Sunday afternoon football at Leichhardt Oval is hallowed ground and with Wayne Pearce Hill sold out, Pearce himself presenting the debutants with their jerseys before the game, Tim Sheens back for his 670^th match (his 250^th with the Tigers) and Benji Marshall and Robbie Farah in the coaches box, this should have been a resounding victory for a home side that now had Isaiah Papali’i starting, David Klemmer starting, new captain Api Koroisau waiting to sub on for a starting Jake Simpkin and John Bateman fresh from England up in the stands too.

For the first eight minutes the Titans didn’t touch the footy and from there the Tigers racked up 56% of possession, 2066-1766 run metres, 6-2 linebreaks, 47-33 tackle breaks, 180-154 kick return metres, 3-0 dropouts, a whopping 20-4 offloads and only 3-9 penalties. Yet they wouldn’t score their first try until the 44^th minute and only crossed the line once after that, failing to gel as a Gold Coast squad bolstered by the arrival of Kieran Foran made it three straight at Leichhardt and nabbed their first Round 1 win since trouncing the Raiders in 2018.

David Nofoaluma was also back on the park after a six game Melbourne loan that had also started with a match against the Robina locals, marking his return by collecting the kickoff, searching for a carrier and finally opting to ferry it to the twenty himself, before David Klemmer dragged three Titans from forty to halfway, and Jake Simpkin executed a deft enough dummy half run to tempt a swinging arm from Sam Verrills that bumped the Tigs down the park, where Isaiah Papali’i deployed his first carry to carve into the opposition thirty.

Shawn Blore put up his hand for the next run and shifted the play back in field, where Luke Brooks came to ground within the twenty, and Adam Doueihi fed it out to the right for Klem to make a second charge and hit the ten. Alex Twal set his sights on the left padding but wouldn’t score his first try today, while Doueihi continued to rally the troops with a brilliant grubber up the left that AJ Brimson had to bump dead with Charlie Staines on his back. With Tanah Boyd booting the dropout over the line, Doueihi had his first goal of the 2023 season.

Nofa followed with a second enterprising play beneath the kick, this time stretching a boot back to wrest another bout of field position from Aaron Schoupp’s overlong trajectory. Gold Coast had conceded three penalties and were yet to touch the football, while the hosts weren’t showing any signs of slowing down, as Twal spun and offloaded for Simpkin to step past Brimson, break the line and come down a metre shy of the crossbars with a last ditch Joe Stimson ankle tap. Still restless, Doueihi followed by giving Papali’i a crack on the left edge.

Not only did this usher in another restart, as Jaimin Jolliffe found himself offside within the ten, but it produced a cascade of big men running at the line, as Klem barged into Tino on the following play, and Twal came a metre short for a second time, now beside the right padding. Momentum was building, so it was agonising when Brooksy slightly misfired the pass to Laurie, who couldn’t quite rein it in over his left shoulder. Tommy Talau made a valiant effort to scoop it up, but fumbled it onto the turf to grant Gold Coast the scrum with 0-32 tackles.

Brimson couldn’t do much on play one, Jojo Fifita failed to break the twenty on tackle two, and Stimson was fairly well contained by Klem and Twal midway through. Tino added his heft to this grinding set by wrestling the footy into the thirty, and with Isaac Liu adding eight more metres, Boyd launched his first kick just inside the forty. On the other side of the Steeden, the Tigs were a little wobbly at the start of the following set, as Nofa fell off his last two entrepreneurial moments beneath the high ball with a hospital pass out to Laurie on the right.

The team responded to this gaffe by targeting the left edge instead, starting with a trio of big looping passes to put Brent Naden inside the forty. Brooksy gave his no. 3 more room to move a play later, with a pass that set up the former Panther to offload to Papali’i before Doueihi was cleaned up a little further infield. It felt like something was building here and sure enough Brooks hooked a tricky grubber back into the left corner, where Laurie collected it on the bounce and would have scored if not for a heroic legs tackle from Brimson a few metres out.

For a second time the Titans were working it off their own line but David Fifita elasticised them up the middle now, busting through a Simpkin tackle, falling to ground, and then getting up for an extra five metres, all on the second play. Jolliffe was at the forty midway through the count, a rolling run from Brimson got them into Wests territory, and yet all that energy imploded when Nofa stepped back into the spotlight with a chargedown that turned an aspiring Boyd bomb into a trajectory so low and limp that Papali’i simply took it on the chest.

Laurie added a good hard run to bring it to the thirty, Stefano Utoikamanu made his first statement of the afternoon by barging his way up the right, Brooksy showed it to Papali’i and broke his way into the line, while a wide ball from Simpkin back into Doueihi set up Klemmer for another close-range assault, although this time it ended with him searching in vain for an offload. Still scheming, Doueihi chose to run it on the last, holding up the line before flicking it out to Tommy, who was unable to withstand a Titans defence that closed in hard and fast.

The tally was set at 19-10 tackles in the opposition half as Gold Coast ground in to work it off their ten for a third time. Fifita only crossed halfway on the penultimate play, and Boyd was forced to kick just behind the line, and yet the Tigs experienced a bit of a stalemate now, as three successive tackles kept them at the twenty. First, Laurie brought it to the brink of the red zone, then Doueihi shifted it left with a wide ball from dummy half. Nofa followed suit and Staines shaped to continue the sweep out to Brooksy but couldn’t get it around Schoupp.

Downed on the red line too, he played it as fast as possible, and yet with Nofa flicking back a messy offload on tackle three, Klemmer was also inside the twenty by the time he scooped it up. Luckily Papali’i delivered a strong carry to bring it to the thirty, and yet while Doueihi tried to recoup the position with a 40/20 he ended up booting it a few metres too short. Overall, the tone was one of frustration for the Tigers and the Titans capitalised on it by finally putting their own positional issues to bed, as well as truly activating Foran for the first time this game.

Not only did they break halfway midway through the set but they scored on the very same play. Verrills set the scene with a quick dummy half ball to Issac Liu, who broke into enemy territory and flicked it on for Foran to pop a short one out for Fifita to break through the line, tuck the footy under his arm, make twenty-five metres and flick it across just as he reached Laurie for Phillip Sami to cover the same ground for a crossover in the corner. Boyd might have the sun in his eyes but he sailed the Steeden straight through, bringing his men to 6-2.

Despite copping a floater on the restart Jojo Fifita still brought it to the cusp of the twenty, before Liu hit halfway once again, this time on the penultimate play. Boyd kicked, Laurie took it on the fly five metres out, and was ricocheted into big Tino by a Stimson ankle tap, the height differential between the Tigers fullback and the Titans captain not doing much to allay the risk of incidental high contact either. Tino was put on report, Naden and Utoikamanu made metres on the left, and still Klem couldn’t do much in the face of a Fifita-led pack effort.

As a result, the Tigers opted to mix it up a bit in the back half of the set, shifting directions through Klem, Brooksy and Papali’i, who shot the latest offload of the game so far out to Simpkin. The sequence ended with Twal banging into Foran just inside the twenty and laid the platform for the second brilliant Doueihi grubber of the match, this time on the other edge, where Twal got hands to it ahead of Brimson and Pereira, only to knock it dead in goal. A dropout, or even a Twal try, had transformed into a twenty-metre restart for Gold Coast.

This should have been another tipping-point for the Titans but initially recalled their struggles to break out of their end, until Tino took a mad run, locks flying behind him, to break the forty, and a Verrills-Liu combo set up Jolliffe to hit halfway. Brimson was at the thirty, taking on a three-man pack, a beat later, before a rapid shift to the left saw Fifita beat Nofa and Talau. To his credit, Nofa curved back around to halt him at the twenty, which was where Boyd launched his next one too, Foran storming downfield to grab Laurie as he took it on his chalk.

Now it was the Tigers’ turn to work it out of their own end and Laurie played a key role here, first by making fifteen from dummy half and then by collecting a Staines offload a tackle later. He slammed into Fifita just before the halfway line, which is where Doueihi kicked it too, sitting the Steeden up in goal in hopes of a dropout. Pereira did well to bring it back in the field of play but couldn’t nail the finish, losing possession into some tough Nofoaluma contact. The Tigs had the scrum and a chance to reverse the recent surge of Gold Coast momentum.

It was agonising, then, when Utoikamanu coughed it up on tackle two, his last play before heading to the bench to make way for a much-needed Joe Ofahengaue. It was the worst error of the game, as Stefano drifted slugglishly into the line and virtually invited Verrills to bat it free. Even worse, Nofa made a second tackle error on the following set, putting the footy down into a low shot from Foran after Doueihi tried to effect an early shift to the right. The hosts had made their first mistake in their own end, and conceded zero tackle in the twenty.

Tino got things rolling by barging it into the ten, Verrills and Boyd shifted it out for Brimson to hit a Doueihi and Kepaoa off the bench, and Moeaki Foutaika showed his freshness off the bench too by taking a crack from fifteen out. Back on the left, Brimson delivered some eyes-up footy by realising Laurie was out of position and Nofa was up in the line, meaning he only had to dummy to hold up Doueihi before dropping it on his boot for Sami to just beat Joffa to the putdown, in an echo of Herbie Farnworth’s superb contest with Brian To’o on Friday night.

It was the eighth career double for the Gold Coast winger and the second conversion from Boyd, who launched the kick towards the setting sun and again sent it straight between the uprights. On the other side of the Steeden this had been an absolutely catastrophic sequence for the hosts, who never quite recovered from it, even if Koroisau finally trotted off the bench now for his debut in Tiger stripes. He got stuck in straight away, joining Kepaoa and Talau for a tough pack effort to repel Tino five metres from the twenty on the second play of the restart.

Nevertheless, Tino was over forty on the penultimate play and Boyd only five shy of halfway when he put boot to ball. The Tigs tried to elasticise midway through their next set with a series of cut-outs on tackle three that ended with a Papali’i offload on the turf to Naden but it didn’t really open up the attack, especially with Joffa cleaned up by Verrills and Stimson on the following play. Still, Doueihi was in enemy territory when he harnessed the breeze for a good floating bomb that Brimson only just managed to rein in right on the Gold Coast chalk.

A strong run from Jojo promised good things for this set, only for Tino to put it down, Naden to scoop it up, and the Tigers to receive a precious comeback chance with a full stint in Titans territory, which in turn became a full stint in the opposition twenty with a Verrills ruck error. Brooksy shifted it left, where Papali’i was contained by a Schoupp-Boyd combo, and then swung it back to the right, where Doueihi straightened about ten in from the sideline as Joffa was again largely neutralised by a three man Gold Coast pack desperate in their aggression.

There was a distinct sense that Brooksy was running out of options as he sent it back to the left, and missed the cut-out to Staines, instead flicking it to Naden, who was expecting to be the decoy runner, and so ricocheted the footy forward to his halfback again. As the Titans packed another scrum from the ten with a little over ten on the clock, the Tigs’ opening bout of position was starting to feel like a distant memory, especially as word came down from the sheds that Blore had failed an HIA, meaning more minutes for Katoa than originally expected.

Boyd booted it again from halfway and Staines collected it behind the ten, putting up his hand to signal his fullback could take a brief respite. That was enough to recharge Laurie into an enterprising fifteen metre dash, before Joffa showed it to clear up space on the right for Papali’i, who in turn sent it on for Naden to showcase one of the more dexterous takes of the afternoon, since the footy was heading over his shoulder when he caught it. Brooksy ended with a chip at the twenty that Brimson saved, but only just, as Papali’i and Staines piled on.

It felt like the Tigs might be building some rhythm again now, as Joffa and Twal combined for a big hit on Schoupp on play one of the next set. Jojo was also unable to clear the ten, and Jolliffe unable to break the thirty, thanks to some more solid contact from Joffa, and the attack finally devolved with Fotuaika losing it and Kepaoa scooping it up. The hosts had a full set inside the twenty and Twal was at the ten on tackle three, laying a platform for Brooksy to receive a bootlace pass from Koroisau and take a crack through Erin Clark at the left edge.

Koroisau’s next ball was also a bit off song, leaving Papali’i unable to rein it in as Brimson and Boyd closed the gap before him. The Leichhardt locals had 36-9 tackles in the opposition half and 20-3 in the Titans’ twenty but without a try to show for their troubles, while Gold Coast started to build again on their next set, as Clark brought it over the forty, Fotuaika cleared halfway to make the Tigers’ forty, and Foran did well to collect his Hail Mary offload. For the first time the visitors opted not to kick on the last, and it ended with Brimson coughing it up.

The fatigue was starting to show on both sides of the Steeden although Koroisau was defter at the start of the following set, when he flicked it out for Doueihi to deliver a decent right side run that took three Titans, led by Foran, to bring him down. Yet again Klemmer only just reined in a low ball from the ex-Panther, and from there sent it out to Brooksy, who flicked it back inside for Naden to win six again off a Fotuaika ruck error. This was the elasticity the Tigers needed, bringing Twal down just shy of the line for the third time in this opening forty.

Unfortunately Doueihi’s next wide ball wasn’t well timed, forcing Talau to reach out his full wingspan to bring it into his chest. Spooked by that precarity on the right edge the Tigs sent it back in field, searching for direction, but all they could manage was a Klemmer steadier beside the crossbar before they shifted it back to the right once more. Doueihi now stepped up with his third great grubber of the afternoon, mercurial enough to force a Sami knock-on right on the chalk. With three and a half on the clock, the hosts packed the scrum at the ten.

With Koroisau and Doueihi setting up Naden to both break the ten on the left and win an offside from Boyd in the process, the Tigers were back to the stellar field position of the opening seven minutes. Joffa hit the ten further back in field, Koroisau collected a short ball from Api and then popped it right back to him, and that brilliant little burst of handling energised a left sweep that saw Joffa making it third phase for Brooksy. Again, it ended with a Doueihi grubber but this time Sami was safe and barnstormed all the way back to the thirty.

Buoyed by that sudden change in fortune, the Titans found one last surge of footy flow and were inside the twenty by the time Foran chipped to the left corner and then led the chase to prevent Laurie making any metres after his clutch collect in the air. Desperate to harness his boot one more time before the break, Doueihi went for a 20/40 at the end of the next set but didn’t come close, leaving Gold Coast with forty seconds of possession until the sheds. Foran considered kicking on play two but instead sent it right for a tough Fifita sideline charge.

For a moment it looked like his offload back in field might produce a try at the death but Papali’i proved his mettle by wrapping it up on the ground just before the siren rang out over the eighth wonder of the world. It was twilight when the Tigs returned to the park and Doueihi had the breeze at his back as he launched a deep kickoff that Boyd took behind the line. For the first few tackles it seemed as if the Titans might be sandwiched in their own end again but that all changed with a terrific pair of efforts from Sam McIntyre at either end of the stadium.

At first the ex-Tiger looked to have brought the first set back to a screeching halt with a fumbled play-the-ball but he insisted on sending it upstairs and was justified in doing so, since the replay clearly showed the footy come down on the boot of Kepaoa, who had failed to clear the ruck in time. McIntyre himself was over halfway on tackle two, and Clark rolled it into the opposition forty, before Fifita made fifteen to hit the twenty, with over 100 run metres under his belt. Boyd bombed it right and McIntyre stepped into the spotlight again.

In the worst moment of Tigers defence so far, Laurie pulled back his hands at the last minute, assuming that Papali’i would take it. Instead, the Steeden spilled down the knee of the ex-Eel, McIntyre took it on the bounce with both hands above his head, and Laurie proved just as unequal to the task of preventing the putdown. McIntyre had won a challenge at one end and scored at the other, while the Tigers had gone from an apparent handover into their own end to an 18-2 scoreline once Boyd booted another two through the posts, this time from in front.

The hosts needed to score immediately to make up for the indignity of this whole sequence, and so Doueihi opted for another deep kickoff, while Joffa and Naden piled on to prevent Fotuaika gaining too much ground early in the count. Nevertheless, Clark was over the twenty on tackle three, offloading back for Brimson to make another five, as Koroisau slammed in to clean up the play before the Gold Coast fullback could shift it out to four unmarked men on his left. Verrills added good dummy half metres and again Boyd had good range for the kick.

He was put under pressure from Klemmer but still nabbed a dangerous enough bounce that Laurie couldn’t make much of a return, prompting Nofa to clock up a desperate ten on tackle two, before the Tigs spread it left for Papali’i to tumble towards the forty. Api dummied a couple of times to set up Laurie for a charge into Gold Coast territory and Joffa was the next to show it a couple of times but the subsequent sweep didn’t come together, and nor did his efforts to pop out an offload, although he still earned a restart off a Foran ruck infringement.

For the first time since the sheds the Tigers had escalation and it culminated with Doueihi, one of their key playmakers this afternoon, putting down their first try of the season on the right edge. Api popped it out for Twal to send on to Doueihi, who exploded onto it twenty-three metres out, was already well outside Foran when he tucked it under the right arm, shrugged off a David Fifita hit, barely noticed the outside contact from Sami, who had been shaping for Kepaoa, and continued to accelerate off the left boot as the chalk loomed large.

By the time he slammed it down with Brimson on his back he had provided exactly the statement of intent the Tigs needed, even if he missed the kick to keep them at a third of Gold Coast’s tally. Despite bringing the ball back a fair distance to accommodate the breeze he still spun it out to the right edge, and so Nofa steadied the troops by bringing it back over the twenty to commence the restart. Likewise Joffa bumped off Boyd and Klem delivered a good hard run up the middle, where a McIntyre-Fotuaika combo close the gap as soon as possible.

Papali’i was into enemy territory on the left, where he was downed by a three-man pack at the forty but won a restart in the process, off a Fotuaika ruck infringement, gifting his men a rare chance to make it merely a converted try deficit. Twal dragged it into the thirty, Api popped it back inside to hit the red zone, and then provided some more deft dummy half work to set up a right sweep out for Laurie, who was cleaned up by Fifita as he crossed the ten, prompting a rapid swing back to the other side, where the hosts glimpsed a three on two.

Unfortunately, though, Brooksby was too anxious for the catch-and-pass and so shifted his gaze to the wing a microsecond too early to contain Klemmer’s ball. By contrast, a Schoupp-Foran offload early in the count galvanised the next Gold Coast set, which went from strength to strength as Brimson muscled a few tough post-contacts to halfway, and the Titans received six again off a Klemmer ruck error, Talau’s leg starting to muck up in backplay. With Schoupp hitting the twenty on tackle three, the visitors felt close to regaining their sixteen point lead.

Instead, Brimson went for a high risk play by grubbering to himself and Laurie leaped out of the line to clean it up. Things moved fast from there, as Staines took it to the ten, Nofa to the twenty and Fonua Pole to the thirty, before a Doueihi offload set up Nofa for a shift out through Twal and Naden, who made thirty on the fly before flicking it back inside for Laurie to arrive at the red zone. Agonisingly, though, this last pass was forward, and so another chance went begging as Gold Coast packed the scrum from the thirty, Foran also limping now.

The visitors moved it hard and fast up the middle, rejuvenated by Tino’s return to the park, and Jojo leaped a good metre above the defenders to collect Boyd’s bomb, only to lose it forwards, where Brooksy made the wise decision to simply dive on it instead of scooping it up for position. Naden made up for his forward pass with a tough carry a play later, Laurie hit halfway and Nofa flicked it back for Doueihi to make his best post-contacts of the afternoon to hit the opposition red zone, where Brooks chipped to the left edge for a Naden tap-back.

From there, Papali’i popped it on to Staines, who sent it back in field for Pole, who was finally brought to ground by Clark. For the second time the Tigs had glimpsed a team try, or at least an escalating series of passes, and it galvanised them into some big pack defence on the subsequent set, when they kept Jojo and Brimson inside the ten on the first two plays. Even big Tino could barely break it on the third, while Fifita was unable to clear the red, meaning that Tino had to take another run into Pole, who had done a mountain of work on this stint.

Boyd was still inside his thirty when he put boot to ball and by contrast Nofa collected it at his forty to pop it on for Talau to hobble into Gold Coast’s end on tackle one. Foran was also looking pretty bad in backplay as Brooksy sent Naden into the ten up the left, where Boyd came in hard on defence, before slotting through a grubber that Boyd had to take dead with Koroisau around his waist. It had been the best back-to-back attack-and-defence so far from the Tigs, as Robbie Farah clapped approvingly in the stands and Foran headed to the sheds.

By all accounts they should have scored here, as Doueihi collected it at the twenty and shifted it across the park for Brooks to dummy away from Boyd and come down a few metres out under a Stimson ankle tap. Yet a Schoupp jersey grab was enough to force the cough-up from Papali’i, who was twisted around and onto the ground, forcing the Steeden over the sideline. With 33-6 tackles in the opposition twenty the Tigs had lost major momentum here, and Schoupp roared in triumph, aware that his defence might have just won Gold Coast the game.

Accordingly, the Titans found it easier to get out of their own end this time, thanks in large part to a sterling run from Jayden Campbell, fresh on the park, who almost broke through on tackle three and was only just downed by a trademark Api ankle tap. Boyd spun the Steeden high from the forty and Laurie missed it, so was fortunate to get an offside from Tino, who got a warning for verbal dissent in the process. However, the Tigs again failed to move beyond their second tackle, as Kepaoa fumbled a Doueihi pass with Campbell and Sami metres away.

It was the most frustrating moment since the Laurie pull-back that paved the way for McIntyre’s try, and for a moment the Titans seemed strengthened by it, as Jojo and Schoupp worked the ball methodically up the right off the scrum. Nevertheless, with Utoikamanu leading a three-man pack to clean up Verrills in the middle, and Fifita adding metres but not much more up the left, the set started to lose its bite, culminating with Doueihi collecting a Pereira tap-back under Boyd’s kick as the final quarter of the game descended on Leichhardt.

From there, Laurie popped it out to Talau who lost it, but backwards, bringing Pole into the action to clean it up, before Nofa drifted across the park for Staines to flick it on to Naden, who twisted Jojo and Boyd up to the thirty. Staines added another splendid left edge run from dummy half, so by the time Brooksy took over the reins he was the at the opposition forty. Finally, the ex-Panther made it a trio of enterprising plays by sending it back in for Laurie, who sent it in for Api to set up Utoikamanu to consolidate with a sterling charge up the middle.

The set came full circle now as Doueihi showed it a couple of times, clearing up space for Talau to lob it out to Nofa for what would have been a certain try if Pereira hadn’t deflected the footy on the way. With that missed opportunity doubling the pressure, the Tigs ground in to a full set in the Gold Coast twenty, where Pole dragged three defenders all the way to the right padding, Api shifted left for Utoikamanu to take a crack at the line, and Brooksy almost set up Twal for his debut try, as Brimson and Verrills crashed in for some desperation defence.

The black and orange were starting to crest now, reaching the precipice between dynamism and lack of control, so it was a real blow when Naden took a moment to return to his feet. Yet Nofa resumed the flow by deflecting the frustration of his aborted try into some stunning footwork out on the right wing, where he dodged back in field past Pereira and Sami, pivoted off the left boot to elude Sami a second time as he returned to the edge, and then offloaded through a half-hearted Campbell tackle for Doueihi to add another great grubber to his tally.

Full credit to Brooksy for the chase too, which left Stimson no choice but to take it to ground in goal, ushering in the Tigs’ most volatile burst of position since the sheds. The bad news was that Naden was on the turf getting his right knee taped, and looked pretty wobbly when he returned to his feet, although his condition was quickly eclipsed by a second Gold Coast dropout heading over the sideline, this time off young Campbell’s boot. With so much momentum behind them the hosts had to back themselves and opt for a full set of six here.

Twal set the stage by driving it straight into Tino and Liu on tackle one, Utoikamanu followed in his slipstream by bringing it right to the same padding, and their combined effort laid a platform for the classiest Tigers display of the night. It started with Api holding the footy up for a subliminal second, almost looking like he was shaping for Twal to take another crack at the chalk, only to send it out for Brooksy to pop it on for the mercurial Douiehi dummy that put Laurie through a Sami tap as Campbell failed to fill Foran’s defensive boots at the death.

From the soft hands in the build up to Laurie’s explosive contact with the Steeden this was pure footy poetry, prompting another round of applause from Robbie in the coaches’ box. It was a little dampened by Doueihi spinning another one out beyond the right post, but the sky was a luminous pink over the stands, the Tigers were in full flow, and the home ground belief that seems to defy even the most disastrous results at Leichhardt was suffusing the park, especially once Utoikomanu added decent post-contacts against a redoubled Titans defence.

Koroisau was particularly restless on the next play, scanning the park in a second, but was cleaned up by Tino, who didn’t appear to be square at marker, meaning Papali’i had to put in a bit of extra grunt to get his men over halfway, which was where Doueihi launched his next one too, forcing Brimson to get up on one leg to collect it right on his line before Utoikamanu slammed in to prevent him achieving too much of a return. The Tigers now showed they could defend just as effectively, leaving quite a few Titans still in front of the ball on second tackle.

Verrills was the man to break it open, dummying to set up Fifita for ten post-contacts through Doueihi, before Boyd hoisted it high and Campbell and Sami converged on Laurie to dash any hopes of a return. The game had reached peak intensity now, so there was a sense that the next team to score might just control the last twelve minutes, as Laurie offloaded for Brooksy to make his way up the left in an echo of Staines’ superb trio of plays a few sets ago, and Staines himself put up his hand for the next charge, in what seemed a promising Tigers set.

No sooner had Papali’i cleared halfway on tackle three, however, than Laurie put the ball down, before slamming the turf in frustration, in an echo of Mulitalo’s response to the Ilias denial the night before. Even worse, the scrum from halfway decided the game, as Campbell flicked it on for Brimson to run half the length of the park, put his fingers to his lips, ground the footy untouched and rise with a flex of the right arm to an adoring away crowd. By that point, Pole’s attempted tackle and Utoikamanu’s ankle tap barely registered as real defence.

With more space to enjoy his full footy stride than any other player this evening, Brimson’s run was the defining image of the game, cementing the final 10-12 scoreline once Boyd missed the kick. It was a stark contrast to Nofa, who tapped the kickoff back in field but failed to lift his boot from the touch line, gifting the Titans a restart from the forty metre line, where Jolliffe laid the platform with a tough run at Utoikamanu and Pole, and a twelve metre charge brought Liu to the ten midway through the count, Gold Coast raring to go back to back now.

Once again it came down to Brimson but he wasn’t as dexterous this time, coughing up a Verrills ball in the face of a Pole-Kepaoa combo. For the briefest of moments it looked like the Tigs might turn the tide, as Brooksy arrived at the footy with a narrow gap before him, only for the bounce to defy him, meaning that not only did Pole have to scoop it up but he copped an awkward semi-tackle from his halfback facing his own goal line. From that tantalising glimpse of a ninety-metre try, the Tigs had to be content with the scrum from their own ten.

Keen to maintain this last hint of momentum Brooksy shifted it out to the left on tackle two, where Doueihi showed it yet was unable to make any space for his men on the wing. With Campbell pinged late for a flop the black and orange gained a full set in the Gold Coast twenty, where Brooks passed it on to Laurie, who nevertheless ran into a brick wall led by Schoupp before he could hit the ten. Still scheming, Brooksy sent it back inside for Klem to also arrive at the brink of the ten, before Doueihi shaped left and sent it on for Nofa to add metres too.

The set was elasticising and accelerating now, as Simpkin delivered a good fast pickup and popped it on for Klemmer to double pump and sail a harbour bridge ball out to Papali’i, whose offload back into Utoikamanu galvanised a right sweep that ended with what should have been another brilliant grubber from Doueihi. Instead he copped the unluckiest ricochet of the game when the Steeden angled off Sami for Campbell to collect it five metres out. If Doueihi was frustrated now, he was positively furious when he got done for a slow peel a second later.

Despite his objections the Titans received their third penalty of the game, as Tino rolled through Utoikamanu and Klemmer into the forty, forcing the hosts to summon a four-man pack to repel Liu from similar metres. With Tino putting up his hand for another charge on the third this set had a feeling of consolidation about it, especially once an inside ball from Fifita almost put Brimson through again on the left, so it was a small victory when Brooksy not only collected Campbell’s kick but popped it out for Naden to win a Pereira second effort.

The Tigers had their final shot now, with three minutes on the clock, to make up the converted try deficit – a bad time for a heroic Talau to finally succumb to his left leg injury as a twelve-man outfit ferried the footy into Gold Coast’s red zone. Their final sweep of the night culminated out on the left corner, where Schoupp’s staunch defence also crystallised with a brutal tackle on Naden, who managed to get the footy away, albeit so clutchily that Staines put a boot into touch as he was collecting it, visibly reproaching himself during the aftermath.

With 79-35 tackles in the opposition half and 45-8 in the opposition twenty this was a pretty sorry showing for a Tigs outfit bolstered by Papali’i and Koroisau, especially at a home event. Their last gasp was a Simpkin linebreak in the very last second of the match, off a Brooks offload, that was cleaned up appropriately enough by Brimson, the man whose run had crystallised the evening. They’ll be looking for a rousing Leichhardt fixture against the Knights next week while Gold Coast can meet St. George proud of their first Round 1 win since 2018.