QUICK WRAP: Titans vs Storm
QUICK WRAP: Titans vs Storm
18 March 2023 - Gold Coast play Melbourne in round 3 of the NRLM season in the early Saturday slot at CBus Super Stadium, Gold Coast
Was the game worth watching?
Yes, especially if you like seeing points put on the board in two very contrasting styles.
Final result
Did the Titans look like the better team?
No, not even a little bit. The Titans did not deserve to win this game but they did anyway, largely because the Storm refused to win it. The latter at least looked more like a professional rugby league team, even if they did not play like one. The expression “any team can win on their day” applies here and given its self-evident truth, the idea that the best team always wins can be thrown in the bin.
Were they the better team?
You could make that case if you were so inclined. The difference for the Titans was they made four fewer errors and got four extra sets. Gold Coast also had three fewer penalties conceded and the four points they got from penalty goals in 6’ and 60’ were the difference in the end. It was a close run thing.
Did you notice?
Alofiana Khan-Pereira finished the 2022 Queensland Cup campaign with 1.8 wins above reserve grade (WARG), good enough for eleventh best of all players last year1. He scored 22 tries in 17 regular season appearances and averaged 120 metres and more than a line break per game.
He had a very good season but it wasn’t one that I was certain was going to carry through with a promotion to The Show. Sometimes speed and footwork at Cup level are shown to be hilariously underwhelming in the NRL, especially when you've benefitted from sitting at the end of the line of a pretty good Burleigh side and you can score on the doofuses at Souths Logan at will. AFK didn't seem to have the size or power to make up the difference in other ways2.
I tweeted this semi-jokingly and semi-sincerely -
It’s true though.
While Will Warbrick opened the door for his double, Khan-Pereira walked through it and it looked a lot like what we’ve seen from him for Burleigh.
Through three NRL games, Khan-Periera has scored three tries, run for 86 metres per game and made two line breaks. If he can maintain that level of production, he’ll be running at about a 30% discount to his 2022 QCup campaign. Following that back of the envelope math through, should he play all 24 games, he might be worth about 1.2 WARG. Last year, only eight wingers in the NRL exceeded 1 WARG (Johnston, Oates, Mulitalo, Tupou, May, Taulagi, Addo-Carr and To’o). Someone to keep an eye on.
Boxscores
Final thoughts
The obvious parallel here is the 2017 game between the same sides at Suncorp, that ended 38-36. I’ve been meaning to re-watch it but perhaps I don’t need to now.
Kieran Foran’s 24 minute break was weird but didn’t seem to hurt.
Philip Sami is not credited with a single tackle, despite playing 80 minutes.
Three of the Titans seven tries came from long range strikes off errors or a scoop and score. This is the only universe in the multiverse in which all of those tries were scored.
The Storm altered their personnel from play to play, but they had their success by going left all day. Need to watch how the Titans right side defence responds over the next couple of games.
Jonah Pezet will get increasing attention from here on out. Let the hype train leave the station but as a New South Welshman playing for the Storm, he is beyond the scope of this publication, unless he ends up back at Easts Tigers and even then, there will be enough column inches written about the boy.
If the Titans aren’t going to be good, and the jury is still out on the 2023 vintage, they should at least be chaotic and preferably also fun. That’s what we got in this game and I demand more.
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Albeit, well behind fellow Burleigh alumnus, Taine Tuaupiki, who managed to clear 3.8 WARG in what might be one of the most productive QCup seasons on record.
Taine Tuaupiki and Jayden Campbell being others that fall into this bucket.