Round 17 vs. Gold Coast Titans Discussion

[Big Pete]

Brisbane Broncos vs. Gold Coast Titans
Suncorp Stadium, 25 June 2023
Kick Off: 2:00pm

1. Reece Walsh 2. Corey Oates 3. Kotoni Staggs 4. Herbie Farnworth 5. Selwyn Cobbo 6. Ezra Mam 7. Adam Reynolds 8. Thomas Flegler 9. Billy Walters 10. Payne Haas 11. Brendan Piakura 12. Jordan Riki 13. Patrick Carrigan

14. Tyson Smoothy 15. Corey Jensen 16. Kobe Hetherington 17. Martin Taupau

18. Jesse Arthars 19. Keenan Palasia 20. Deine Mariner 21. Xavier Willison 22. Jock Madden 23. Tristan Sailor 24. Cory Paix

1. AJ Brimson 2. Alofiana Khan-Pereira 3. Brian Kelly 4. Aaron Schoupp 5. Phillip Sami 6. Kieran Foran 7. Tanah Boyd 8. Moeaki Fotuaika 9. Sam Verrills 10. Tino Fa'asuamaleaui 11. David Fifita 12. Joe Stimson 13. Isaac Liu

14. Jayden Campbell 15. Erin Clark 16. Jaimin Jolliffe 17. Klese Haas

18. Chris Randall 19. Iszac Fa'asumaleaui 20. Jojo Fifita 21. Kruise Leeming 22. Jo Vuna 23. Keano Kini 24. Ken Maumalo​

 

[Big Pete]

The first of two local derbies coming up this week, as the Broncos take on a near full strength Gold Coast outfit. For the Broncos they'll be looking to find another gear after a come from behind victory. We'll get a better understanding following the events of tonight's Origin game but as of right now Kurt Capewell has been ruled out with a quadricep injury. The Broncos haven't given a return to play date yet but it sounds like he isn't expected to return until the Round 20 clash against the Bulldogs.

It gives young Piakura an extended chance in first grade. Piakura has been impressive these past couple of weeks, but this will be a big test for him and it'll be interesting to see how he handles it.

Brisbane go in as favourites, but if there was a chance of a boil-over this would be the game to look at. The last two times these two teams have met on a Sunday at Suncorp, it was the Gold Coast walking away victorious and despite winning the last four the Broncos have never looked convincing in their wins. Either they've had to come back from huge defecits or it was a tight win like last year's clash.

 

[Big Pete]

Gold Coast Titans 18 def. Brisbane Broncos 12 (Tom Flegler, Ezra Mam tries; Adam Reynolds 2/2 goals)

11-5

It was a disappointing loss, but I don't think anybody was that surprised. Whether it was the hoodoo of playing on a Sunday or just the inexperience in the playing group, if the Broncos were going to lose, this was the type of performance they envisioned. There was just no sense of composure from the Broncos and when they worked their way back into the game they were still guilty of throwing chance passes instead of playing field position.

Possibly that's because the defence was poor. Particularly to start the second half, if they weren't winning contact they were giving away penalties and the Gold Coast were easily able to work their set plays which Brisbane had no answer for. The Titans could have easily put the game to bed through AJ Brimson, but Brisbane received a reprieve when AJ fumbled Izack Fa'asuamausili's offload.

They played much better when Haas and Carrigan returned to the field, but even Carrigan was guilty of throwing speculators and expansive passes on play one. The team just didn't play for another or put enough pressure on the Gold Coast. When they did they actually got results but as mentioned earlier, Carrigan follows up with a cut-out passes which the Gold Coast snaffled up before Herbie put Tanah Boyd into touch.

The result has the air of the Wests Tigers loss last season. Even Carrigan at one point appeared to hit Fifita with a hip-drop, fortunately Patty's hip just came into contact with the surface before it bounced back up and got Fifita.

Walsh could be in some trouble for swearing at the referee. Reynolds and Walsh have both pleaded their innocence on Instagram, but the Fox League footage seems incriminating. I'd expect a charge and Walsh may have a case on his hands.

It wasn't a good afternoon either with Souths Logan getting belted by Norths 40-6.

 

[Showtime]

Big Pete, how’d Piakura play? I couldn’t watch the game yesterday. I’ve seen some criticism of Cobbo on social media and to a lesser extent Smoothy.

 

[Big Pete]

Big Pete, how’d Piakura play? I couldn’t watch the game yesterday. I’ve seen some criticism of Cobbo on social media and to a lesser extent Smoothy.

I thought he was solid early on. The Gold Coast really tested that edge in good ball and that entire edge worked well together not only to shut the play down but force turn-overs. With the ball I thought he kept looking for work, albeit Boyd and Stimson shut him down and even forced a turn-over on him. I thought he started looking loose in the second half and the Titans nearly scored one on him when Iszack Fa'asuamaleaui popped an offload for Brimson, but fortunately for Brendan, AJ juggled the ball.

The highlight of Piakura's game came later on. He ran a nice line and made a break down the left edge before giving it onto Oatesy for Brisbane's last real roll of the dice.

It was a weird game in general. Both teams were really ill-diciplined and were guilty of giving away dumb penalties. Brisbane could never build any pressure and seemed to always be looking for trick plays that would just invite the Titans to counter-punch.

It just seemed like the gameplan went out the window in favour of offloads and chip kicks.