Gold Coast Titans

It was a day of high drama on the Gold Coast on Monday as both Hayne and coach Neil Henry were summoned to individual interviews with Titans CEO Graham Annesley and chair Rebecca Frizelle that were described as "open, frank and honest" before an emergency meeting of the board was convened.

That almost three-hour meeting was adjourned and an agreement reached that a final decision on the outcomes be delayed until all the information was received yet just an hour later reports emerged that Henry could be sacked in the coming days.

This occurred just as Henry and captain Ryan James had walked into the room.

It was the perfect real-life metaphor for what had transpired over the preceding 80 minutes.

With the Knights breathing new life into the Titans' finals hopes by briefly quelling the top eight aspirations of the Dragons 24 hours earlier, Gold Coast came out against a team in 15th position and were comprehensively outplayed in all areas of the game.

As Titans five-eighth Kane Elgey drifted left late in the final minute of the first half against the Cowboys in Townsville last Saturday night, back-rower Joe Greenwood speared back on an angle.

Elgey hit the towering Englishman with a short ball 12 metres from the Cowboys try-line, a wonderful tackle down low by Lachlan Coote all that stopped Greenwood from crossing for his third try of the season.

Hayne's NSW State of Origin chances are in some doubt, the Titans' centre breaking down with a knee injury in the 67th minute on Saturday night with the game in the balance.

When he was helped off the field, there were fears Hayne had re-aggravated a left-ankle injury that had sidelined him earlier this year for six weeks.

But a relieved Hayne emerged from the sheds after fulltime to celebrate centre Konrad Hurrell's 78th-minute match-winning try after being diagnosed with just nerve damage in the knee.

McQueen has suited up for 150 games in his nine years in the NRL to date but as he failed to get onto the field against the Bulldogs in Round 13, 2012 whilst playing for the Rabbitohs it didn't count towards his tally, causing the self-confessed footy nerd some confusion this week.

Coming out of the Representative Round on the back of two straight wins, the Titans only have to travel an hour up the M1 for their 'away' clash with the Storm who have won seven of the nine matches played between the two teams in Melbourne.

Both clubs have been rocked this week by senior players Kevin Proctor and Jesse Bromwich being embroiled in a drugs scandal following New Zealand's Test loss in Canberra on Friday night and will take the field without the pair on Saturday night.

Taking two wins into the Representative Round bye has enabled the Titans to move into 12th position and look forward with some optimism but they face a genuine test of their credentials against Melbourne in the Suncorp Stadium double-header next Saturday night.

Having missed the Round 5 loss to the Warriors and Round 7 loss to the Broncos, Hurrell returned along with Jarryd Hayne in Round 8 against the Sharks and ran for more than 150 metres in each of his two games back, adding two tries in the 38-8 rout of the Knights, his second double against Newcastle this season.

 Pulu became the unlikely hero for the Titans on Saturday night when he came off the bench to score the first double of his young NRL career as the Titans breathed life into their season with a 16-12 win over the Sharks in Cronulla. 

CEO Todd Greenberg said fines totalling $350,000 had been imposed on the Gold Coast Titans, St George Illawarra Dragons and Newcastle Knights.

He said that, following consideration of submissions from each club, the penalties would be: 

   o Gold Coast Titans $50,000 (with a further $100,000 suspended) for incidents involving Kane Elgey and Ryan Simpkins

   o St George Illawarra Dragons $50,000 (with a further $50,000 suspended) for an incident involving Josh Dugan

The 14th-placed Titans lost fullback Tyrone Roberts (knee), back-rower Joe Greenwood (concussion) and prop Nathaniel Peteru (foot) to match-ending injuries at Mount Smart Stadium, while hooker Ryan Simpkins was taken off but eventually played on through back spasms.