The Gold Coast Titans bounced back in Round 3 to post a win in their first home game of the season, and in the process, break a 10-year drought at the venue.
Prior to Saturday’s match, the Titans had not defeated the Storm at Cbus Super Stadium since 2013 in Round 15, where Kevin Gordon, Anthony Don and Luke O'Dwyer all scored tries.
For Titans captain Tino Fa'asuamaleaui, the long-awaited home victory was a big moment for the club.
“It’s a good win, and it was a tough conditions like (coach) Justin (Holbrook) was saying; and to get out and get a win against the Storm here at home is massive,” Fa'asuamaleaui said.
“I think it's been 10 years since we won against them at home, so it’s a good moment for us boys.
“But, we just have to make sure we back it up next week.”
While the win itself wasn’t pretty, with the tough, sweltering conditions contributing to multiple errors throughout the match for both sides, coach Justin Holbrook said the whole club had looked forward to their first home match after spending the opening two rounds of the competition on the road.
“We were definitely disappointed with how it panned out last week (against St George Illawarra) and were really looking forward to playing at home,” Holbrook said.
“To start with two away games in a row is not easy, so it was really important that we got back here at home and showed that type of character that the boys have shown all pre-season.
"Those conditions, honestly it was 30 something and you go in the middle of our stadium and it's probably nearly 40.
“I am really happy to come out and get the win.”
With the club freshening up their roster in the off-season, overall, six players made their debuts for the Titans at the stadium.
Iszac Fa'asuamaleaui, younger brother of Tino, made his NRL debut to created history of the club as the first set of brothers to play together, a feat they achieved in front of 40 family and friends who had gathered to celebrate.
Karl Lawton and Kane Lawton were the first brothers to both play for the club, but they never played at the same time.
As well as Fa'asuamaleaui, the other Titans featuring their first game at home were Alofiana Khan-Pereira, Kieran Foran, Joe Stimson, Aaron Schoupp and Chris Randall.
In celebrating the home win, overall, it has also been a poor record for the Titans against the Storm, who had won their past eight games against the Gold Coast side before going down 38-34 on Saturday.
The last time the Gold Coast defeated the Storm was in 2017, where Stimson – who was a forward with Melbourne at the time – scored his first ever NRL try in Storm’s loss.
Bulldogs recruit Schoupp also has history against the Titans, having debuted in the NRL at Cbus Super Stadium in Round 11, 2021.
This season, in his first home game as a Titan, he produced a player of the match performance with two important second-half tries and made 131 run metres.
Match: Cowboys v Titans
Round 4 -
home Team
Cowboys
12th Position
away Team
Titans
10th Position
Venue: Queensland Country Bank Stadium, Townsville
Next Saturday, the Titans are on the road again and will head to Townsville’s Queensland Country Bank Stadium to face North Queensland Cowboys, who have won 18 of the 29 games played between the two sides since 1998.
