Gold Coast Titans coach Justin Holbrook has exploded over the match officials and penalty count during his side's tight Round 1 loss to the Parramatta Eels on Sunday afternoon.
While the Titans came into the game without star AJ Brimson, who was a late withdrawal due to a niggling injury, they gave a strong account of themselves, eventually falling 32 points to 28.
The high total of points came despite no tries being scored after the 41st minute, with only three penalty goals inside the final 15 minutes getting the Eels over the line.
While the Titans only completed at 67 per cent, and only had 43 per cent of the ball, the club were faced with a seven to one penalty count by the end of the contest, with the Eels receiving trips out of their own end on a seemingly regular basis.
Holbrook, speaking at the post-match press conference, said it was a case of his club "not being one of the big ones," in what could only be described as extraordinary comments.
โIโm not here to take anything away from Parramatta. Good luck to them it is not about that," Holbrook said.
โIt is about us as a club being not one of the big clubs and not getting anything.
โIf they are 50/50 then make them 50/50s. Give us a couple and give them a couple and we are happy. Iโm not asking for 7-1 and 3-0 in the captainโs challenges.
โYou are better off getting me to talk about the first half and the officials to do the second half rather than now you are asking me 10 minutes after a game.
โWe had a great opportunity to try and win a footy game taken away from us. I donโt know if we were good enough or not.
โIโm not here to take anything away from Parramatta, but defensively we struggled in the first half, but we fought our way back with some great footy and scored some terrific tries.
โThen the second half we got a try early and then we are peppering their line with a captainโs challenge and it is, did the ball touch the leg or not and then 20 minutes later we are in the ruck and it was did the leg touch the ball? Someone tell me the difference because it has a big bearing on the game.
โEither make it 50/50 or get rid of the captainโs challenge because it is not favouring us and it never has and it has a big baring on a game.
โThat first half of footy was exciting and there was a lot of tries. The second half if I wasnโt coaching them I would have fallen asleep.
โThe game didnโt ever flow the whole second half. It was so disappointing to watch my team just continually defend their line and never get a chance to try and win the game.
โThatโs the way I feel and Iโm just being honest.โ
The Titans, who could only manage one pre-season trial thanks to Queensland's flooding rain, will face the New Zealand Warriors next Saturday afternoon in their Round 2 clash.
