It was a game that the Titans had to win. They needed the win. Just to get that confidence back, both on the field and the locker room.
Unfortunately for the Gold Coast Titans, that win did not come tonight, despite a spirited effort against the Sydney Roosters, in a game that was rather disappointing and dour.
The game, in particular the first-half, was about as bad a half you could see from two sides – with a multitude of dropped balls, errors, penalties, etc.
At one stage, it looked like neither team was going to get on with proceedings, before the points started to come more freely in the second half.
Despite the somewhat lackadaisical efforts in the first-half, Roosters coach Brian Smith was pleased with the way his side dominated in their defense, and shut down nearly ever attacking raid the Titans had.
“I was looking at our battered boys and they looked like warriors who had gone out and ripped in,” Smith said.
“I started to think about how brave you need to be to play footy. Sometimes, you need to be brave to watch it.”
One incident that may or may not appear on the highlight reel, is a bone-crunching tackle that Roosters five-eighth Braith Anasta was on the receiving end of, courtesy of a monster hit from Jamal Idris.
“I was on the highlight reel last year when (Tariq) Sims smashed me up in north Queensland so I’m just going to be on it again,” he joked.
Anasta was full of praise for his former team-mate Nate Myles, who produced some brilliant stats for a losing side – making 45 tackles and17 hit-ups.
“I didn’t expect anything less from him – he does it every week,” Anasta said.
“I’d knew he’d want to have a big game tonight and I thought he did.”
The only downside for the Roosters, was lock Frank-Paul Nuuausala, suffering a broken jaw in the very first tackle of the game.
On the other side of the coin, whilst Titans coach John Cartwright could not flaw his side’s effort and commitment tonight, he admitted that they lacked the “polish” and finesse required in attack.
“I can’t worry about the season slipping away,” Cartwright said.
“We’re disappointed with this result. If I worry about the season, I’m not going to worry about what’s up next week (Manly at Brookvale Oval on Saturday).
“It’s an opportunity lost but I know with the effort that is there, we’re going to turn it around. I’ve got no doubt about that.”
Titans fans had their heart in their mouth when Jamal Idris left the field and went up the tunnel, but Cartwright said that it was merely a precautionary measure to protect the star centre’s hamstring.
“He hasn’t re-injured it (the hamstring). It just seized up on him a bit,” he said.