A Mitchell Moses one-pointer has put the Titans on the wrong end of yet another extremely tight contest, going down to the Parramatta Eels 25-24 at CommBank Stadium.
A neck-and-neck battle for the entire 80 minutes, the visitors took a slim 16-14 lead into the sheds at the break, before another enthralling half followed which let to the blue and gold No. 7 breaking the hearts of the Gold Coast after the Round 20 clash was deadlocked at 24-24 for 10 minutes.
Match: Eels v Titans
Round 20 -
home Team
Eels
7th Position
away Team
Titans
13th Position
Venue: CommBank Stadium, Sydney
Despite the loss, there were a number of standout performers for the Titans, including both wingers bringing up individual milestones with classy four-pointers.
Here are the key talking points:
Errors prove costly to prolong Parramatta drought
Having not been able to take home two points against Parramatta in Sydney since 2015, the Titans came awfully close to breaking the eight-year hoodoo, but 13 errors proved costly in the tight affair to prolong the drought that will now extend into 2024.
Conceding two early tries in the opening 15 minutes put the away side on the back foot to start the contest, but some individual brilliance down the left edge allowed the visitors to quickly fire into gear and get back to level pegging by the half hour mark.
Aided by two sin-bins for foul play – Maika Sivo in 21st minute (high tackle) and Reagan Campbell-Gillard in the 25th minute (dropping knees) – the Gold Coast went into the sheds up 16-14 and despite conceding first in the second stanza, retook the lead in the 48th minute before a further two penalty points in the 60th minute.
But a number of unforced errors mixed with tough calls heaped pressure on the Titans' defence, which allowed Clint Gutherson to score in the 66th minute and then Moses' one-pointer with five minutes left on the clock inflicted another tough loss upon the Gold Coast, who were in the contest right up to the full-time siren.
Sami brings up impressive try-scoring milestone
Phil Sami notched up his 50th NRL try in style with an 80-metre sprint to the line – scoring the half century all for the Titans across his 103 games in first grade.
The fourth Titan to do so, the flyer only has eight four-pointers to go before he ventures into the top three, chasing Kevin Gordon who scored 58 during 2009-2015.
Absolutely brilliant from Sami for try 50
The outstanding passage of play in the 28th minute was part of yet another big game by the experienced outside back, eclipsing the 200 metre mark for the fourth consecutive time after achieving the same feat against the Dolphins, Raiders and Broncos in his previous three games.
Sami topped the run metres tally across the game with 219 as well as coming up with a line break and three tackle breaks in the clash.
Another club record broken in back-to-back games
Fresh from Jayden Campbell’s herculean effort last week to smash the Titans’ all-time run metres record (now 315), another club maximum was reached in Round 20 with Alofiana Khan-Pereira now equal-first with the most tries scored in a season.
An incredible feat to reach with still seven regular games to go this year, the 21-year-old rookie crossed in the 16th and 30th minutes for his sixth season double and second against the Eels to bring up 17 four-pointers and draw level with David Fifita’s record that he set in 2021.
Too quick! Khan-Pereira is in
More than likely to cross at least once more to take the record outright, Khan-Pereira is the first back to score 15 or more tries in a season since Anthony Don in 2018 and could even give his Hostplus Cup record from 2022 a run for its money, getting closer and closer to the mammoth 25 he scored for the Burleigh Bears last season.
