Holbrook rues 'fine line' that sums up Titans' year

The fine line between success and failure was agonisingly driven home by Titans coach Justin Holbrook as he described what "could have been one of the biggest plays ever" after his side’s 36-16 loss to the Raiders.

It was of note that both coaches were talking about how Canberra prop Josh Papalii ran down Titans half Jamal Fogarty with a 60-metre sprint to ankle tap him and deny the half a try. It was a huge play by Papalii after Fogarty had taken the quick tap on his own 20-metre line.

Holbrook pointed to the difference between his side and the Raiders at the moment, and their corresponding positions on the ladder as well.

"Jamal Fogarty, it could have been one of the biggest plays ever scoring off a 20-metre tap. That is just where we are at. He found a way to veer towards the only way he could have got tackled, instead of the other way," Holbrook said.

"There are fine lines. Jack Wighton loses it over the line but is good enough to regather [and score] and that is what good sides do.

"I can’t fault Jamal. He was really good and captained our side. He tapped the ball on our own 20 so he did a hell of a job to get that far down there.

"Even when he lost the ball I said to him 'it never hit the ground'. He said 'I thought that'. I said 'challenge it'. That is where we are at. We are not quite confident enough.

"AJ [Brimson] makes a million breaks and we are half expecting not to score."

Brimson was phenomenal for the Titans at fullback and made four line breaks as well as scoring a try with sheer determination.

"He has been great for us. I knew we were going to be a much better side when we got him back in there," Holbrook said.

"We need more support pushing through with him one hundred per cent. We created enough chances but just didn’t have enough support players."

Fogarty has been one of the club’s success stories this year and Holbrook said he deserved the captaincy with Kevin Proctor (suspended) and Jai Arrow (injured) both out.

"It is a credit to himself what he has done," Holbrook said.

"He has come into our side late this year and jumped straight into half and organised our side. It was a good reward to make him captain today."

Holbrook said he was pleased with the amount of chances the Titans created with the ball but conceded errors from the mid-point of the first half until the break proved costly.

"We fought bravely in the second half and I am proud of that. We had a lot of wounded troops and had guys who were playing who haven’t been playing lately," he said.

"Dumb errors in the first half really hurt us. We are not able to sustain pressure. We put pressure on ourselves and can’t work out a way of getting out of it.

"That is the difference with the top sides. They are willing to do that and expecting to do it,  and we are hoping we don’t have to. A couple of games we have done it and a couple we haven’t, and today was one."