David Fifita backline gamble fails as Cowboys smash Titans

A late line-up change that saw David Fifita move into the backline did not pan out for the Gold Coast Titans, as their right-side defence was peppered in a heavy 30-4 loss to the North Queensland Cowboys.

Perhaps inspired by the performances of the similarly bulky Siosifa Talakai for the Cronulla Sharks, Titans coach Justin Holbrook opted to throw his big backrower into the centres after Phillip Sami was a late withdrawal.

Patrick Herbert took the vacant wing spot and Kevin Proctor came into the side to take Fifita's place in the forward pack.

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"We had to do it for an injury, but also wanted to test it out there," coach Justin Holbrook said afterwards.

"We've got to try things. We're not winning games so we tried it with limited preparation. A bit of a mixed bag, obviously.

"We're not winning games of footy so we've got to come up with what we think is right. We thought it was right tonight, and clearly it wasn't."

Nobody can deny Fifita's dynamism with the ball in hand, but he was found wanting defensively a couple of times in the first half as the Cowboys cruised to a 16-4 halftime lead that was never under threat after the interval.

First, Fifita and Herbert ran into each other as Murray Tuilagi was put away down the left wing after a deft pass from Valentine Holmes, which led to Tom Dearden's opener.

Then after a Titans error, North Queensland packed a scrum 30 metres out, Scott Drinkwater scooping it up at the base, turning on the jets and darting through them to score untouched.

The game petered out after the interval, save for their dual young gun backrowers each crossing the line.

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Jeremiah Nanai was sin binned and put on report for a lifting tackle, only to come back on and score the first try of the second half from a Chad Townsend kick, before Heilum Luki slammed down an emphatic exclamation mark with eight minutes left.

Discourse around Fifita can be tiresome - much like Ben Hunt, the size of his contract and the relative mediocrity of his team's fortunes means that no matter what he does, the 'overrated' tag will be thrown out by some.

But moves like this certainly don't help - punctuated by the fact that Proctor, replacing him in the forwards, gave away two penalties in the first few minutes - including one in the opening set of the night.

The resurgent Cowboys have now won four of their opening seven matches, while the Titans are left languishing towards the bottom.