Gold Coast coach Garth Brennan has slammed his side's "schoolboy errors" against North Queensland and called for a big improvement going forward.
After falling to a 24-point deficit to the Cowboys, two late tries saw the game end up 26-14. The scoreline flattered the Titans but did nothing to assuage their fuming coach.
The Titans have had a mixed season with a first victory in eight games against closest rivals Brisbane among their three wins, but they also boast the NRL's worst defence and suffered a 46-point humbling against St George Illawarra.
Brennan feels the performance at 1300SMILES Stadium was as poor as that third-round humiliation.
"We obviously don't handle things that go against us very well," Brennan said.
"It happened in the Dragons game. It happened again here.
"Not sticking to what we've trained all week to do.
"Until the guys want to buy in to where we want to go with this football team these results are going to keep happening.
"The execution's poor, no doubt about that, fundamental errors from scrums, penalties, dropping ball from contact - schoolboy errors."
Brennan admitted his team's fighting spirit was on full display with their late comeback but said this will not be enough if his players do not smarten up.
"Don't get me wrong; 10/10 for not giving up and trying, but 0/10 for smartness," he said.
