The last-placed Gold Coast Titans slumped to an eight-straight defeat to the Cronulla Sharks on Saturday afternoon, losing 18-10 in a dismal affair as both teams failed to ignite.
In a carnival of errors in Coffs Harbour, the Sharks again started slowly before scoring twice in quick succession. The Titans hit back with a Beau Fermor 60 metre try, before an acrobatic finish from Greg Marzhew made it 10-10.
The Sharks appeared to be in the ascendancy but failed to convert that to the scoreline, failing to finish three good opportunities to score late in the first half.
The Sharks made the Titans pay early in the second half for another poor decision after Toby Sexton unnecessarily gave away a dropout for being tackled in his in-goal area, and Blayke Brailey scored on the repeat set.
The Sharks kept the Titans quiet through the second half but both teams continued to make errors in a dreary performance. A Nicho Hynes penalty stretched the score to 18-10, before the Titans had a 95-metre try on the buzzer controversially ruled out.
It was far from a pretty game, with the Titans missing 39 tackles and the Sharks 25. The Sharks completed just 68 per cent of their sets and made 16 errors.
SHARKS START SLOW AGAIN AS ERRORS RACK UP
The Sharks have started woefully in recent weeks – conceding the opening try in their past four matches, with three of those coming in the first seven minutes. And they could have easily been down early on against the Titans. The Sharks made errors in two of their first four sets, and three of their first six. They got away with it – and got away with the win – but it was their sloppiness that kept the game alive. They made a host of errors in and out of possession, and bombed three tries in the final five minutes of the first half. “I think it’s the errors from the Sharks that have kept the Titans in it,” Steve Roach told Fox League in the second half.
Completing just 68 per cent of their sets (30/44) is a deeply worrying sign and an equal-low for the season. They made 16 errors in all.
“I think they’ll be really disappointed,” Benji Marshall said on Fox League after the game.
Halfback Nicho Hynes – having racked up his 50th NRL game – said that coach Craig Fitzgibbons wouldn’t be too impressed with their poor performance.
“I don’t think he’s going to be too happy. We grinded it out and got the win in the end … but you can’t fault the effort of the guys and he’ll be happy with that.”
“But if we’re going to compete with the best teams in the competition, we need to be way better,” Hynes added.
“We’re giving away silly penalties in our own end when we’re getting some good kicks away, and we’re just making silly offloads, errors. We need to really take a good hard look at ourselves, review those areas, and stop making those silly things so we can beat the best teams.”
MOYLAN MAGIC AS HALVES RUN THE GAME
It was all about a pair of birthday boys for the Sharks. Matt Moylan turned 31 years old on Thursday, and he wound back the clock to score his first try against the Titans since 2017. He had a second try ruled out in the first half, but had a very solid game in other areas – 82 run metres, four tackle busts, two line break assists. However, he wasn’t immune to the same woes that inflicted his teammates, making three errors.
Moylan said: “While that (performance) was good I was a bit inconsistent as well. There was a couple of loose passes and some stuff I wasn’t happy with in my own game there.”
Having accepted a one-year, cut-price contract at the Sharks, his form rebound looks set to increase his asking price for a new deal. The Sharks have reportedly been willing to stretch their offer for an extension from one year to an additional two - and on the back of today’s performance, that seems an increasingly safe bet.
But it was the way that he and Hynes both ran the ball so frequently that made the crucial difference.
Hynes – on his 26th birthday – ran 14 times for 103 metres, made five tackle busts, and, like Moylan, also offloaded twice.
“We’re both runners and that’s our strength,” Hynes said. Hynes’ kicking was sub-par, but he ran particularly well. In fact, all of the Sharks back five ran for more than 130 metres each.
Now the Sharks just need to be more clinical in attack to get the rewards from their hard work.
TINO CAN’T SPARK TURNAROUND
Can the Titans take heart from this one? Sure, it was 18-10, but they were in the fight for almost all of it (even though that was mostly due to the Sharks’ errors).
Defensively, there were major errors time and again, but they frequently went unpunished. After all, they missed a whopping 39 tackles – including six each by Toby Sexton, Sam McIntyre, and five from Patrick Herbert.
But in the end, they conceded less than 20 points for just the fifth time this season.
There were promising signs at times: Greg Marzhew once again showed off his sensational finishing ability and worked hard for his 143 run metres, with seven tackle busts. But he made just five tackles, missed two, and made an error – not to mention his horrible decision to offload (badly) on his own 10m line in the ninth minute, with the Sharks scoring on the following set.
The Titans’ decision making in both defence and attack is found wanting time and again. But they certainly tried hard, indicating that coach Justin Holbrook hasn’t lost the dressing room.
No one stood taller than Tino Fa’asuamaleaui, returning to the starting line-up and delivering a sensational solo performance. He had 30 tackles and 20 runs for 187 metres, and was pictured giving his teammates a rev-up in the sheds at half time.
AS IT HAPPENED
9TH MINUTE: Jamayne Isaako made a try-saving tackle, bursting off his own line to wrap up Will Kennedy and force a knock on when the Sharks had a winger free on the left. But the Titans offloaded very riskily through Greg Marzhew off his own 10m line, and after being tackled in-goal the Titans gave the ball back via a dropout.
11TH MINUTE: Sione Katoa made it 11 tries for the season off a brilliant tap-on-pass to his right winger, with Katoa beating his defender by stepping back inside That’s now six tries in his past five games. Kennedy also leads the NRL in line break assists.
“It was poetry in motion for Cronulla,” Brenton Speed said in commentary for Fox League.
15TH MINUTE: Matt Moylan threw a massive step to catch the Titans napping on their defensive line and run home to score.
19TH MINUTE: The Sharks were caught on halfway with a lack of numbers on the short side, and Beau Fermor sprinted through the line and dummied wonderfully to leave Will Kennedy stranded and he ran home to score the 60m try.
25TH MINUTE:
The Sharks turned the ball over in their own half and were burned for yet another error when the Titans went wide and Greg Marzhew acrobatically dived over in the corner. It was his 12th try in 19 NRL games. Co-captain Finucane was immediately substituted on for Toby Rudolf.
There was some concerns over the grounding, with his foot only just remaining in the field of play – and Marzhew nearly losing the ball on the way down.
36TH MINUTE:
Will Kennedy beat a tackle near halfway almost 60 metres and seemed destined to set up a try for teammate Ronaldo Mulitalo when they were two-on-one against Titans fullback AJ Brimson, but his pass was too far behind Mulitalo. That allowed a retreating Tino Fa’asuamaleaui to tackle Mulitalo – but he somehow avoided a sin bin when he stopped the Sharks star from regaining his feet and playing the ball.
Coffs Harbour fans roared, believing Fa’asuamaleaui would earn punishment for his action.
Speed said: “It used to be an automatic sin bin but it hasn’t happened in the last couple of weeks … the fans expected it.”
In the same set, Matt Moylan was denied a double for Teig Wilton obstructing Patrick Herbert, igniting fury from NRL pundits and fans.
Steve ‘Blocker’ Roach said in commentary for Fox League: “They were lucky to get away with that because two players had an opportunity to make a tackle and they both missed.”
38TH MINUTE: Then Sione Katoa shelled a try on the brink of halftime after Jesse Ramien delivered a low flick pass that found Katoa’s feet – with an easy try looming – but couldn’t pick it up cleanly.
45TH MINUTE: Nicho Hynes held the ball on a fifth-tackle play, gaining plenty of metres before chipping the ball toward the line. Toby Sexton made a poor decision to try and step around a Sharks defender and was punished by being tackled back into his in-goal area. After the dropout, the Sharks made the Titans pay.
Teig Wilton burst through the line, then laid it off to 23-year-old Blayke Brailey – who held the pass brilliantly at full speed to score the 10th try of his career. The conversion made it 16-10.
59TH MINUTE:
The Titans were ‘flat’ and ‘tired’ in a poor start to the second half, and a sloppy high tackle 20m from their line led to Nicho Hynes converting a penalty.
Speaking of the Titans, Roach said: “They’re out on their feet.”
68TH MINUTE:
After being tackled by Beau Fermor, Jesse Ramien twice appeared to elbow Beau Fermor on his way back to his feet.
But a penalty was blown the other way.
Speed said: “The discipline from the Titans let them down again on the last tackle. Can you believe it?!”
But a furious Fermor convinced his captain to challenge, and it was successful.
“It’s an accident,” Roach said.
Speed replied: “I don’t think so.”
73RD MINUTE:
The Sharks once again bombed what appeared an easy try, when Jesse Ramien had Sione Katoa on his outside and in space – only to overthrow the ball woefully.
80TH MINUTE:
Jarrod Wallace cleanly caught a Nicho Hynes kick five metres from his own line, then delivered a brilliant flick pass to Greg Marzhew, who raced 90 metres – and beat off a Sione Katoa tackle attempt in the process – to score after time had expired. But the Bunker somehow found a knock-on from the Sharks earlier in the play, and ruled out the try.
Sharks team: 1. Will Kennedy 2. Sione Katoa 3. Jesse Ramien 4. Siosifa Talakai 5. Ronaldo Mulitalo 6. Matt Moylan 7. Nicho Hynes 8. Toby Rudolf 9. Blayke Brailey 10. Royce Hunt 11. Briton Nikora 12. Wade Graham 13. Cameron McInnes 14. Aiden Tolman 15. Braydon Trindall 16. Teig Wilton 19. Dale Finucane. 18th man: 18. Connor Tracey
Titans team: 1. AJ Brimson 2. Greg Marzhew 3. Brian Kelly 4. Patrick Herbert 5. Jamayne Isaako 6. Paul Turner 7. Toby Sexton 8. Jarrod Wallace 9. Erin Clark 10. Isaac Liu 11. Sam McIntyre 12. Beau Fermor 13. Tino Fa’asuamaleaui 14. Tanah Boyd 15. Moeaki Fotuaika 16. Jaimin Jolliffe 17. Sam Lisone. 18th man: 18. Sosefo Fifita
PREVIEW
The Titans welcome back AJ Brimson (Covid-19 protocols), although David Fifita and Jayden Campbell remain sidelined.
The Gold Coast showed signs of promise last week against South Sydney but continue to struggle to put a full 80 minutes together, going down in the end 30-16.
Despite sitting fifth on the ladder, the Sharks have also lacked consistency in the past month, suffering heavy defeats to the Raiders and Roosters.
Even last week, while Cronulla finished well on top of the Warriors, Craig Fitzgibbon would have been less than impressed with the slow start that saw the Sharks fall behind 12-0.
The Sharks welcome back skipper Dale Finucane, who returns from a knee injury.
Brisbane’s 32-20 loss to Melbourne on Friday night means Cronulla can move back into the top four with a win on Saturday.
The Sharks won the last meeting (Round 11) between these two sides 25-18.
