HASLER RIPS INTO PLAYERS
Titans at rock bottom
Winless Titans coach Des Hasler delivered an almighty spray in the sheds after his side was thrashed again on Saturday night.
The Gold Coast became the first club in 22 years, and just the third in NRL history, to concede 28 points in eight straight games when they lost 30-14 to the Dolphins.
The Titans scored the first two tries of the match but then conceded 30 unanswered points at home as the Dolphins ran riot.
Cameras in the sheds caught Hasler tearing strips off his team, with the veteran coach at one stage walking right up to Tanah Boyd and appearing to spray the out-of-form halfback.
Hasler was more composed in his post-match press conference but also didn’t beat around the bush when asked about his bottom-of-the-table side.
“I can line up the excuses, a list that long, but what’s the point … again we’ve leaked 30 points,” Hasler said.
“You could probably copy and paste last week. We’re not putting two halves together, we’re not executing well.
“In that first half we had a great opportunity to put them away, to put them to the sword.
“They had one in the sin bin and we came up with three dropped balls.
“We just can’t build any pressure. We’re not good enough yet, we’re still growing.
“Defensively we need to not put ourselves under so much pressure and it’s all to do with our attack. It’s inexcusable that we’re turning over possession.
“We have to get better, we have to put two halves together. There’s enough there that we’re showing, we just have to get better at it. There’s plenty there to build on.
“We start well, create some good platforms and then we give it all away. And it’s not going to get easier.”
Titans skipper Kieran Foran said it felt like his team has been “constantly defending” this season.
“We’re just not consistent enough with our attack at the moment, we’re coming up with silly errors early,” Foran said.
“When we do get an opportunity down there we come away with points but we’re not down there enough and then eventually we get so exhausted from defending that we just leak points.
“We need to find a way to control the ball better … it just feels like we’re on the back foot constantly defending.”
Kangaroos coach Meninga backed Hasler to right the ship and return the Titans to winning ways.
“Des is saying five games, he’s mentioned that publicly, five games and he’s been through this before.
“He understands where he is as a coach and as a footy team,” Meninga said.
“He said five games and I have a tendency to back him, new coach, new system, players trying to get used to it and they do struggle.”