Murphy facing Fuimaono call with Titans halves firing

Titans coach Karyn Murphy is facing one of her toughest calls in charge of the side with Taliah Fuimaono's return from an ankle injury leaving a selection headache to ponder ahead of the finals. 

The Titans coach said she will keep her cards close to her chest on whether to play Fuimaono, who has been out injured since Round 1 but returned as 18th player in Canberra on Sunday afternoon.

The recent form of Lauren Brown and Chantay Kiria-Ratu in the halves has been blistering in the past fortnight with the pair helping the side rack up a combined 64 points.

Fuimaono arrived at the Titans as a marquee signing but the side's form could sway Murphy to stick with the winning formula.

"We've always said that it's week-by-week with Fui and it is," Murphy said post-match.

"She's been back on the park training with the girls the last couple weeks and getting more confident with where she is after what has been the season off.

"Really exciting for her to be 18th today and closer each week so we will just see how she goes next week."

Murphy was thrilled her side saved their best performance of the regular season for last in Canberra as attention now turns to a match-up against the Roosters in the finals.

A dominant display over the Raiders, who were looking for a maiden finals berth, has the Titans well-equipped to handle the finals pressure and class of the Tricolours at Allianz Stadium on Sunday. 

The Titans only needed to ensure they weren’t beaten by more than 11 points to lock in their position in the top four but it was an emphatic 30-6 victory which booked the Gold Coast players into their first finals series since 2021.

A fast start which saw three tries in the first 10 minutes kept the Raiders home crowd quiet - something the Titans will have to do again under pressure in the semi-finals.

“We knew we had to come out fast and play our game and concentrate on that, which is what the girls have been doing all week, so I'm really happy with that performance," Murphy said.

The Titans, who finished on the bottom last season, have successfully rebounded despite the addition of four new expansion teams to finish in third spot and claim the club's second finals appearance. 

Despite only losing two games throughout the year Murphy is still searching for consistency in her side's performance and is of the belief that her side took steps to finding their best in the nation's capital. 

“Focus on us, particularly over the whole season, week in week out, we have had patches of that," she said.

"I thought today was probably our most complete performance this year. Looking forward to doing it again against the Roosters and really exciting for the girls and the club to build and be in the position that we are next week."

The two sides met earlier this year in Round 5 where the Roosters proved too strong for the Titans at Cbus Super Stadium, coming away with a 22-point victory.