The Gold Coast Titans have fallen short yet again, going down 38 to 18 to the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs on Sunday.
Des Hasler was left ruing his side's poor execution and discipline in his post-match press conference where he summed up a performance that characterised much of their season to this point.
"[We've] got to stop letting the game slip away," he said.
The contest got off to a shaky start as the Titans lost their young halfback Tom Weaver in the fourth minute due to a HIA that he didn't return from.
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"We overcame some obstacles through the game. Losing Tommy Weaver early didn’t help, you know, we overcame that," said Hasler.
The veteran coach didn't shy away from taking accountability on behalf of his side, suggesting that there were a few key moments that were too costly to overcome in the end.
"I think the penalties are enough. Big impacts 10 minutes, very big impacts," he said.
"We let ourselves down."
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A lot was made of Hasler's decision to leave star back-rower David Fifita out of the lineup this week, a conversation that is sure to get louder after another loss in Magic Round.
When asked about the choices he made in selecting his side this week, Hasler made it clear that Fifita needs to return to the drawing board before being considered for future team announcements.
"We’ll have a look post-game. He had to review some areas and he had some thinking to do in some areas," he said.
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With a short-turnaround in store for the Titans as they head to Newcastle in round ten, Hasler wasn't committing himself to any decisions around who was or wasn't going to be picked in his side.
"We’ve got a very short turnaround for Newcastle," he said.
"We’ll get through this weekend and then we’ll review and we’ll go again."