wombatgc said:
Mark from Brisbane said:
Always a tough game up there, especially if Checcin is the ref!!
What they don't have is much crowd support, and those that are there are worse than Broncos fans, almost no passion at all.
Heat may have an impact , although its a much later start than last weeks game.
One thing is assured the MWTS will be there in large force and we WILL make plenty of noise.
Not sure how to make the article bigger...reading glasses?
....Daniels covered pretty much all the excuses...including their dodgy crowd figure...12,000+ last week:s.
I couldn't find the article online so for those of you that are having trouble reading the image of the article, I have typed it out to make it easier for you to read
Time to back your team
Daniel Meers@
news.com.au
The Gold Coast needs to fall back in love with the Titans.
I still remember how nearly 50,000 made the trip up the M1 for their first match against St George in 2007.
The match was played at Suncorp Stadium because they couldn't fit in everyone at Carrara.
Last Sunday, their first match of 2013, there were just 12,267 at their home ground, Skilled Park.
Seasoned Skilled Park observers thought there were fewer there than that, but I'm prepared to take the Titans at their word.
In fairness, the club was really thrown to the lions.
A 1pm match in 35 degree heat on a Sunday is a tough sell on the Gold Coast. Especially when we've been drenched by rain. Everyone hit the beaches.
Canberra are probably the worst crowd pullers in the league.
The NRL did them no favours.
That said, for the Titans to attract only 12,267 to Skilled Park for the first home game in six months was disappointing to say the least.
Of more concern is that the club hosts four of its next five games at Skilled Park. That's a hard sell - trying to get families to back up week after week.
Once again, the NRL has done them no favours.
But you have to play the cards you are dealt and that means the Titans have to continue working to win back the respect of the Gold Coast fans.
They need you to put your bum back on a seat.
Manly will have plenty of fans in the stands and the Titans run the risk of being booed on their home ground, the way things stand at the moment.
Manly will have far more fans there than the Titans, if Sunday is anything to go by.
The Glitter Strip is a bandwagon city. Nothing puts bums on seats like winning, that's something the Titans have struggled to do in recent years. Early indications are they may be about to turn that around.
Their brand is battered and bruised over financial troubles and ongoing disputes about the Centre Of Excellence, which left a lot of tradies, the traditional bread and butter fans of a footy club, swearing they would never again go to a Titans game.
The sacking of foundation skipper Scott Prince was handled poorly. Time will tell whether it was the right or wrong decision as far as on-field results go.
Off-field though, they have no one to replace him, and that's something they need to rectify. The departure of Prince upset a lot of kids. He was their poster boy.
Princey is a good bloke. The kind of bloke you could see having brekky at his favourite cafe, Toscanis at Robina, and you'd feel comfortable going up and asking for a photo.
He'd be happy to oblige.
Prince is replaced by Nate Myles and Greg Bird as co-captains. Both are wonderful stories. They came to the club as troubled individuals and are now fine ambassadors.
Still, fans are weary of them. They're enforcers on the field. Two of the hardest players in the competition and they have that persona away from the footy field.
Fans aren't comfortable talking ownership of them.
The Titans haven't allowed the media to tell some of their great stories in the pre-season. Understandably they feel burnt from what they wrongly believe was a sustained campaign against them.
Closing ranks in the build-up to the season didn't allow the Titans to enter the living rooms of families - and that has been clear to see among the rows of empty seats on Sundays,
The Titans should be a great brand.
They have a lot to offer and under a rebranded leadership are making inroads to fix that.
It's not going to happen overnight, but each week, each win and each good story they will begin to re-etch a place in the hearts of the Gold Coast fans.
It shouldn't be totally up to them.
Perhaps it's time for the Gold Coast to cut them some slack.
Guys like Bird and Myles deserve to play in front of a full house. A healthy Titans is a healthy city.