Terrific Titans turn it on against dismal Knights

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Gold Coast Titans v Newcastle Knights

The Gold Coast Titans have won their 4th straight match at home for the first time since 2016, beating the Newcastle Knights by 26 points at CBus Super Stadium on Saturday Afternoon.

Before play started, the crowd observed a moments silence in memory of Tommy Raudonikis, with the great man's family in attendance on the field.

Things looked ominous for the visitors early, with Kevin Proctor the beneficiary of some Tyrone Peachey magic and the Titans going up 6-0 within 2 minutes. 

The Titans defence wasn't letting the Knights get anything going, with Gold Coast winning the field position battle early. Patrick Herbert took full advantage, making the Knights left edge defence look silly as he charged his way over the line.

Chris Randall experienced an up and down couple of minutes, scoring a try to keep the Knights in the game, before being assessed to have dislocated his shoulder in the sheds. 

It was a false dawn for the Knights, who would be well and truly punished over the next 10 minutes, with David Fifita showing great strength to score two tries either side of Corey Thompson chasing through a Brian Kelly grubber. 

The Titans were up 26-6, however Patrick Herbert was sent to the sin bin for a professional foul and the Knights were able to capitalise before half time through Starford To'a.

A brilliant play from the Knights early in the second half went unrewarded, with Ponga breaking through the line and creating a broken field situation for Tuala, who ended up being held up by the Titans defence.

David Fifita was then put through a hole and burned Kalyn Ponga over 20 metres, scoring his first ever career hat-trick and putting his side up 30-12.

A dream 5 minutes for Titans fans came around the hour mark, with Corey Thompson beating a handful of Knights defenders to score, before some razzle-dazzle play off the kickoff followed. The Titans decided to shift it wide on the first play off the kickoff and AJ Brimson was able to break through a very soft defensive line. He opted to take Ponga on and looked to have him covered, but was eventually forced to pass back inside to Herbert, who scored his second try of the day. 

A late consolation try to Kalyn Ponga made the final score 42-16.

Next week, the Titans will travel to Mudgee to take on the Sea Eagles fresh off a win, while the Knights will play host to the Sharks on Friday evening.