Leaky Titans put on notice

TITANS coach Garth Brennan could wield the selection axe in a bid to fix the Gold Coast’s sloppy defence as halfback Ash Taylor battles a nagging hamstring injury.

The Titans are the NRL’s worst defensive team after seven rounds, conceding 197 points in a mixed start.

The Titans have shown they are a sharp team with the football and have little trouble scoring points when they can maintain possession and build momentum.

However, attack means little when you concede points.

Poor ball handling and illdiscipline was crippling for the Titans in Saturday’s 26-14 defeat art the hands of the Cowboys at 1300SMILES Stadium.

The Titans conceded 12 penalties, including 10 in the first half, and made 11 errors to gift the Cowboys a 26-2 lead.

To make matters worse, Taylor was icing his troublesome hamstring yesterday which has already caused him to miss a game this year.

Brennan delivered a gold medal spray to his troops at full-time before labelling them “dumb” in his post-match press conference.

And he would not guarantee the same 17 would run out at Cbus Super Stadium to face Cronulla on Saturday in the Gold Coast’s first home game since Round 1.

“You never know,” Brennan said when asked if he would show faith in his team.

“There were a lot of positives there. We’re a side that’s building. There is no need to panic.”

Despite a Titans squad that was expected to do little this

season, Brennan holds incredibly high standards and has guided them to a 3-4 start.

The rookie NRL coach will not accept what he called “schoolboy” errors, in particular players dropping the ball early in sets and from scrums.

Prop Jarrod Wallace said the Gold Coast had to accept Brennan’s brutal “dumb” assessment.

“What he meant by that was we had a game plan and didn’t stick to it,” he said.

“We played dumb footy because we were going away from our game plan which we knew worked.

“That’s what’s so disappointing. We could score points like ‘that’. We are such a good attacking side. We’re not a consistent enough team to do it for the whole 80 minutes.”

Brennan’s suspect left side of Kane Elgey, Phillip Sami and Tyronne Roberts-Davis was brutally exposed by the Cowboys, heightening the prospects of changes.