2007 Gold Coast Titans season explained

The 2007 Gold Coast Titans season was the first in the club's history. They competed in the NRL's 2007 Telstra Premiership, finishing the regular season 12th (out of 16).

At the end of the season Luke Bailey and Anthony Laffranchi were named co-winners of the club's inaugural Paul Broughton Medal for best and fairest player of 2007.[1]

Season summary

The Gold Coast Titans' first ever trial match resulted in a 32-6 loss to the previous season's grand finalists Melbourne Storm, however wins over the Parramatta Eels and Penrith Panthers later on led to predictions for a bright start to the Titans' premiership campaign.

Their first premiership match was played against the St. George Illawarra Dragons at Suncorp Stadium on 18 March. After at one stage leading, the Titans lost a cliffhanger, 20-18. But this disappointment was soon erased with the club registering its first ever win against Ricky Stuart's Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks at Carrara Stadium the following round.

There were mixed results in the first half of the season; highlights included wins over Preston Campbell's old club the Penrith Panthers at Penrith in round four, the Brisbane Broncos at Suncorp Stadium (a Titans home game) in round five in a match which was marred by a horrible leg injury to Michael Henderson and the virus-struck Parramatta Eels by 38-12 in round seven. The Parramatta side had blamed its loss to the Titans on its preparation of its squad whom at least half of them had been struck with illness in the week leading up to the match.

By round fifteen, everything seemed to be coming together. However, injuries to many players, none more so than captain Scott Prince, struck the Titans at the wrong end of the season and lost eight of its last ten matches (including a 56-10 loss to Canberra in round 18 and a final round 50-6 loss to the Melbourne Storm in Melbourne) to fall to 12th at the end of its inaugural season. Despite this, their first season was deemed not a failure but not a success either. Only wins over the Wests Tigers and Sydney Roosters, both at home, saved the Titans from a lower finish.

Results

Round Opponent Result Tit. Opp. Date Venue Crowd
Trial Match Melbourne Storm Loss 6 32 17 Feb12,000
Trial Match Win 22 10 24 Feb8,612
Trial Match Win 28 6 2 Mar13,457
1 Loss 18 20 18 Mar42,030
2 Cronulla SharksWin 18 16 26 Mar17,946
3 Canterbury BulldogsLoss 6 22 1 Apr14,675
4 Win 24 22 8 Apr15,022
5 Win 28 16 13 Apr27,686
6 Loss 6 20 22 Apr25,524
7 Win 38 12 29 Apr18,021
8 Loss 10 24 7 May17,806
9 Loss 18 24 13 May 6,246
10 Loss 10 28 18 May 12,058
11 Win 25 18 26 May 17,266
12 Win 28 8 3 Jun 13,644
13 BYE - - - - - -
14 Win 16 14 17 Jun 13,451
15 Win 28 22 23 Jun 15,306
16 Loss 6 22 30 June 17,608
17 Loss 18 19 6 Jul 48,621
18 Loss 10 56 15 Jul 9,136
19 Loss 12 36 20 Jul 15,873
20 Loss 14 20 28 Jul 13,351
21 Win 30 14 4 Aug 17,257
22 Loss 6 30 11 Aug 20,609
23 Win 22 18 19 Aug 17,423
24 Loss 12 28 25 Aug 9,036
25 Loss 6 50 2 Sep 11,770
Round Position
1 10/16
2 9/16
3 12/16
4 10/16
5 7/16
6 9/16
7 6/16
8 9/16
9 10/16
10 13/16
11 12/16
12 9/16
13 8/16
14 6/16
15 4/16
16 7/16
17 9/16
18 10/16
19 11/16
20 12/16
21 11/16
22 12/16
23 11/16
24 12/16
25 12/16

References

-28.0064°N 153.3672°W

Notes and References

  1. News: abc.net.au . Bailey, Laffranchi share Titans' top honour . ABC News . Australia . . 2007-10-04 . 2010-07-04.