Gold Coast Titans head coach Des Hasler has whacked the NRL's use of the sin bin yet again after two of his players spent ten minutes apiece off the park during a heavy loss to the North Queensland Cowboys in Townsville on Saturday evening.
In another disastrous display from the Gold Coast which racked up their fourth loss in a row, and fifth in seven games for the season, the Titans would concede 50 points as the Cowboys ran riot, including scoring four tries in the final 14 minutes of the contest.
The Titans' 32-point loss leaves them entrenched in the bottom four on the table, with pressure starting to tell on the under fire coach and his playing group.
Hasler said he didn't want to blame the sin bins for the way his team performed - with Jaimin Jolliffe sin binned a minute before halftime and a try being scored by Robert Derby after the break against 12, and Brock Gray being sin binned in the 60th minute with Reece Robson and Derby again scoring during the following 10 minutes - but believes they are spoiling the game.
"It's probably both physical and mental. Where do you start?" Hasler said during his post-match press conference.
"We don't want to use the sin bin. We were beaten. But the sin bins are inconsistent. There is nothing we can do to control that. It spoils the game of footy."
Hasler admitted his side didn't play well, and aren't handling the adversity thrown at them.
"We didn't play well. We got back to 18-6, and as soon as there is a tiny bit of adversity that goes against us, we sort of fall to pieces," Hasler said.
"I'm not making excuses or anything for us. The sin bins, second half, I think we had two [tries against us], and we probably played a quarter of the game with 12 men.
"I'm not saying they aren't deserved, but it spoils a game of footy. I guess for both sides, but it has had a bit of an impact, but we made some bad choices in our tackle."
"I guess you have to take into account where we were positioned, but we were cruising okay. In fairness, they had one in the sin bin and scored against us. Obviously, we played 20 minutes with 12 men, so it's always going to be tough and it's something we need to address, and something we need to address pretty quickly, particularly for our fans.
"We need to be better."
Captain Tino Fa'asuamaleaui said his team will be able to turn things around, but admitted it had been a tough month.
"Obviously frustrating during it, and after looking at it, we need to stay together. It has been a tough month for us, not winning any games. We are in a bit of a rut," Fa'asuamaleaui said.
"We just have to stay together, keep pushing forward. Something will turn, training will help, working on them things. It's definitely frustrating out there."
