The Gold Coast Titans came close to pulling off the biggest comeback in NRL history, but a “crappy” habit made it all too hard.
Titans prop Jarrod Wallace has slammed the “crappy” part of the Titans’ game that has seen them slump to seven losses from the last nine games.
The Titans came back from a 30-4 deficit to lose 35-34 to the Roosters on the Gold Coast in a clash which showcased their Jekyll and Hyde tendencies. They’re either very good, or very bad. That’s been the Titans in the past two months but the bad has outweighed the good in defence by a country mile with the side having conceded 380 points in just 14 games.
For Wallace, it was the rails run the Titans gave the Roosters attackers that stuck in his craw the most.
“The first try (to Matt Ikuvalu) was a barge over. Then Angus Crichton went straight through … even to the very last one (also to Ikuvalu). They are crappy tries,” Wallace said.
“It is not as though they beat us with shape, or that we can sit there and go, ‘They were a better team’. We are just hurting ourselves and the disappointing thing is that we know we can defend really well but we are nowhere near where we need to be.
“We were (14) points in front against Souths. Last week we blew four tries against the Storm and should have won. We should have won tonight.
“We know we are far better team than 12th, and we have probably slipped further.”
The Raiders’ big 38-16 win over the Broncos has now consigned the Titans to 13th position and the finals are now looking like a pipe dream.
The red-hot Sea Eagles await next Sunday on the Gold Coast.
“We obviously have to play a whole lot better against them than we did in Mudgee that’s for sure,” Wallace said.
“I think our mindset is really good. We’ve just got to fix our execution.
“I’m really proud of the way the boys came back (against the Roosters) but once we get in front we’ve got to keep it there. That’s the next step we have to build, the resilience to close it out when we do get in front.
“Inconsistency … it is the rollercoaster that we don’t want to be on. Melbourne did it to us last week. We fought back into that and they were good enough to hold us out. The Roosters were good enough to get back in front.”
Meanwhile, Wallace said it was “very hard” to watch the Maroons get thrashed 50-6 by the Blues in the State of Origin series opener and that he will be ready to answer the call in Brisbane for Game Two if the selectors give him the nod.
“I’ve had the taste and played six (Origin) games and to sit there and watch them get beat like that, no-one likes that,” he said.
“Whatever Greeny (coach Paul Green) does in the second game is up to him.”
