‘No magic potion’ Justin Holbrook demands hard work as Titans lose again
Gold Coast Titans coach Justin Holbrook says it will take hard work to turn around their fortunes and he does not have a “magic potion” following Saturday’s defeat against South Sydney.
The Titans went down 30-16 against the Rabbitohs and the pressure is mounting on Holbrook. They have now lost nine of their last 10 NRL games to slump to 15th spot on the ladder.
The axe has been falling on a regular basis this season. Trent Barrett, Nathan Brown and Michael Maguire have all lost their jobs and many believe Holbrook could be next.
Justin Holbrook under pressure
The coach played down such fears heading into the game, but the loss would not have helped his cause. Holbrook took the positives and the Titans even earned some praise from Rabbitohs coach Jason Demetriou.
However it is results that matter and the Gold Coast have just three wins from 14 games this season. In fairness the Titans were missing some big names for their latest assignment. And Holbrook felt they missed their spark.
“We tried hard,” Holbrook told reporters after the game. “We just lacked a bit of class out there. It doesn’t help we lost AJ (Brimson) yesterday. We just needed an extra spark out there, whether it’s AJ or Jayden Campbell or David Fifita or someone.”
He also felt it was an improved performance compared to recent weeks.
“I know we got beat but I feel that way,” he added. “There’s definitely improvement. As I said we just needed one of our better players on the field to spark us. We just missed that in the end. I’m happy with the effort.”
Holbrook again suggested that his record since taking charge will keep him in a job for now. They have steadily climbed the ladder and returned to finals last year. Unless there is a miraculous turnaround they will not make the eight this year.
Hard work the answer
They are currently eight points behind the Sydney Roosters in eighth spot. But they need to start climbing the ladder and Holbrook says only hard work will get them there. And the return of some key players.
“At the minute too we’ve got a lot of troops out,” he added. “I haven’t got a magic potion that’s gonna get us a win. We’ve got to keep working hard. When you’re not winning games, you’re lacking confidence, you need your best players to get you out of it and we haven’t got (those players). There’s no easy way out.”
The Titans are back in action when they travel to take on the Sharks on Saturday.
