Gold Coast's finals hopes may now be a bridge too far in 2024, but there's no plans to raise the white flag in the final three games of this season.
Facing the Roosters in front of what is expected to be a strong crowd at Cbus Super Stadium for Members' Round, this weekend will be all about thanking the loyal Legion for their support this year as they work to upset one of the competition favourites who they haven't beaten since 2016.
It's what Titans dummy-half Sam Verrills feels will be a perfect response to their unsuccessful fortnight against the Sharks and Dragons, which has put finals hopes all but out of the equation.
"It’s been disappointing the last few weeks," he said.
"We had pretty good momentum after the Broncos game and we were still finals hopefuls. We wanted to come out and win those [next] two games, but it didn’t go that way.
"It’s our last home game this year and we’re really looking forward to it.
"We’ve got a good opposition we’re up against and we’re still fighting at the end of the season to win our remaining games. We’ve got to put our best foot forward."
Match: Titans v Roosters
Round 25 -
home Team
Titans
14th Position
away Team
Roosters
2nd Position
Venue: Cbus Super Stadium, Gold Coast
Falling short of their bid to play finals footy under new coach Des Hasler, the 80-game rake has admitted their first year under the experienced mentor has been a big learning curve, spurring the squad on to finish strongly in their last three weeks.
"Our goal was to play finals… every team wants to play finals and we've fallen short the last few years which is unacceptable," Verrills said.
"We’re trying to change the trend here at the Titans and I think we’ve learnt a lot this year under Des.
"We’ve had a few ins and outs with injuries and suspensions, but I think collectively as a group we’ve grown and it’s only going to help us going forward next year.
"The second year under Des is always going to be a lot better and we’re really optimistic for the year ahead next year, but obviously we’ve got three games to finish on and we really want to finish on a high."
Facing a full strength tri-colours outfit who are eager to cement a top four finish, the former Rooster feels if his side can match it through the middle, they'll go a long way to upsetting the Chooks.
"They’re a team that really want to start fast and bully us through the middle," Verrills said.
"If we can control the start and get on top of the game and frustrate them a little bit, that will go along way in the game."
