Young stars impress on debut, and the Sharks' woes continue. These are the key points to come from Gold Coast's 24-22 win over Cronulla in Round 4.
Report: Titans surge to first win of 2015
Kane Elgey doesn't look out of place in first grade
The 2014 NYC player of the year, Elgey was targeted by the big Sharks forwards on Saturday night but showed he was up to the challenge.
Neil Henry was full of praise for his young halfback after the match and may have a tough call to make when Daniel Mortimer returns from his wrist injury in a few weeks.
"[He was] targeted a bit, particularly at the start of the game defensively and he held his own out there," Henry said.
"We're in negotiations with his manager now for an extended contract.... there has been some interest from other clubs as well."
Nate Myles, who was eager to see how the 85kg playmaker would rise to the challenge before the match, was also happy with how Elgey performed.
"He held his own tonight, he was really good," Myles said.
Cronulla need a win
At the very least for the sake of Shane Flanagan who is trying just as hard as his players to arrest his team's dramatic slide.
He just looks to be missing the answers at the moment and his disappointment is evident.
"That was just heartbreaking," he said after the match.
"We didn't need to offload we didn't need to push passes, we need to be a smarter team.
"We need to be better than that, we've been saying that for a couple of weeks now it's getting desperate, it's tough at the moment."
There will be changes in the Sharks' Round 5 team
Despite the fact that the boys from the Shire came out with an improved performance against the Titans, Shane Flanagan signalled changes for next week's team, clearly frustrated by his side's inability to beat a previously winless team at home.
"Yeah, definitely," Flanagan said when asked if there would be team changes, "we've got to get ourselves out of this."
"Jack [Bird] showed today he's up to it and we need to make some changes there."
Despite suggesting changes Flanagan also said it was important that the team unites in a tough time for the club.
"We're all in this together I'm not pointing the finger at anyone. We're going to work really hard to get out of it."
Titans' victory is worth much more than just two points
After a tumultuous start to the season the Titans needed some luck to go their way.
Both Neil Henry and Nate Myles spoke after the match about the impact the win would have on the club.
"[It's] something we definitely needed," Myles said. "I think for our blokes who haven't been through tough times like we have gone through (over the past few weeks) it's good.
"It's a little bit of a confidence-booster we needed to create more of a winning feeling through the team and definitely tonight is a way to do that."
Neil Henry was similarly pleased that his side have something to celebrate after some tight season-opening losses.
"It was good to finally get one... the boys hung in there for large parts of that game and it's great for our confidence," Henry said.
Jack Bird is the real deal
From his very first touch in first grade Bird ran the ball like he weighs 120 kilograms.
On a number of occasions he absolutely exploded into the defensive line, posing a real difficulty for opposition defenders.
By the end of the match Bird had made 116 metres off 10 runs and three tackle breaks in limited minutes off the bench.
"He was he was outstanding," Flanagan said of his young gun after the match.
"He tried really hard and made an impact when he came on.
"We'll see a lot more of him in the next few weeks."
