Gold Coast coach Des Hasler and captain Kieran Foran have criticised the Titans’ wasteful performance following Saturday afternoon’s 18-10 loss to the Wests Tigers at Leichhardt Oval, lamenting the “stupid” errors and missed chances in attack.
The Titans, who were leading by four points at half-time, botched multiple try-scoring opportunities throughout the Round 15 contest, with fullback Keano Kini neglecting to pass the footy to an unmarked teammate following a linebreak and winger Jojo Fifita fumbling a near-certain try in the corner.
Hasler made no attempt to hide his frustration while speaking to reporters in the post-match press conference, fuming at the Titans’ completion rate of 53 per cent in the second half.
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“What can you say? It was really disappointing,” Hasler said.
“It’s just crazy. We make nine linebreaks to two, have the game set up, won field position, did all that part of the game … we just kept them in the game.
“They stayed in the game and they walked away with the win, it’s as simple as that.
“You don’t make nine linebreaks to two and lose.
“Experience doesn’t count for much when you don’t hang onto the ball.
“You can’t make excuses for them.”
Tigers’ timely triumph at Leichhardt | 00:58
Foran continued: “It’s just dumb, there’s no other way to describe it. It was stupid.
“We shot ourselves in the foot and just invited them back into the game.
“They hung in there, they were tough in the first half.
“But really, if you make nine linebreaks, you want to come up with more tries than two.
“You’re just handing them the win.”
The Titans are now favourites to receive the dreaded wooden spoon after slipping to bottom of the NRL ladder with three wins in 13 games.
The Queensland-based club will next host the New Zealand Warriors at the Gold Coast’s Cbus Super Stadium on Saturday, June 22nd at 3pm AEST.