2022 review: Gold Coast Titans

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On the Ning Nang Nong where the Titans Disappoint...

On the Ning Nang Nong where the Titans go blip and Fogarty went bye-bye.
On the Nong Nang Ning where Fifita went plop and the team jibber-jabbered 'round the field.
On the Nong Ning Nang, the edge defence fizzled. What a chaotic place to play!

It's hard to define the Gold Coast Titans. One year, you can predict them to achieve nothing and they surprise you. The next year, you predict them to show further improvement only to send your pre-season predictions into total chaos. It's just as if the Titans reside and play out of an abandoned field on the Ning Nang Nong, organised chaos at its finest.

Their pre-season decision to let Jamal Fogarty one was fatal, not in the sense of the word that Fogarty improves the on-field product. It's the fact that he was the experienced head that could keep everyone together when the going got tough in the 2022 season. That was on full display when the rookie halves combination of AJ Brimson and Toby Sexton were failing to fire.

It took an injury to Jayden Campbell, and Sexton being banished to reserve grade for the Titans to show any signs of life in attack.

Defensively, the same problems linger that were ever-present against the big clubs, their edge defence - which should've been taken out the back and shot last off-season - was left to rot and unsurprisingly, the opposition had a field day at their expense.

Turning Point

This season imploded the moment the Titans entered the sheds for half-time of their Round 3 game against the Raiders. Up 22-4 with all momentum, they completely dropped their bundle and collapsed in spectacular fashion to lose 24-22. Gold Coast wouldn't be able to sniff a top eight spot after that moment. Nine weeks later against big brother Brisbane, it was much of the same: a convincing lead at half-time blown apart in the space of 40 minutes. For the sake of Titans fans, the less we say about that short kickoff, the better.

What went right?

The emergence of their forward pack. Tino Fa'asuamaleaui and Mo Fotuaika have continued to show why they are among the top forwards in the game. This along with the rise of Beau Fermor on the left edge gives the Titans a lot to look forward to in 2023. If Fifita can find some of his old form back, then the Titans instantly look like smokies for a surprise semi-final appearance.

What went wrong?

The inexperienced spine. On paper, it was a glaringly obvious problem, but it wasn't rectified until it was too late, and all was lost for the boys from Robina. Looking at their spine on paper it was an absolute mess. While Campbell was a passable fullback, he didn't look anywhere near the player he was at the back-end of last season, at least until the season was gone largely due to injury, and Justin Holbrook throwing him around between fullback and the bench.  

Sexton was playing Marco Polo, in and then eventually becoming the fish out of water and was relegated to reserve grade. Erin Clark was thrusted into a hooker spot and even he'll admit it wasn't for him. It's a shame Holbrook really messed around with this flawed thinking throughout the season and only the last month of the season - finishing with three wins from the final four games - saved him from the unemployment line.

2022 results

Best Players

Two players stand out in what was a disappointing season. AJ Brimson and Tino Fa'asuamaleaui were exceptional and were literally carrying the Titans on their backs, with big Tino being rewarded with a Queensland berth, as well as playing a key role in Australia's World Cup victory at the end of the year.

Brimson had an interesting season, starting out at five-eighth, leading an inexperienced spine from an unfamiliar position. He was able to feel more at home in the #6 jumper towards the end of the season, but with the impending arrival of Kieran Foran, where AJ plays next season is really a mystery at this point. Will Holbrook sideline Campbell, or will Brimson be retained at five-eighth and allow Foran to anchor the attack from halfback?

Rookies

Two players were fortunate to make their debut for the Titans this season in young Jojo Fifita and Klese Haas.

Fifita has a lot of promise and potential and with the retirement of Corey Thompson, his chances of earning a consistent guernsey in first grade have gone up. Haas is another player that has loads up of upside, playing six Hostplus Cup matches before earning his debut against the Knights in round 24, if he can fight for regular first team action, then the sky is the limit.

Looking back at the World Cup, Jacob Alick is a man to watch. Alick played for PNG and was huge in the middle for the Kumuls throughout the tournament. With losses in the Titans middle stocks, Alick is a strong chance to be considered for a first grade debut sometime in 2023.

2022 player stats

Looking ahead

There's much more experience coming into this line-up. Justin Holbrook has also addressed a major flaw of their side by adding in premiership winner Sam Verrills to play in the number nine jumper. As mentioned, Kieran Foran has also joined the ranks looking to provide much needed experience to a Titans side that's desperate for it.

Joe Stimson also joins the ranks to provide much needed forward competition as Ese'ese and Wallace go out the door and the late signing of Aaron Schoupp will provide competition on the edges. It should be a much improved season for the Titans if all goes to script. That's if all goes to script, but for now, the 2022 season was simply another Ning Nang Nong.

2023's Best 17

at time of writing

1.     Jayden Campbell
2.     Jojo Fifita
3.     Phillip Sami
4.     Aaron Schoupp
5.     Greg Marzhew
6.     AJ Brimson
7.     Kieran Foran
8.     Moeaki Fotuaika
9.     Sam Verrills
10.  Tino Fa'asuamaleaui
11.  Beau Fermor
12.  David Fifita
13.  Isaac Liu

14.  Tanah Boyd
15.  Erin Clark
16.  Jaimin Jolliffe
17.  Joe Stimson