really able to break any of our bad patterns.

The one real positive is that at times this year, and sometimes for long periods of matches, we've looked the stronger team physically. But this team seems to hate adversity and for all the big talk bluster, we're a little bit scared and nervous when we get a lead.

I really like most the players on our team, I think it does matter to them and that their attitude is better, skills are better, they're bigger and faster. But we still play just well enough to lose and ultimately we were nowhere near being a good team this year.

Latu is still not finishing games, seyfarth still with dumb errors, toa still playing like a shadow, pole still not able to tackle.

Also, the ref was bad. Real bad.

 

[mtd#2]

For the second last try, Mason got sucked inside, which led to an overlap - resulting in a try...

For the last try, Mason once again was inside AJ Brimson - leaving way too much space... Where was TOA ? Had he gone off injured?

 

[Halbrowne61]

That comes from lack of leadership on the field.

Very good point D.

 

[rozelle_rudy]

Ok, here’s my curve ball for comment.
Was Madden signed coz Benji has been quietly advised that Luai may, and I said may, activate his exit clause ?
Otherwise it’s a very strange decision ( for both parties ).

Madden was signed for depth. We keep losing halves to injury. Madden is better than Mason and more experienced, if we have to have a backup half on the bench as we did today. Hopefully we won't see Mason in the 17 in 2026.

 

[Yossarian]

When was the last time we beat someone home and away? It’s probably not that long ago but it feels forever.

 

[Flippedy]

If it makes anyone feel any better St George had an even worse finish to their season, with poor performances over the last month including a 40-0 flogging by Souths, remembering that they were above us on the ladder for much of the season.

 

[Yossarian]

When was the last time we beat someone home and away? It’s probably not that long ago but it feels forever.

Saints 2021 apparently.

 

[ancient_magpie]

Madden was signed for depth. We keep losing halves to injury. Madden is better than Mason and more experienced, if we have to have a backup half on the bench as we did today. Hopefully we won't see Mason in the 17 in 2026.

Mason should not get past koe grade until he improves his defence massively.

 

[SeanT]

Hurts.

Doesn't really matter results wise.
But these are the games, especially through the year, we need to be winning to make the 8.

I'm very disappointed.

Glad it's over. Better year but so far off the best teams it isn't funny.

 

[StarswithStripes]

Typical finish to the season for our boys. A better year without the spoon and arguably a pass mark for the season but it seems regardless of who we have in our team, that last game doesn’t seem to inspire an all in effort to end with a win. We might has well have been playing Melbourne for us to lose 24 nil in the second. Disappointed. And Parra finish ahead of us! At least I don’t feel ashamed enough to go and peel off the 2025 membership sticker off my back windscreen like I have the last 7 years 🤪

 

[Camel2281]

If Toa can harden up there is talent , 3 years of sooking , suprised he was resigned

He can't/won't defend. Never has

 

[orange&black]

One pleasing thing from today’s game was seeing Royce fired up and having a go. Shame he can’t seem to build on that effort.
We look bog average against any team with grunt or speed - seems to be two key winning ingredients that we sorely lack.

 

[Siberian Kitten]

There's a pattern. If the Tigers win, they lose the next game. If they get in the lead, they fall away.

It seems to me that they're so used to losing that, as soon as they do something right, they get big heads and start dropping off tackles, doing hail Mary passes, dropping the ball, giving away penalties. They can't balance confidence and humility. It's either one or the other.

On the plus side, the Kennel is pretty entertaining ATM.

 

[bbobb]

I flew up for the game. (spur of the moment thing).
While the Tigers should never have lost that game, you kind of have to give the Titans some credit. It really defies logic how the Titans were spoon contenders. They have great attacking weapons in Campbell, Brimson and Kini as well as decent forward pack led by Tino. They showed urgency with ball and can make something out of nothing.

Thoughts on the game:
~ Terrell is not an 80 minute player. He often stands behind the opposition defensive line for 4 tackles before gets back onside. His hit ups do not bend the line.
~ Taylan is all class. He saved our back a few times with this last line defence
~ Sione is only a fill in edge as his lateral movement isn’t good enough.KPP will be better there.
~ When Latu went off, Jerome became quite frantic and tried too hard to make the magic play. Early ball to Taylan would have seen points in the second half. We often had them stripped for numbers.
~ Seyfarth was good in his first stint. Played a link role that saw points but his hit ups were average.
~ Api was energetic but isn’t a 80 minute player. He gets tired with the defensive workload.
~ Latu looked great. Took the line on and was strong is all areas. Defensively as good as any half. Game changed when he went off.
~ Heath Mason (yeesh). Sorry but I just don’t see it. His passing game is slow and awkward. Defence is questionable. His only attribute is his speed from standing start but that seems to be easily read. I think he is a KOE type fill in.
~ To’a is an enigma, brilliant but frustrating in about 2 seconds of each other.
~ Roycey was awesome. Even the Titans fans were impressed. That’s the standard every week for him.
- Bula is a keeper. He just gets better and better. Will be a top echelon fullback very soon.
~ Impressive debut from Makasini. Strong carries and solid defensively. Nice try to remember

Overall a very disappointing loss. We don’t seem to be able to cope with adversity well. In this case when Latu went off the wheels fell off and we lost our structure.

 

[Tigerdave]

Well that was disappointing waking up to this, especially given we were leading 28-12, very similar to the Cowboys game and the Titans scored 3 tries fairly close to the times that the Cowboys scored their 3 tries.

Still, a way better season for a long time, the most wins since 2019. Lost 7 games by 8 points or less. We have Taylan starting the season, the spine (barring injuries) seems more settled for next year.

 

[Vicious]

I flew up for the game. (spur of the moment thing).
While the Tigers should never have lost that game, you kind of have to give the Titans some credit. It really defies logic how the Titans were spoon contenders. They have great attacking weapons in Campbell, Brimson and Kini as well as decent forward pack led by Tino. They showed urgency with ball and can make something out of nothing.

Thoughts on the game:
~ Terrell is not an 80 minute player. He often stands behind the opposition defensive line for 4 tackles before gets back onside. His hit ups do not bend the line.
~ Taylan is all class. He saved our back a few times with this last line defence
~ Sione is only a fill in edge as his lateral movement isn’t good enough.KPP will be better there.
~ When Latu went off, Jerome became quite frantic and tried too hard to make the magic play. Early ball to Taylan would have seen points in the second half. We often had them stripped for numbers.
~ Seyfarth was good in his first stint. Played a link role that saw points but his hit ups were average.
~ Api was energetic but isn’t a 80 minute player. He gets tired with the defensive workload.
~ Latu looked great. Took the line on and was strong is all areas. Defensively as good as any half. Game changed when he went off.
~ Heath Mason (yeesh). Sorry but I just don’t see it. His passing game is slow and awkward. Defence is questionable. His only attribute is his speed from standing start but that seems to be easily read. I think he is a KOE type fill in.
~ To’a is an enigma, brilliant but frustrating in about 2 seconds of each other.
~ Roycey was awesome. Even the Titans fans were impressed. That’s the standard every week for him.
- Bula is a keeper. He just gets better and better. Will be a top echelon fullback very soon.
~ Impressive debut from Makasini. Strong carries and solid defensively. Nice try to remember

Overall a very disappointing loss. We don’t seem to be able to cope with adversity well. In this case when Latu went off the wheels fell off and we lost our structure.

It’s clear see that Terrell May and Korisau struggle playing the full 80mins and it’s costing us by continually doing it.
In one of the early tries we conceded, May was defending inside of Latu and made no attempt to number up due to fatigue. This meant Latu had to take the player inside of the man he was marking which led to a 3 v 2 against us and an easy try to the Titans.
Not only is playing Terrell for the full 80mins costing us as a team, it’s making him look soft and effecting his chances of playing for NSW which he says is a big ambition.
Api has been and still is a champion player, but he’s getting older and is clearly fatigued in various stages of the game which leads to the high number of missed tackles from him each week and effects his running game which is one of his real strengths when his is not fatigued.
I believe Benji is improving as a coach, but sone of his team selections and poor use of the interchange is still a major concern.

 

[Tigerwould]

We missed Skelton’s metres getting out of our own end.