Although the score did finish 34-10 in favour of the Sydney Roosters, there were some positive signs for the Gold Coast Titans in their NRLW match and things they can work to get a win.
The first of an NRLW tripleheader this Saturday, the Titans showed resolve and ticker for the first ten minutes as both sides probe at each others defences.
The Roosters would eventually open the scoring as Tarryn Aiken, returning from an ACL injury, put the ball on a silver platter for Jess Sergis to slice through.
Jocelyn Kelleher’s conversion from near the sideline would make the score 6-0.
A Kelleher bomb led to a Titans error and off the ensuing scrum, a wide shift saw Jayme Fressard open up her 2026 account.
The Titans heads did not go down, though, as Teagan Levi, the Titans star recruit from rugby sevens, showed her skill and ability as she grubbered, regathered and reached out to score.
It would not take long for the Roosters to wrestle back momentum as the Roosters went right, leading to a Brydie Parker try.
The Titans woes went from bad to worst as Lily-Rose Kolc was sin-binned for contacting the kicking leg of Kelleher.
Despite their best efforts to score while playing with twelve, the Roosters would go for it on the final play, eventually leading to a second try for Fressard.
Roosters rugby sevens recruit Sariah Paki will face a nervous wait after she was put on report for a hip drop tackle.
Momentum was all with the Titans to begin the second half and a lovely worked play through the middle saw Destiny Mino-Sinapati slice through and around defenders to score Titans second.
But that was soon stopped when Sergis had another try, as she did remarkably well to keep her ball-carrying off the ground and reaching out to score.
Aiken would cap off a nice return from her ACL injury as she stepped, ducked and weaved past defenders to score another Roosters try.
The Titans were dealt two cruel blows as stars Jess Elliston and Destiny Mino-Sinapati went off with ankle and knee injuries respectively.
The icing on the cake came when star Roosters centre Isabelle Kelly got her name on the scoresheet with a try on the last play.
Although Roosters coach John Strange was pleased with the way his side played, he was disappointed with the game itself and the slow ruck and believes the NRLW needs the six again rule implemented like the NRL.
“Really, really slow ruck,” Strange said.
“You work hard to get one-on-ones, quick play the balls and you get a second player coming in, which turns what should be a quick play the ball into a five-second thing.
“Hopefully that’s not going to continue and it’d be great if they keep letting that go – the slow rucks – and bring in six agains and they might be inclined to call them.”
The Titans knew an opening round game against the Roosters never going to be easy but coach Karyn Murphy admits that her side made it hard for themselves.
“We made it very hard for ourselves,” Murphy said.
“We spoke about these early rounds that a definite goal was to have high completions and give ourselves a chance and get some field position to show what we could do and we were 40% in the first and 60 odd in the second.”
Sydney Roosters 34 (Fressard 2, Sergis 2, Aiken, Kelly, Parker; Goals: Kelleher 3) def. Gold Coast Titans 10 (Levi, Mino-Sinapati; Goals: Brown)
Ricky’s Player of the Game
3. Jess Sergis (SYD)
2. Tarryn Aiken (SYD)
1. Teagan Levi (GLD)
