A freak Greg Bird injury could not stop Gold Coast Titans notching a scrappy 28-12 NRL home win over Canberra on Sunday that may have helped them avoid the wooden spoon.
Bird appears to have played his last game for 2015 after he tore his quad kicking off to start the game.
He immediately trudged down the player race in what may be the Titans’ last sighting of the Test forward this season.
Titans coach Neil Henry has plenty more to worry about despite the Gold Coast notching just their second win in nine games to move away from the NRL cellar.
Halfback Kane Elgey provided a rare highlight for the Titans by setting up three tries, scoring one himself and taking over goalkicking duties to amass a 12-point personal haul in front of just 8,762 fans.
However, he has been placed on report for tripping Raiders centre Joey Leilua in the 29th minute.
Backrower Ryan James’ 26th minute try helped Gold Coast claim a 14-12 halftime lead but he was placed on report in the 36th minute for a dangerous tackle on Canberra halfback Sam Williams.
James had to recover from a collision with teammate Dave Taylor following the hit on Williams.
But Canberra’s hulking centre “BJ” Leilua may be in the biggest trouble after being placed on report for a 52nd minute shoulder charge on David Mead.
At least the Titans are on track to avoid their second wooden spoon in five seasons.
They moved to 20 competition points with two games to go ahead of Wests Tigers (18pts) who were thrashed 40-18 by Cronulla on Saturday and the Knights (18pts) who play in Melbourne on Monday night.
They moved into a block of four teams on 20 points including Canberra who were knocked out of finals contention by last round’s 26-24 loss to Manly.
Giant forward Dave Taylor was originally named at five-eighth by Henry with Aidan Sezer (shoulder) out for the season.
But Dan Mortimer slotted into the halves with comeback-kid, Elgey who looks to provide plenty of competition for Gold Coast-bound Knights half Tyrone Roberts next year.
Geoff from Bruce Stadium
Guest
Ricky has to stop protecting the players. "There's 17 blokes hurting in there". For God's sake. Its like a cracked record. Stop smothering and babying them. Get stuck into them. Demand more. Expect more. And punish those that don't deliver. How did Shillington get a game after his abysmal final 10 minutes against Manly? He should have been banished back to the Mounties and Nicholls given a chance to prove himself. And why have the halves been so awful for the past month? I'm sick of medocrity being rewarded or condoned at the Raiders. Honestly there is some serious bludging going on there at times. Maybe I'm old school but I want to hear about paint peeling off dressing room walls at half time. And that players are being put on notice. Bellamy or Hasler would never condone some of these performances. They would have got the rocket they deserved.
The eye
Guest
Well said Geoff..the biggest disappointment of the round was Ricky's press conference where he blamed 'our season being taken off us' the week before for the miserable performance..can't imagine Bellamy or Bennett putting up with that for a second..
Geoff from Bruce Stadium
Guest
Terrible performance by the Raiders on Sunday. Lacklustre, disinterested, dispirited, shameful - you name it. The Titans practically gave them the game with numerous unforced errors but they couldn't get the job done. Kennedy and Croker appeared to be the only two having a crack. But good luck to the Titans - I like the look of Elgey - good prospect. I too am sick of the whinging and whining by supporters of what could have been for the Raiders this season. They simply weren't good enough. What ever happened to collective responsibility? And ownership for fixing up their problems such as their leaky defence and poor last tackle options. Williams and Austin have been terrible in the past month. The Raiders only have themselves to blame and I'm sick of this victim mentality blaming the refs for their woes. They simply don't deserve to be in the finals and Ricky Stuart needs to stop sugar coating disappointing performances and start recognising what he needs to do to make them a real finals contender next season.
Jay C
Roar Guru
Good. Couldn't bare a whole summer full of Tim's agonizing what if articles.