Keano Kini took one clean bounce, beat the cover and turned a dead game into a Gold Coast win. His 65-metre chip-and-chase try late on Saturday night lifted the Titans to a 28-23 upset over the Broncos at Suncorp Stadium and ended a five-match, 55-day losing run.
That is why his name is being searched now. The Titans had already spent much of the night chasing the game, and Brisbane briefly looked to have escaped after Adam Reynolds broke a 22-22 deadlock with a field goal seven minutes from time. Then Kini found space, gathered under pressure and ran away with one of the solo tries of the season.
The match had already been alive with swings. Gold Coast scored four tries in a 26-minute blitz, including two from Jayden Campbell in the 49th and 54th minutes, while Phil Sami had earlier crossed in the 38th minute with a 70-metre try after bursting into the clear. Brisbane answered through Kotoni Staggs in the 23rd minute, Jesse Arthars in the 57th and Grant Anderson in the 67th, but the visitors kept finding a response when it mattered most.
The play that decided it also carried the clearest answer to the question that had lingered through the final stages: how did Kini keep the ball after colliding with Reece Walsh on the chip-and-chase? He did it by taking the hit first and controlling the contest second. The kick landed into a space both players could reach, Walsh arrived under pressure and the collision did not end the movement because Kini was still able to gather and finish through contact. It was the sort of try that depends on timing, courage and the ball staying alive for a split second longer than the defence expects.
Walsh had already been in the middle of the night’s emotion. He went into the game with a first-half cork to his buttock, argued with Jack Gosiewski after Sami’s try and finished with 144 metres and five tackle busts, but the loss deepened the sense that Brisbane’s season is slipping fast. The Broncos have now dropped five straight and sit 5-8, while their premiership defence was left looking broken after Reynolds’ late field goal counted for nothing.
There was also a selection edge to the night. Ezra Mam had been dropped in favour of Tom Duffy, only to be sent on after Duffy suffered a head knock in the 16th minute. Mam played 15 minutes, made four tackle busts and linked with Grant Anderson for the line break that led to Staggs’ try, but that cameo could not change the outcome. The bigger question now is not what happened in the M1 derby; it is whether Walsh is fit enough to be in the frame for Origin II after that cork to his buttock, because the answer to that could shape what follows for Brisbane as much as this result does.
For the Titans, the result is simple. For one night, one kick, one bounce and one long sprint were enough to break the drought and put the Broncos back where they least wanted to be.
