TITANS PLAYERS ON NOTICE AFTER LOSS
INTERIM Titans coach Craig Hodges has declared “all positions vacant” as Gold Coast attempt to salvage something from a sorry NRL campaign.
Hopes of an immediate bounce back after the sacking of Garth Brennan last week were quickly wiped away as the Storm claimed a 38-18 victory at Cbus Super Stadium.
Melbourne overcame a lethargic start to notch a ninthstraight NRL win, consigning Gold Coast to more misery.
The last-placed Titans raced ahead 12-0 in just seven minutes before the ladderleading Storm ran them down.
The hosts missed 27 tackles and leaked nine line breaks, with interim coach Hodges insisting he is happy to make changes to plug the gaps.
“There was patches there ... of what we’ve spoken about the last five or six days,” he said.
“But absolutely she’s all positions vacant at the moment; we know what direction we want to go, just need to find the 17 most committed to do that.”
The win maintained Melbourne’s three-game buffer at the top of the table, Cameron Smith icing the contest with a first try since Round 12, 2018.
It was the last-placed Titans’ fourth straight loss and fifth consecutive home defeat with Storm coach Craig Bellamy admitting his side was guilty of early complacency.
“It just looked like we were trying to do it the easy way, not grit our teeth and get down and dirty,” he said.
“Our attack was pretty good once we settled down and realised you can’t do the big things before you do the little things right.”
Ten tries were scored in all, with Gold Coast’s edge defence looking particularly flimsy against a Storm backline that was slick enough despite missing some Origin talent.
With assistant Hodges thrust into the hot seat, the Titans would have thought their luck had turned when 401gamer Smith’s first touch of the ball gifted them opening points after just two minutes.
The Storm hooker’s pass found the grass, with Brenko Lee swooping to run 45m untouched to score.
Nathan Peats was denied what appeared a try on review three minutes later, only for Jarrod Wallace to barge through the middle and the Titans led 12-0.
From there it was all Storm.