Gold Coast winger Alofiana Khan-Pereira had a hat-trick of tries inside 12 minutes as marquee No.6 signing Kieran Foran excelled to ruin the Dolphins’ first ever home match and deliver the new NRL club a stark lesson.
Khan-Pereira later crossed for a fourth time as the Titans thrashed the Dolphins 40-16 in the NRL Pre-Season Challenge clash at Redcliffe’s Kayo Stadium in what was a poor display by the home side.
The Dolphins have been written off in most quarters ahead of their inaugural season and this performance will only amplify the voices of the nay-sayers.
The mantra of “Put your ‘phins up” boomed relentlessly around the stadium to 7206 fans before kick-off but it was the Titans who were up for the match.
The lack of defensive resolve early by Wayne Bennett’s team was a huge concern. The Titans were playing up-tempo footy from the start and the Dolphins lacked cohesion.
The top squad has only trained together for six weeks but the Dolphins have a huge task ahead to be ready for the NRL season kick-off against the Roosters in a fortnight.
Dolphins captain Jesse Bromwich said the side “played like a team that had our first game together”.
“Of course we need to be better,” he said.
“We are not really happy with the way we performed. Our edge defence was pretty leaky at times … and we’ll work hard to make that better.”
Gold Coast will enter the season with great hope. The signing of 2011 premiership winner Foran was always going to give them more direction, but his impact was astounding.
The Kiwi international has thrown thousands of over-the-top cut-out passes but his first to Khan-Pereira was wonderfully precise. Foran combined with centre Phil Sami and rampaging second-rower Beau Fermor for the flying winger’s second and third tries.
Dolphins halves Anthony Milford and Sean O’Sullivan had nervous starts, with both making errors.
O’Sullivan failed to get his foot to a short kick and giant Titans back-rower David Fifita raced away to set up winger Jojo Fifita for a try. Dave then sent Jojo over for his second to give the Titans a 24-0 lead inside 24 minutes.
Dolphins hooker Jeremy Marshall-King put a bellringer of a tackle on Titans half Tanah Boyd to dislodge the ball and winger Jack Bostock scored. There was a lesson there for the Dolphins, one they barely heeded in the second half as the Titans made hay.
The form of Dolphins fullback Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow, and the nous of teenaged half Isaiya Katoa, when he came on, were bright spots in an otherwise forgettable display.
Bromwich said Tabuai-Fidow was a “special talent” and would only grow better at fullback.
© AAP 2023
