Forum Folly – Gold Coast Titans – The Cumberland Throw

Forum Folly is back this week to have a look at the least supported team in the NRL, the Gold Coast Titans, the team that stole the Parramatta Eels colours.

This week the Titans ticked over 10,000 members which means that for the first time in history every team has more than five figures in their membership base.

Most people would agree that so far, the Titans are punching above their weight in 2016. Favourites for the wooden spoon, the Titans are always competitive and have discovered some real talent with Taylor, Pasi, Mead and of course Peats joining recently. They are also getting good value from a group of no frills players including Roberts, Shillington, Friend, Hoffman and Don.

They lost a few players too

At one stage, their team looked like it was going to be…

However, their villain will alway be Greg Bird and I have found some gems around the web about him this week. A bit like the Storm forum folly, a bit of the Gold Coast banter could be applied back to the mighty Eels so like me, take it with a grain of salt or even a grain of ….

Some fans thoughts on today’s game

Eels have played some very good football this year however we get to play them at the right time. First they lose Peats (yippee Titans) then Junior Paulo, then Foran and Taka are both injured, just leaving Corey Norman the last recognised half standing.
Rumblings about Brad Arthur being poached by the Warriors and the news Michael Gordon is on the move certainly won’t help them.
Perhaps the NRL will wipe their points this week as well. Their head office six are set for the chop and morale must be at an all time low.
All we need is the magistrate to bring Normans case forward to Friday (ok not going to happen) and we will be playing a much weakened and demoralised side.
Their wives and family and support networks will be far away in Sydney and barring a siege mentality they are ripe for the plucking
It could be an ambush game for us and I hope the boys don’t take them too lightly. Need to put a great performance to keep us in the eight.
Only change that I would make in Hurrell in for Davis. Can’t do anything about the fullback with Mead injured.
This is a big game for us. If we beat parra and then beat manly who are without Lyon and DCE it will put us further in the 8 and hopefully continue our winning run
In 2014/15/16 the Titans have started favorite in a match only 9 times (that’s 9 from approximately 60 matches!!). In those 9 matches we have a head to head record of 2-7. Two wins and 7 losses in matches where we were expected to win.

Many believe that Konrad Hurrell will make his debut for the Titans this weekend. This is what the fans think.

A segment on the Footy show last night came across as if he’s retiring on Gold Coast. Makes one wonder if that’s still the common consensus for RL Fans (players signing up at the Titans for semi-retirement).
i couldn’t believe that footy show thing, It gives a pretty good example of the view the media thinks of us. It’s easier to put us down then it is to give us praise. real shame.
If you take into account our preseason signings it’s not hard to think that would be the case. Friend, Shillington, Taia. Shillo was coming to the coast to retire and play Q Cup. Friend wanted one last year. I can see what you are saying regarding Hurrell. Doesn’t make sense, but then we seem to stuck with the stigma of not drawing crowds and yet our crowd averages aren’t the worst in the league but it’s made out that it is.

As you would expect, they just can’t get over the DCE backflip.

The signing of Konrad Hurrell comes almost a year to the day since Daly Cherry-Evans backflipped out of his contract with the Titans. The general consensus at the time was Cherry-Evans’ highly controversial move could be the final nail in the coffin for a Gold Coast club struggling for form, sponsors and still reeling from an illicit drugs scandal.

The reality of the situation has proved very different.

The Titans enter the 2016 Origin period two places above the Sea Eagles on the competition ladder and level on competition points with the eighth-placed Panthers. And they do so with two major mid-season upgrades in the form of Hurrell and Nathan Peats, neither of whom would have been a hope of joining the Gold Coast had the Titans been carrying the four-year, $4 million promised to Cherry-Evans.

PEATS AND HURRELL

Peats was magnificent in his Titans debut last weekend, scoring a try that helped inspire the Gold Coast to a 28-24 win over the Panthers. A victim of Parramatta’s ugly salary cap saga, Peats is comfortably in the top five hookers in the game and represents a sizeable upgrade from the Gold Coast’s previous first-choice No. 9 Nathan Friend. Hurrell, too, could make a major difference to the Titans line-up. The hulking centre has been among the most destructive centres in the game, although injury and behavioural issues have limited him to just three games in 2016. A change of thing could be just the thing the Tongan international needs to revitalise his career. Certainly, bookmakers are liking what they’re seeing in the Titans. As of Thursday, Gold Coast were rated a $3.50 chance to make the eight this season.

THE RISE OF ASH TAYLOR

Taylor had played just one first grade game prior to this season and was unlikely to receive many more opportunities in the short term as understudy to Cherry-Evans. But Cherry-Evans’ backflip and a season-ending injury to the highly-rated Kane Elgey opened the door for Taylor – and he has taken full advantage of the opportunity. Taylor has emerged as potentially the best young playmaker in this competition, averaging 78 minutes per game, scoring three tries and booting 18 goals in the process. Presumably, none of this would have been possible had Cherry-Evans turned out for the Gold Coast this year.

And then we have Greg Bird…