Eradicating negative play has been top of the Titans' agenda this week ahead of their Anzac Round clash against the Cowboys, as they hope to return to the winners' circle after a tough past three weeks.
A clear focus from Des Hasler with the coach identifying penalties and errors have been the cause of their past three losses, utility Chris Randall has stressed the importance of minimising it from their game, especially after they watched their three-try lead evaporate against the Raiders on Sunday due to mistakes.
"We started really well. We probably had the best start of any game this year but we're just finding ways to make errors upon errors upon errors," he said.
"You can make errors in games... that's always going to happen, but we can't keep doing it in close bunches like we are and losing momentum and putting ourselves under so much pressure.
"We could've copped one of their tries and then got back into the groove of the game and been just fine going into half-time, but we seem to find a way to make a few more errors and give silly penalties away, which gives the opposition the upper hand and all the momentum.
"The Raiders are a good side, so if you give them the footy and that many chances with field position, they're going to capitalise on that.
"We went into half-time 16-all when it should've been 16-4. It's on us. There's too many errors in close bunches and we're putting too much pressure on ourselves."
Faced with the tough task of a trip to Townsville to play North Queensland who are coming off a bye with three-straight wins to their name, Gold Coast have spent their week at training aiming to reduce the number of penalties they concede as well as increasing their completion rate which has averaged 75 percent over the past three weeks.
"They're in a bit of form and are always hard to beat up there when they play at home," Randall said.
"We've got to take our lessons from the weekend and focus on the job ahead in readiness for this week.
"It's going to be a tough one."
Although hit with several key injuries to the likes of Keano Kini and Jayden Campbell in recent weeks, Randall doesn't want to blame their recent losses on the growing casualty ward, backing young gun half Tom Weaver to flourish again in his second game back after his late recall last week.
"We haven't really spoken too much in-house about our injuries, we are just relying on that next man up mentality and not making any excuses," he said.
"I thought Tommy came in and did his job on the weekend. I thought he was one of our better players, so hopefully his week he steps up again - which I'm sure he will - and can lead us to a win against the Cowboys."
