The Gold Coast Titans had a great year last year, but when it came to finals football, they were just way short of the mark.
Two major problems showed up for the Titans. First, they didn’t seem to be able to step up and play at a higher level, a higher gear. While great teams can play very well, and then go somewhere special when it was needed, the Titans were just completely incapable of doing that.
The other major problem was the Titans forward pack, it was so soft.
While talk of being a soft side upset the Titans players, and a few of them said so publicly, there was a train of thought that they would turn that all around in 2010, especially with the addition of Greg Bird.
That hasn’t been the case.
Opposition clubs have no problems handling the Titans forward pack. Sure the Titans backs can be very dangerous and cause a lot of problems, but their forwards, they don’t offer much despite some big names.
The Titans are terrible at scoring long range tries, or tries from outside the oppositions 20 meter line. With a very good backline, you’d think long range tries wouldn’t be a problem.
This is just another example of the Titans forward pack not being up to the mark.
Their forwards don’t cause any problems for a defense when they are working the ball up field. This means defensive lines are not under any pressure and the Titans backs can’t capitalize on a broken defense.
Now when the Titans are attacking on an oppositions try line, they are brilliant. Their backs can take over and they can use all their speed, skill and slight of hand to break open a defense and score tries.
So the Titans need some major punch up front if they are going to figure in the race for the Premiership at all this season, and to be honest, I don’t know where it is going to come from.
The talk is that Ben Hannant will end up playing for the Titans next season, however he is more of a grinding forward, and the Titans need some impact rather than another worker.
They need someone like a Frank Pritchard, a forward that can draw a few defenders and get an offload, or at last break the defensive line once in a while!
Until that happens, the Titans are easy beats once they get into the finals.
