Titans tactics are inspired negativity

Some strange things happened on Saturday night in Melbourne. Firstly, the Storm lost at home, which secondly means that the Titans won away from home. The third strange occurrence was that the Titans managed to get up without Scott Prince steering them around the park.

The fourth was the strange, but somewhat effective tactic that the Titans used to nullify the Storm: on numerous occasions, the Titans chose to kick so long and deep that the ball sailed over the miniscule Olympic Park in goal areas before landing on the running track, forcing a 20-metre restart.

The idea of giving up the tap restart was about as inspiring as such a negative tactic could ever hope to be.

Mat Rogers must have thought he was still playing at five-eighth for the Waratahs with all the kicking out on the full he was doing. He may have lost a yard or two of pace, but he still has a booming left boot on him and Cartwright used it to full effect.

With Rogers punting the ball dead from in his own half on occasion, locals would have been forgiven for wondering if they’d wandered into the wrong stadium.

Apart from minimising Slater’s opportunities to run at them in broken play, the tactic also allowed the Titans to reset their defensive line and get their breath back – a luxury Storm opposition don’t normally get.

Another luxury Storm opposition don’t normally get is a subdued Greg Inglis.

Perhaps Craig Bellamy’s recent habit of shifting his players positionally is doing Inglis more harm than good. Indeed, the Storm looked far less effective than usual, with Smith shifting to pivot and Hinchcliffe starting the match.

But none of that should take away from the fact that the Titans came with a plan and executed it well enough to get themselves the two points.

In a season where all teams have struggled under the pace of the game to keep opposing teams pinned back and to single digits on the scoreboard, their effort is to be commended.

It seems the Titans have found one way of slowing the game down that’s within the rules. How apt then that such a tactic should be unfurled at the home of the side who have done so much to slow down the ruck in recent years.

Not too many teams take a trip down to Melbourne and strangle the Storm as effectively as the Titans did on Saturday night.

In fact, only four team have managed to even beat the Storm on their home patch in the last 45 attempts, and only three in the last three seasons. Let’s hope the next team to do it keeps the ball in hand a bit more.