The Gold Coast Titans finished the 2020 NRL season on fire and added two more weapons over the off-season. They’re on the up and up in 2021.
2020 Wrap
The Gold Coast Titans finished the 2020 NRL season in 9th place, narrowly missing out on an unlikely finals series considering their horror start to the season. Just two wins from their opening eight games saw the Titans languishing at the bottom of the ladder as injuries and form hampered key players.
But new coach Justin Holbrook silenced the critics in convincing fashion in the second half of the season, helping establish Jamal Fogarty and Moeaki Fotuaika as genuine first-graders – both have since played representative footy for the Indigenous All Stars and Queensland Maroons, respectively.
But it was AJ Brimson’s return from injury in Round 12 that marked a turning point in Holbrook’s 2020 campaign – a turning point that could have the Gold Coast Titans perfectly placed down the home straight for a finals appearance in 2021.
Predicted Profile
What will the Gold Coast Titans look like and how will they play? We take a stab at profiling their playing style ahead of Round 1.
The way the Titans played in their last eight games of the 2020 season should give us a pretty good indication of how they will attack this time around. The Taylor-Proctor combination was enjoyable to watch, but it all revolves around three key men:
Peachey, Fogarty and Brimson.
Peachey’s running game kept opposition middles honest more often than not. His jinking, cross-field runs and ability to offload generated plenty of second-phase play and quick ruck speeds, and off the back of this, Brimson often ran riot.
But it was Peachey’s ball-playing that proved most important for the Titans in the back half of last year.
Slotting into first-receiver as we’ve seen with Victor Radley at the Roosters or Cam Murray at Souths, Peachey found a role as primary distributor in Titans attacking sets – and flourished. With the likes of Proctor and Arrow running strong lead lines off Peachey’s hip as he took the ball to the line, Peachey often held up two, three or four defenders before shifting out the back – in this instance to Fogarty:
Daly Cherry-Evans and Curtis Sironen only have eyes for Proctor here, and by the time Peachey releases the ball, Fogarty already has DCE burnt on the inside. On the edge, Morgan Harper and Albert Hopoate are turned in and too focused on Brimson lurking out the back to see Corey Thompson drift wide and collect a beautiful lob pass over the top to score in the corner.
The cherry to take from the top of all this is that the Titans did it on tackle one.
Gold Coast teams of the past haven’t had the confidence or calibre of players to count numbers, pull shape and execute set-pieces so early in the tackle count.
The Titans now have that calibre of player.
By adding Tino Fa’asuamaleaui and David Fifita to the mix, the Titans have two forwards the defensive line can’t ignore. Expect Fa’asuamaleaui to be used heavily close to the line as he was with the Storm while Fifita can attract attention or create for himself on the edge.
Not so long ago, our notepads were filled with ‘settler hit-up’ and ‘predictable’ when reviewing Titans’ games. But with Fogarty steering the ship, Peachey distributing through the middle, Brimson threatening out wide and two elite attacking players in the pack, the Gold Coast are well equipped with creative styles heading into the 2021 season.
2021 NRL Notepad
Jason Oliver cracks open his notepad to find a key player, style or stat to keep an eye on this season.
Ash Taylor
He has already been talked about as a flop and a player that didn’t live up to his potential, but Ash Taylor is only turning 26-years old when he celebrates his birth day between Round 1 and 2.
He has had his struggles. As a million dollar man, he hasn’t lived up to the paycheque. However, he displayed enough at times last season to suggest 2021 might be the year it all comes together for the embattled half.
Taylor isn’t afraid to dig into the line and ask questions of the defence. If his body is up to it – and with the implied style that comes continuing to wear the #6 jersey following 82 games in #7 – Taylor looks good to add to his career-high 59 running metres per game in 2020 while inching closer to his 2017 and 2018 try assists numbers of 19 and 18.
Titans halves look set to switch sides in 2021 with Fogarty training on left side next to Proctor and Taylor on right side with Fifita
— Wacko's Whispers (@WackosWhispers) January 22, 2021
The Gold Coast wingers are in for a treat. Taylor has never lost his eagerness to throw a long ball and connected well with Corey Thompson, in particular, last season. With a veteran winger that knows how to work the angles approaching the try line in Anthony Don on the right side, Taylor can trust his outside man to get onto the end of these passes and fall over in the corner.
If he isn’t putting players into a gap or throwing a looping ball out to his winger, few can see the space behind the defensive line and dribble the ball into it better than Taylor. Seven of his 12 try assists in 2020 came off his foot.
Add the confidence he gained last season and the improvements to his running and passing game that could come with it, and Taylor will once again be mentioned among the best attacking halves in the NRL.
“Heads In” 2021
Oscar Pannifex unpacks a scrum of three key questions ahead of the 2021 NRL season.
Centre-Field Scrum – What’s centre-frame in the Rugby League lens this season?
Finals footy for the Titans has been a throwaway preseason line for a few years now, but in 2021 it’s a realistic possibility. Bookies rate them a $1.75 chance of cracking the top eight at the time of writing and it’s hard to argue with them, given the recent development and recruitment at the Gold Coast club.
For the first time in what feels like forever, the Titans now have genuine depth in most positions.
New signing Patrick Herbert will join Corey Thompson, Anthony Don and Treymain Spry in jostling for the few vacant outside-back spots while a host of young forwards – Sam Stone, Beau Fermor, Sam Lisone etc – should benefit from their new interchange roles after being called upon to over-perform at times last season.
In their place will step David Fifita and Tino Fa’asuamaleaui, headline names that Gold Coast fans could have only dreamed of in recent years. Both men come with big price tags and even bigger expectations, but importantly, there isn’t pressure on Fifita or big Tino to change fortunes or be the missing piece of a puzzle in 2021. The Titans finished last season on an upward trajectory and the new additions should only see them go higher, still.
The Titans also now have strike across the park. Again, something that has been missing in the past.
The aforementioned trio of Peachey, Fogarty and Brimson are crucial – not only in their own right but in their ability to take pressure off those around them. How many times have we heard ‘if Ash Taylor plays like we know he can, they’re a chance’? But in his second-fiddle role beside Fogarty, we’ve seen Taylor recapture some of his game-breaking best.
On the edges, Brian Kelly is developing into a very classy centre and winger Philip Sami now has an Origin jersey hanging in the closet. While not quite the complete roster just yet, the Gold Coast Titans have made considerable strides in recent seasons and are deservedly expected to play finals footy in 2021.
Right Scrum-Line – Who is feeling the pressure this season?
If a player’s influence is measured by how often they get their hands on the footy, then hookers feel the pressure more than most. It’s all well and good to have blockbusting running forwards or strike weapons on the edges, but it all starts from dummy-half and the Titans enter the 2021 season still with some questions in that department.
After carving out an impressive 188 NRL games, Mitch Rein is no slouch.
He is a running threat from dummy-half and his 91% tackle efficiency from last season ranks him alongside regular first-graders Jake Friend and Brandon Smith. Where Rein falls away is in his decision making and ball-playing around the ruck.
There is an art to playmaking from dummy-half.
Holding up markers and bringing forwards onto the ball is something Cameron Smith has made look all too easy in Melbourne for over a decade now, and it was a large part of Fa’asuamaleaui’s rapid rise last season. As Jason covered HERE, more often than not it was Smith’s work to manipulate defenders in the lead up that saw big Tino crashing through the line for yet another meat pie:
Rein mightn’t have the sleight of hand to move the Titans’ revamped forward pack around the park quite like Smith, but with some decent service from dummy-half Rein can play a role in this team. As previewed above, Peachey will distribute through the middle third when he is on the field, and two promising rookies in Tannah Boyd and Erin Clark provide good depth coverage.
Left Scrum-Line – My left-field thought for the season
Regular readers will know I developed a not-so-subtle love affair with AJ Brimson towards the back end of last year. His timing is superb, he competes on every play and he is a triple threat with the ball in hand – pass, kick or run.
In nine games from Rounds 12-20 last season, Brimson crossed for seven tries, laid on another two while averaging over 165 running meters per game at fullback. More impressive still and yet harder to quantify was his influence in defence.
Brimson was credited for a number of try saving one-on-one tackles, but his ability to count numbers and organise defensive lines accordingly was a key factor in the Titans conceding just 17.1 points per game in the last nine rounds – down from 28.1 per game between Rounds 1-12 when Brimson was sidelined.
After a maiden State of Origin appearance last year, Brimson has well and truly arrived on the big stage and I’m looking forward to seeing him established alongside the likes of Kalyn Ponga and Ryan Papenhuyzen as one of the NRL’s most exciting young fullbacks.
Peak, Pass, Pit
Oscar and Jason give their predicted peak for the Raiders in 2021 along with a pass mark and worst-case scenario.
Peak
Finals Week 2: Expectations are high on the Gold Coast in 2021, and for good reason. Justin Holbrook proved himself a more than capable NRL coach in his debut year at the helm, and he now has a finals-calibre squad at his disposal. I still can’t see them going all the way though. Week 2 of the finals feels like a realistic peak this season. ~OP
Finals Week 2: Anything is possible in September. A young team finishing strong can ride that high through Week 1 of the playoffs. Inexperience would likely start to catch them out in Week 2, though. ~JO
Pass
Top 8: It mightn’t be alarm bells just yet, but the Titans really should play finals footy this season. They finished 9th last year, with their best player on the sideline for more than half of the competition. The Titans welcome some big name recruits in 2021 and barring a horror run on the injury front, cracking the top eight is the pass mark for me. ~OP
Top 8: I usually express caution when there is a young team all of the ‘experts’ predict to jump into the Top 8. It typically happens another season after that. But this team is different. Holbrook, is different. Anything short of the Top 8 will be a disappointment. ~JO
Pit
A repeat of 2020: Falling narrowly short of a finals campaign this season feels about as bad as it can get for the Gold Coast in 2021. Sure, any effort outside the top eight will be considered a disappointment, but to finish just a couple wins outside the eight again would sting the most. ~OP
9th-10th: Even with an injury or two, there is too much talent on the roster for the Titans to finish lower than 9th or 10th. They reached that mark last season and have added more to their roster over the summer than any other team in the comp. ~JO