Gold Coast coach Garth Brennan admits a lack of trust in his side’s defence is killing his side following a humbling defeat in Toowoomba on Sunday.
The Titans finished with a staggering 45 missed tackles compared to St George Illawarra’s 16 as the Dragons romped to a 54-8 NRL victory.
But the ugly number was only slightly higher than the Titans’ average across the first two rounds of the season, with Canberra and the Warriors also slicing through with ease.
In Toowoomba it was the unbeaten Dragons, led by new halves pairing Gareth Widdop and Ben Hunt, who toyed with the Titans as they ran in nine tries to one.
“They need to trust each other and at the moment there’s a little bit of a lack of trust in our defensive line at times,” Brennan said.
Both Ashley Taylor and Kane Elgey committed basic errors to make the task tougher for the Gold Coast, however Brennan said the blame didn’t rest with them.
“I can’t blame the halves there today; there were some defensive efforts that weren’t good enough, especially in the middle,” he said.
“It wasn’t ideal for Ash, but he wasn’t Robinson Crusoe; there were plenty of guys out there not at their best.”
Taylor was reported for tripping Widdop in a second-half brain fade while the usually smiling Konrad Hurrell came out on the wrong side of an angry battle with Tariq Sims.
A flat Ryan James said the effort, intent and hope remained despite his side being outclassed.
“(We need to) just not accept mediocrity,” he said.
“Lucky it’s round three and it’s the most even I’ve seen the NRL comp in a long time …everything’s up for grabs this year.”