Of the six teams that have so far taken part in the first week of the NRL Finals series, the Gold Coast Titans look the pick of the bunch.
Their 28-16 win over the New Zealand Warriors wasn’t always set in stone, but when the pressure was applied they managed to kick on and put their opponents away.
Scott Prince was under an injury cloud heading into this one with a shoulder injury, but pictures of him doing tackle drills in the warmup should have eased Titans fans fears.
If not, they always cold have relied in seeing Prince bounce back to his feet after Manu Vatuvei used him as a speed bump!
The Warriors looked like a team that was just happy to be there for me. They looked like the pressure of the finals took its toll on their confidence, and but for a few minutes in the second half, they looked well off the pace for most of the game.
As we now know, they are done for the season, and they will have to be very disappointed with that. Then again, most tipped them for the wooden spoon this season, they unearthed a few stars of the future, they brought well for next season and deadset, if they haven’t signed Ivan Cleary to a lifetime contract, they have rocks in their heads!
As for the Titans, they are escaping a lot of the spotlight thats on clubs in Sydney, and thats a good thing.
I worried about their toughness up the middle and their ability to lift in the finals. Everything I’ve seen over the last month of football tells me, the Gold Coast Titans are the real deal!
