SAME OLD STORY UNDER NEW TITANS COACH
WHEN Brenko Lee found himself on his way to opening the scoring for Gold Coast just 90 seconds into their home NRL clash with Melbourne, it seemed an overdue good afternoon could be on the cards for Titans fans.
Lee had been in the wilderness of reserve grade since Round 2 but was suddenly, and surprisingly, given a chance ahead of stalwart winger Anthony Don and he was in the right place at the right time when Storm star Cameron Smith came up with a rare clumsy pass.
The sense of optimism only grew stronger when Nathan Peats went mightily close to burrowing over before Jarrod Wallace successfully barged under the posts to open up a 12-0 lead inside six minutes.
There had been a different, more intense energy around Titans training all week in the wake of Garth Brennan’s axing.
Interim coach Craig Hodges promised to shake things up and the initial response was promising. Whether it could be sustained was the big question and the answer gradually became clear – and not in a positive light, as the competition leaders ran away 38-18 winners.
A Storm side missing Cameron Munster, Will Chambers, Josh Addo-Carr, Felise Kaufusi and Christian Welch ground their way back into the contest and bit by bit broke down the home side.
The Gold Coast defence looked brittle as ever, with Ryan Papenhuyzen particularly posing a threat with every touch. Melbourne relentlessly exposed them around the ruck.
The team’s inability to handle momentum swings has been well documented and the problem reared its head again yesterday.