{"id":382627,"date":"2024-04-07T20:12:18","date_gmt":"2024-04-07T20:12:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=382627"},"modified":"2024-04-07T22:04:10","modified_gmt":"2024-04-07T22:04:10","slug":"grim-record-sums-up-haslers-titans-nightmare","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=382627","title":{"rendered":"Grim record sums up Hasler's Titans nightmare"},"content":{"rendered":"

The poor old Titans<\/a> are on their way to becoming the worst defensive team in rugby league history.<\/p>\n

Sunday's 35-22 loss to the Cowboys<\/a> was the ninth straight game in which the Titans conceded 28 or more points – a feat never achieved before in Australian football.<\/p>\n

And the final score flattered the Titans – they were on the way to a real thrashing until Chad Townsend got sin-binned and they ran in two late tries.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:\ufeff <\/strong>Demetriou under pressure amid Bunnies nightmare<\/strong><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Latrell hit with massive ban for 'stupid' act\ufeff<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Why Dockers need to 'move on' after Blues controversy\ufeff<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Defence isn't Des Hasler<\/a>'s only problem – the Titans have scored a mere 40 points in four games in 2024 – by far the worst record in the NRL<\/a>.<\/p>\n

On a sticky afternoon in Townsville, the Cowboys<\/a> celebrated one of their favourite sons.<\/p>\n

\"Veteran<\/p>\n

Veteran winger Kyle Feldt scored his 131st career try, eclipsing the great Matt Bowen as the club's greatest tryscoring machine.<\/p>\n

Feldt did the deed with a trademark intercept and got a standing ovation from the Cowboys faithful – a fitting four-pointer to write his way into the history books.<\/p>\n

****<\/h2>\n

It's been nearly two years since Craig Bellamy has been able to select his first-choice spine of Ryan Papenhuyzen, Cam Munster, Jahrome Hughes and Harry Grant.<\/p>\n

And the Fab Four showed just how much they have been missed, piling six tries on the Broncos<\/a>' defence as their team carved out a narrow 34-32 win<\/a> in a Thursday night thriller.<\/p>\n

Watch the 2024 NRL premiership live and free on Nine and<\/strong><\/em> 9Now<\/strong><\/em><\/a>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

All four played key roles as the Storm<\/a> came from behind to score a fine win in a five-star game.<\/p>\n

And their display would have sent shudders through the rest of the competition.<\/p>\n

If the four can stay injury-free for the remainder of the season, the Storm may well become the biggest challenge to Penrith<\/a>'s hopes of a four-peat.<\/p>\n

\"Coates<\/p>\n

****<\/h2>\n

I'll never forget getting early access into the Tigers<\/a>' sheds after the 2005 grand final and having a chat with Benji Marshall<\/a> an hour after the flick pass that earned him a place in league folklore.<\/p>\n

We chatted for 10 minutes and the whole time, a nine-year-old never left Benji's side, hugging him and also getting a good hold of the Provan Summons trophy.<\/p>\n

That youngster was Jeremy Marshall-King, and on Saturday night he showed big brother no mercy.<\/p>\n

JMK became only the second player in history to play against a team coached by his brother, and boy did he make it tough for Benji.<\/p>\n

Marshall-King was in everything as the Dolphins downed a stubborn Tigers side<\/a>, topping the tackle count and creating the try that sealed the game for Kenny Bromwich.<\/p>\n

The talented hooker doesn't quite have the flair of Benji at his peak, but he is one of the most improved players in the NRL over the past couple of seasons and a key figure in the Dolphins' finals challenge.<\/p>\n

\"Nikorima's<\/p>\n

****<\/h2>\n

It was very much DCE<\/a>'s day on Saturday – but Tolu Koula is fast becoming a massive fan favourite with the Brookvale Oval faithful.<\/p>\n

On the day when Cherry-Evans overtook Cliff Lyons as Manly<\/a>'s most capped player, Koula ran for over 200 metres, made several line breaks and scored a try – even if it should have been disallowed after a blatant knock-on.<\/p>\n

The speedy pint-sized centre has now scored four tries in his last three games at Brookvale and has that rare ability to get the crowd to their feet every time he gets a little time and space.<\/p>\n

At 21 years of age, he will only get better and appears to have a huge future in the game.<\/p>\n

\"NRL<\/p>\n

****<\/h2>\n

Souths<\/a> will continue to deny it, but they just don't look a happy team on the field.<\/p>\n

What should have been a close tussle against the Warriors<\/a> at home on Saturday afternoon turned into a 34-4 rout<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Souths scored first too – but then the bad habits, silly errors and poor body language returned.<\/p>\n

All up, the Rabbitohs made 15 errors, missed 32 tackles and finished just 63 per cent of their sets.<\/p>\n

The Warriors, by contrast, made six line breaks and 32 tackle breaks as they dismantled the Souths defence.<\/p>\n

Latrell Mitchell found himself on report twice in the first half<\/a>, again making some poor decisions.<\/p>\n

The Warriors, by contrast, were slick, strong\u2026 and disciplined.<\/p>\n

Shaun Johnson dominated proceedings, Te Maire Martin proved a fine fill-in for Luke Metcalf at six and Addin Fonua-Blake was all power up front.<\/p>\n

\"Drums<\/p>\n

****<\/h2>\n

Jackson Hastings<\/a> has had plenty of setbacks in his career, and 2024 looked like it was set to be another tough slog when he was dropped after just two games by Knights<\/a> coach Adam O'Brien.<\/p>\n

But Hastings is a fighter – he's had to work hard all his football life – and he didn't kick stones when relegated to NSW Cup<\/a>.<\/p>\n

After just two games in 'reggies', Hastings earned another chance and grabbed it against the Dragons in atrocious conditions on Friday night<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Hastings scored a try and laid on another and steered the Knights around the soggy field well.<\/p>\n

He combined well with Jack Cogger and after five rounds, O'Brien may well have found his best halfback pairing for the campaign ahead.<\/p>\n

\ufeffAll isn't lost for Tyson Gamble, the man who made way for Hastings, however. He's a ball of energy, niggles his opponents and fills several holes, making him an ideal number 14.<\/p>\n

\"Hastings<\/p>\n

****<\/h2>\n

Matt Burton<\/a> has been under plenty of pressure from the critics since joining the Bulldogs<\/a>, with many claiming he isn't a genuine number six.<\/p>\n

But Burton made those same critics choke on their words with a five-star performance as the Bulldogs stunned the Roosters<\/a> with one of the upsets of the year in the slush at Homebush on Friday night.<\/p>\n

The former Panther scored three tries, booted goals from all angles in terrible conditions, finished with 22 points, a try assist and two line breaks.<\/p>\n

Without Burton's class, there is no way the Dogs would have pulled off their fine win and that 80-minute effort should end any debate over where he should play out the season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The poor old Titans are on their way to becoming the worst defensive team in rugby league history. Sunday's 35-22 loss to the Cowboys was […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":382629,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/382627"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=382627"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/382627\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":382634,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/382627\/revisions\/382634"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/382629"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=382627"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=382627"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=382627"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}