Gold Coast players were bracing for a defensive wake-up call from assistant coach Jim Dymock this week as the Titans look to recover from a troubling fortnight where they’ve conceded 76 points in back-to-back defeats.
The Titans threw away a golden opportunity to upset South Sydney when they surrendered a 24-10 half-time lead in the 40-30 loss last Friday, the 30-6 second half mauling coming after the hapless 36-0 loss to Manly just a week earlier.
Tyrone Peachey said defensive coach Dymock was planning a tough tackling session on Tuesday evening ahead of Friday’s derby showdown with Brisbane where Anthony Milford will be back from a fortnight in Intrust Super Cup exile to guide the Broncos in the halves.
“I think we’ve got a big day today of defence. I’m looking forward to it and Jimmy Dymock is excited and all the staff are so I think it’s going to be a big day,” Peachey said.
“(Milf) got dropped to Q-Cup a couple of weeks ago and he has to try prove to himself he is a first grader and he is off contract as well so he has a lot to play for.
The fundamentals of try-line defence
“We can’t worry about them too much, we’ve just got to get our own s*** sorted and try and figure ourselves out.
“I’ve been involved in a club winning the wooden spoon and (Brisbane) are all going to be trying but this game is different, it’s a local derby and everyone gets up for it and the crowd is going to be big.
“They’re not that far off I think, they’ve got a lot of good players like Payne Haas … they’re not going that bad. We just have to worry about ourselves and try to defend better I suppose and not let 40 points in.”
Bench hooker Erin Clark said it was the Titans middle forwards who need to work harder in defence, highlighting their failure to put pressure on the Rabbitohs' halves as the reason they conceded so many tries in the second half.
“I think especially with our middles just giving our edges a bit of help to make the halves play a bit earlier, just to help with the edge’s decision-making we have a bit of work on that to do this week,” Clark said.
“(Brisbane) are definitely going to come out with guns blazing and that performance against Penrith a couple of weeks ago showed they’ve still got it in them to take the top teams to the wire.”
The Titans have won their past three clashes over the Broncos and victory at Suncorp Stadium on Friday night would extend their longest streak over their derby rivals since Gold Coast’s inception in 2007.
“Given the history I think it would be great for us and the club,” Clark said.
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