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The Titans have set the cat among the many finals pigeons with a 22-13 boilover victory that stored their hopes alive, mathematically at the very least, whereas bringing the Cowboys again to the pack of prime eight contenders.
The Cowboys had been on a six sport streak, whereas the Gold Coast hadn’t received in 4, however an early second half blitz was sufficient to offer interim coach Jim Lenihan a second victory in cost.
Now, the ladder has North Queensland stage with Souths and Canberra on 11 wins, forward of Parramatta and Cronulla on ten and forward of Manly and Newcastle on 9, plus a draw. 4 from these seven will make it.
The Titans must win out from right here – extremely unlikely given their well-known inconsistency – however they had been by far the higher facet as we speak.
Their vast assault was wonderful, making a powerful Cowboys defence look pedestrian. They had been assisted by a sin bin for Val Holmes, who having gone virtually 200 video games with no sin bin, was sat down for the second time in two rounds.
This week’s shot was quite a bit worse than the one which levelled Mitchell Moses, with the centre catching Jayden Campbell direct within the face with a heavy hit. It could be shocking if he was not suspended.
Reece Robson, too, is a doubt for the remainder of the yr after leaving early with what gave the impression to be a damaged jaw.
The Titans enigma
On the commentary, Andrew Voss described the Titans as “frustratingly good”, and it was straightforward to see why. They aren’t terrible, however additionally they totally, fully are.
Amongst all groups within the NRL, they’ve the largest hole between their finest and worst, typically inside the similar sport, making them harmful for anybody with one thing to play for, but additionally liable to fall over and make your afternoon extremely straightforward.
This can be a facet that has received defeated the Broncos and the Storm, in addition to Parramatta and now the Cowboys, but additionally misplaced to the Dolphins, Bulldogs and the Dragons. Final week, they had been 30-0 all the way down to the Roosters, who don’t have any assault.
We bought a transparent reminder of what the Titans do inside the first ten minutes.
They scored a terrific attempt, shredding the Cowboys’ edge defence from deep. Then they drop the ball after factors and concede.
They ship the kick off out on the total and concede once more. If ever there was an encapsulation of why they lose a lot, that was it.
But, this time, they refused to go away. After they’re sizzling they’ll placed on factors quick and did that straight after half time with two tries in 5 minutes that turned the sport round.
There’s a lot pace within the backline that even the Cowboys, who’re among the many best possible defensively, couldn’t cope.
On the opposite facet of the footy, they did nearly sufficient. The Gold Coast have made a behavior of scoring a lot and shedding anyway, however confirmed an surprising quantity of resilience to maintain North Queensland at bay.
Kieran Foran confirmed all his expertise to handle the sport out on the Cowboys’ finish of the sphere whereas AJ Brimson and Jayden Campbell additionally confirmed composure to drive repeat units on the finish.
The Cowboys assault fails them
North Queensland’s mid-season revival has been based mostly virtually totally on their defence, which has been in a position to shut down virtually all comers within the final six weeks.
Right this moment, although, it was the outdated issues in assault that got here to the fore. They had been far too conservative with ball in hand and didn’t generate any stress, accumulating a full ten fewer units in possession than the Titans.
The Gold Coast are among the many least resilient defensive models round, however weren’t requested sufficient questions over an extended sufficient interval to see them crack.
Only one line break – and none after half time – informed its personal story. This yr, the Cowboys have benefited from distinctive moments from Tom Dearden and Scott Drinkwater, however each had been shut down fully as we speak.
Solely within the latter levels did they put sufficient air underneath the soccer to problem a notoriously shaky Titans edge defence.
That is what failed the Cowboys on the pointy finish final yr. Within the Preliminary Ultimate, the backbone wasn’t fairly on the stage of Parramatta, who all the time had the higher capacity to attain factors.
This was like watching a repeat. When Dearden and Drinkwater don’t fireplace, the shortage of different choices stands out.
Chad Townsend, whereas organiser and kicker, is only a stage beneath in creativity, with few ball-playing choices within the ahead pack with Jeremiah Nanai injured and Robson departing this sport early.
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