Gold Coast took the fight to Brisbane on Saturday night at Cbus Super Stadium and made the Broncos nervous for most of the match.
But in the end, it was a case of bigger brother exerting their authority with furious intent to run away with the 43-26 scoreline and re-establish their spot at the top of the NRL ladder after seven rounds.
It was far from a polished performance by Kevin Walters’ team but Brisbane stand alone at 12 competition points at the top of the ladder after being momentarily joined on the highest rung by premiers Penrith and this year’s surprise packets, the Warriors, when they both won earlier in the day.
Brisbane won’t look back on this one too fondly at the end of the season but they’ll happily bank the extra notch in the win column which could decide playoff seedings come season’s end.
The match had already turned Brisbane’s way when Titans skipper Tino Fa’asuamaleaui was sin-binned in the 62nd minute for a professional foul but his absence sent his team further into a tailspin.
David Fifita. (Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images)
“It’s just frustrating,” Fa’asuamaleaui said.
“I let the team down, you know? Crucial moment like that where we were on the backfoot and then I sort of let the team down by getting sent to the bin.
“That made it hard on the boys with 12 men – and that’s when the floodgates opened.
“I’ve just got to be better as a leader, as a captain and not get sent off from something stupid.”
Gold Coast coach Justin Holbrook wasn’t going to blow up about the incident: “We didn’t play good enough. They were the better side, it’s as simple as that.”
The Titans opened the scoring early when winger Phil Sami flew over but it was cancelled out by Broncos forward Jordan Riki’s response in the 15th minute.
Alofiana Khan-Pereira edged the Titans out to a 14-6 advantage midway through the first half and they looked set to take that advantage into the break but an attacking kick was charged down by Reece Walsh and the ball found it’s way to Herbie Farnworth to race the ball back nearly the length of the field the other way to cut the gap to four as the siren sounded.
The momentum of the match swung Brisbane’s way for good in the 50th minute when Jordan Riki rumbled downfield against the run of play after a wayward Titans kick, leading to a Reece Walsh four-pointer and a 16-14 lead.
Brisbane extended the gap to eight when Jesse Arthars dived over in the corner five minutes later and when Kurt Capewell won the race to an Adam Reynolds grubber, the visitors led 30-14.
Ezra Mam put the Broncos up by 22 before mid-season Titans recruit Kruise Leeming gave the home side a sniff at 36-20 down with 10 to go.
Selwyn Cobbo turned the tide with another Titans loose ball, toeing it ahead, regathering and watching the chasers on the big screen as he streaked away to seal a 42-20 triumph in the closing stages.
Reynolds slotted over a meaningless field goal before Khan-Pereira reduced the final margin when the Titans won the ball back from a short kick-off in the last minute.
Brisbane have bounced back from their surprise loss to the Raiders not in the best possible fashion but with an ugly victory.
They were well below the best in the first half but just as they did earlier in the season against the Dragons, once they got on a roll, they turned it into a late steamrolling.
Mam is growing in his role as Reynolds’ playmaking accomplice and his union with Walsh is building fluency with every outing.
Their go-forward is uber-reliant on Payne Haas and Patrick Carrigan. Haas ended up with 169 running metres from 17 hit-ups while Carrigan tallied one more metre from two fewer runs.
“We knew that we were a better side than what we’ve thrown up in the first half,” coach Kevin Walters said.
“It’s a bit disappointing because we spoke all week to get off to a good start and a strong start. That didn’t happen for us, but luckily, it’s week seven of 27.
“Pleasing thing was when we did start to play some footy we looked like a pretty good side.”
After last season’s abject failure, the Titans are showing signs of life in 2023.
David Fifita is putting in on the left edge and tallied 173 metres from 15 runs against his former team, Tanah Boyd is proving a reliable on-field general and Jayden Campbell stepped up at fullback in the absence of AJ Brimson.
Fifita also racked up a game-high 36 tackles so he’s certainly not putting the cue in the rack despite recently re-signing at the club.
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And they’re at 3-3 despite first-choice hooker Sam Verrills going down with a serious shoulder injury after less than two outings.
They won’t be top-four material this season but if they can hover around the fringe of the top eight for most of the season, it’s not inconceivable that they could force their way into the finals.
They at least have fullback AJ Brimson on the verge of a return next week after a hamstring strain sidelined him for a month.
“I’m not too sure. Hopefully, AJ will be back next week and then I’ll sort of worry about it then,” Holbrook said.
“It’s a good headache to have, we need good players. We probably missed AJ tonight in different parts of the game.
“We’ll fit them all in. We just need them back. We’ve still got some troops missing, so we’ve got to get them back.”
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