Gold Coast overcame Brian Kelly’s second-half send-off to overcome Newcastle 36-26, all but ensuring they will not finish last in 2022.
Kelly was dismissed in the 51st minute for a dangerous tackle on Dom Young with the score at 30-14 to the Titans. The hosts – who conceded three times against 12 men last week against the Dragons – were able to cling on to win.
“To be down to 12 like that and defend for 30 minutes was great for our fans and our club to see how deep the players are willing to dig,” said coach Justin Holbrook.
“Special mention to Tino Fa’asuamaleaui. He played 80 minutes. That’s fantastic. We are down a man and he stays on the field.”
The result leaves Wests Tigers, who lost to St George Illawarra in the early game, needing to make up two competition points and over 75 points in differential to lift themselves off the bottom of the ladder in the final round.
This was one of the best attacking performances of the year from the Gold Coast, with AJ Brimson and Jayden Campbell running the show with ball in hand. Both picked up two try assists and Brimson scored two of his own, creating enough of a cushion to hold off the late charge.
“He is just one of those great players,” said Holbrook of Brimson. “AJ is at the top of his game. He is exceptional wherever he is playing.”
(Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images)
The Titans have ended up in 15th by acting as if defence was an optional part of rugby league, but will have been heartened early on to find out that the Knights were fellow travellers.
The teams combined for 12 tries, and though some were the result of excellent, carefree attacking play, the majority were enabled by tackling that, politely, lacked intensity. These are the second and third worst defensive sides in the NRL, and looked like it.
Dane Gagai had a mixed afternoon, scoring twice but being directly responsible for two against, and Greg Marzhew wasn’t much better on the Titans side.
“Much like our season, and probably our pre-season, it was inconsistent,” said Newcastle coach Adam O’Brien.
“We put up some fight towards the end but there were parts that were really disappointing.”
The Titans had the worst possible start: they sent the kick off out on the full, and from the first Knights set, Edrick Lee rose well above Corey Thompson for a try within the first minute.
The Knights aren’t any better, and they allowed their opponents straight back in. Brimson burned Gagai to get Marzhew in, then Campbell put David Fifita over.
Daniel Saifiti grabbed a simple barge over back, but Brimson made it up with another break, creating one for Beau Fermor.
Campbell then made another – Marzhew’s second – with a smart kick, and Tanah Boyd got in on the act by slicing through near-invisible defence.
It was hard to keep up with the scoring. To open the second half, Jayden Brayley broke through the middle and, while he was reeled in, Dom Young went over on the next play.
Kelly got the next, with Gagai again shown up defensively, but was sent off soon after for a tip tackle on Young. It didn’t stem the scoring, with Brimson dribbling a kick for himself to get another.
The Knights needed to spark up. Both Jacob Saifiti and David Klemmer were denied tries by the bunker because of unclear putdowns, but eventually, the dam broke with Gagai able to get in.
He crossed again with seven minutes to play, with Marzhew’s tackle attempt pathetic, and almost made things very interesting late on with a break and kick that took a bad bounce to safety with Young onrushing.
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