Coach blasts referees, says Titans don’t ‘get a fair crack’
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Gold Coast Titans coach Josh Hannay took aim at match officials after his side suffered a last-minute defeat to the Melbourne Storm, who snatched a crucial 22-18 victory in the dying moments of Sunday’s game.
The Storm broke a tense deadlock with just two minutes remaining on the clock, denying a Titans comeback.
Josh Hannay in the press conference. NRL
Despite the result, Hannay praised the resilience of his squad, but his pride quickly turned to frustration when asked if the team could take any positives from the narrow loss.
“What do you reckon?” Hannay snapped when asked if the Titans could be happy with that performance.
“Just super proud of our guys, gutted for them that they didn’t get the ultimate result. How can you not be proud of how their representing this club?
“The bounce of the ball didn’t go our way, we had none of the (luck) tonight, which is often the case for some reason with this club. I expected it to go the way.”
The Titans coach aired his frustrations over two critical decisions that swung the momentum of the game.
The Titans were denied a try early in the first half when player Jayden Campbell was pinged for a forward pass.
Then, just before half time, Storm centre Jack Howarth was awarded a 32nd-minute try, despite video replays suggesting he committed a double movement.
“That Jayden Campbell pass to start the game. Not forward,” Hannay said to media.
“I expected it (the Howarth try) to go the way it went just because of who they are and who we are.”
When pressed on whether he would seek clarification from the NRL, Hannay slammed the “pointless” exercise for the Titans.
“It’s the most pointless exercise in our game is talking to the officials during the week, it’s pointless,” he said.
“It just makes you more frustrated. What you hope is that when you take the field each week, you get a fair crack. And so we keep taking the field hoping for a fair crack.
“(The frustration) is probably jut an accumulation, if you’re way off, getting beat by a lot, it’s hard to look at other things, you gotta look at yourself.
“But when you’re in the fight, that’s when the frustration comes. It’s accumulations across a lot of games.”
With the scores level in the final minutes, it was Nick Meaney who turned into a match-winner for the Storm in front of their home crowd.
Storm players celebrate their last-gasp win. Graham Denholm
He picked the ball up from dummy half and dived for the line, spinning out of a Keano Kini tackle to ground the ball over his head at AAMI Park.
While the Storm missed the subsequent conversion, it left the Gold Coast with only seconds to concoct a miracle, a task that ultimately proved too great.
The narrow win keeps Melbourne firmly in the 2026 finals conversation as they now stay within two wins of the top eight.
With their upcoming clash against the Sydney Roosters on Friday, the Storm are within striking distance of the top eight.
“I think you always want to be in the running. This year, a few games didn’t go the way we planned, but we just got to keep putting one foot in front of the other and stay really present and not look too far ahead,” Harry Grant said to Fox League.
“Keep getting through the week we’re presented with, the team we’re presented with, the opposition we’re presented with.”
