’Mentally soft’: coach takes aim at Titans
“DUMB.”
The tone of the sole word Gold Coast coach Garth Brennan spoke in the first 10 seconds of his post-match media conference said it all about how much their 26-18 loss to Cronulla hurt.
Usually chatty, Brennan cut a sometimes abrupt and certainly exasperated figure after his side surrendered a halftime lead against an already wounded Sharks outfit who then lost props Andrew Fifita and Matt Prior early in the match.
The second-year coach proceeded to question his players’ resilience and admitted there is no overnight fix to their tendency to crumble when the going gets tough. He delivered several stern messages in a rare show of frustration:
“Our senior guys probably need to take a bit more control and our halves as well.”
“When the pressure comes and we’ve got the heat on us, we resort to dumb things like dumb penalties, hanging on too long, lazy tackles.”
“We’re mentally soft … and I don’t like saying that too many times. It’s a hard thing to hear and a hard thing to say. We’re not a soft football team in general but when we get put under pressure we don’t handle it mentally well at all and ... we look for quick fixes, whether it’s miracle passes or kicks on play four instead of just getting in the grind.”
“We lack a little bit of leadership at the moment.”
“Players have got to take some accountability.”
“We had some players out there that have played some representative football and just didn’t dish that up.”
Defeat in the next match against the Bulldogs at Cbus Super Stadium would all but end the Titans’ play-offs hopes.
“Semi-finals are just not even in the equation at the moment for us,” Brennan said.