The Gold Coast Titans have enjoyed their maiden trip to Belmore with a classy 32-10 victory over a hapless Bulldogs side in front of just under 7,000 fans.
The Bulldogs return to Belmore began terribly with the Titans having a field day through the Bulldogs left side defence which was as fragile as could ever be for a first grade side.
The first few minutes was end to end but it was a break from Kevin Proctor through some soft middle defence that got the Titans upfield and Proctor found Michael Gordon who raced through and scored his first of the afternoon. Just a handful of minutes later Michael Gordon was again over the stripe after the poor right side defence was left shirt grabbing and the Titans extended their lead.
The Bulldogs kicking game was awful and it was letting the Titans out of any pressure that was mounting and the Titans next set of points came off a poor last tackle option when Michael Gordon made a break to get the Titans up on the Bulldogs line and Ryan James next play beat the defence from close range to score. The Bulldogs poor attack and ill-discipline was again on show when Anthony Don got the ball on the outside of the Bulldogs left side defence and got the ball down with about 3 blades of grass between the ball and touchline.
The Titans then were forced to defend for a period of which the Bulldogs didn't even ask a question of the Titans defence with again poor last tackle options and attack that went absolutely nowhere. The Bulldogs best period of the first half came in the final five minutes as a bad bounce of the ball off a Jeremy Marshall-King kick stopped the Bulldogs from having their first but they did get on the board in the last minute when Moses Mbye ran through to score although they needed the bunker to overturn Chris Sutton's live decision of no try.
The start of the second half again was a poor showing by the Bulldogs defence although the first try did have a touch of luck to it for the Gold Coast Titans. The try to Phillip Sami came off a rebounded kick from Ash Taylor who interchanged some good passing with Michael Gordon before Taylor kicked across field to an unmarked Sami who scored in the North-west corner of Belmore.
The Bulldogs only points of the second half came from a Titans error when John Olive swooped on a bad pass from Ash Taylor who threw the ball to nobody and Olive picked the ball up to race 70m upfield and give the Bulldogs their only four pointer of the second half. The Titans were able to hit back again just short of the hour mark when Taylor went to the right and Kevin Proctor had too much size and power for Frawley and Mbye to score. The Titans were denied a late try by the bunker when Ash Taylor picked up a loose ball and went untouched into the ingoal before giving the ball under 7's style to Moeaki Fotuaika to give the rookie what the Titans thought was a try only for the bunker to rule Ash Taylor knocked the ball forward into a Bulldogs player when he picked it up.
The Bulldogs tried for points late but they looked out of ideas and the Titans shut them out and secured the 32-10 victory.
The rep weekend gives both teams a week off before we see the Bulldogs travelling up the M1 to play Newcastle whilst the Titans are back in Sydney as they travel to Leichhardt Oval to take on the Wests Tigers.