NRL 2021 St George v Gold Coast: David Fifita pushes aside critics to carry Titans to impressive victory

Gold Coast coach Justin Holbrook admits he may look to use David Fifita off the bench for the rest of the season after the barnstorming backrower kept the Titans’ season alive with a 32-10 win over the Dragons at Cbus Super Stadium.

After a week of being labelled “lazy” and inconsistent, the 21-year-old Fifita was almost unstoppable after starting the game on the bench and finishing with a try, a try assist and eight tackle busts.

When asked whether he would start Fifita off the bench in future games, Holbrook said: “Possibly, yeah”.

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“We had the first chance of doing it today and it worked well which is always a good sign,” Holbrook said.

“The impact that he brings is just massive for us and he’s just such a good player.

“We’ve got to be smart with how we use him and it worked great today.

“We’ll have a look at next week but I’m happy with how it worked today.”

Fifita currently leads the competition in tackle busts – with 121 – but Holbrook admitted there was still plenty more room for improvement.

“He’s going to get so much better,” he said.

“He’s only 21-years-old and he’ll get a lot better.

“We’ll keep working with him but he’s shown a number of times this year how good he is.

“Everyone expects that every week and some games it doesn’t pan out that way.

“We’ve just got to get him enjoying his footy and looking forward to playing.

“It’s a good recipe for anyone.”

The Titans have favourable run to the finals, playing four bottom eight teams in their next six games, including the Bulldogs next week and then Cowboys in two weeks’ time.

Meanwhile the Dragons will need to go back to the drawing board after suffering their 10th loss of the season and risk losing their spot in the top eight.

TOBY’S TIME

Young Gold Coast halfback Toby Sexton has been touted as the future of the Titans and his NRL debut on Sunday showed exactly why the club rate him so highly.

The 20-year-old Currumbin Eagles junior is the latest Queensland youngster to spark some excitement in the NRL following the debuts of the likes of Reece Walsh and Sam Walker.

In his first game of NRL, Sexton looked eager to get involved straight away and had some quality touches in a sign of things to come.

His high kick close to the line in the 13th minute led to Gold Coast’s first try of the game while his defence was also to be highly commended.

His impressive debut was capped off with a try, a perfect conversion rate and a try assist.

WORKHORSE WALLACE

Queensland great Billy Moore labelled it one of Gold Coast’s best goal line defensive efforts of the year, led by front rower Jarrod Wallace.

Wallace was another impressive Titan on Sunday afternoon, finishing the match with a rare double try effort.

Brisbane

Chris Honnery is a sport reporter for The Courier-Mail, covering rugby league across Queensland.

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