3 minute read
Gold Coast face Wests Tigers on the back of three NRL defeats and with doubts increasing about living up to their pre-season hype.
Hyped as a potential top four NRL bolter in pre-season, Gold Coast face Wests Tigers on Saturday with serious question marks as to whether the walk can match the talk.
Last Friday's 36-28 loss to Brisbane at Suncorp Stadium came after the Titans had bolted to a 22-point lead inside 20 minutes.
The loss to the Broncos was the Titans' third on the bounce, with Justin Holbrook's team conceding 112 points in those defeats to Manly, South Sydney and Brisbane.
In fact, the past three matches are worse than anything the Titans put together under much-maligned former coach Garth Brennan.
After the Titans' latest loss, an exasperated Holbrook lamented his team's woeful defending, with his team conceding 23.9 points a game this year, a figure that's worse than last season's average (23.1).
"It's been for all different reasons," Holbrook said.
"Manly was poor attitude.
"Against Souths we lost a couple of troops that defended on the same edge and made it hard.
"Last week was a mixture of everything. I thought we just tried to solve things on our own and made it too hard on ourselves."
Compounding Holbrook's headaches for the trip to Campbelltown Stadium, five-eighth Ash Taylor is unavailable as he continues to struggle for full fitness after off-season hip surgery while in-form winger Corey Thompson has been ruled out for at least two months with an ankle injury.
Tanah Boyd will replace Taylor while Beau Fermor comes into the backline at centre with Phillip Sami moving to the wing in Thompson's absence.
A big in for Holbrook is the return for Queensland State of Origin backrower Tino Fa'asuamaleaui who missed the losses to Souths and Brisbane due to suspension.
"You throw Tino on the field and we probably win both those weeks and we're not getting under as much scrutiny," Holbrook said.
"He'll be a huge lift for our team."
The Tigers have made one change following their much-needed win over St George Illawarra last weekend with Moses Mbye named in the centres to replace suspended Tommy Talau and Jacob Liddle taking Mbye's spot on the interchange bench.
