GOLD Coast coach Garth Brennan has indicated he will stick with Bryce Cartwright at five-eighth despite the Penrith recruit misfiring in their 10-9 NRL loss to Cronulla.

Not much seemed to go right for Cartwright after being thrust into the halves at the expense of exiled pivot Kane Elgey as the Titans lost their third straight game.

Cartwright got his hands on the ball but appeared to pull the wrong rein in attack with wayward passes and kicks.

SEE BELOW — FANS FUME OVER BRYCE BLUNDERS

FIVE THINGS: Arrow shows Origin potential

MATCH REPORT: Sharks down Titans with power of one

At one stage Cartwright committed the cardinal sin of being caught by the defence on the sixth tackle.

But Brennan liked what he saw.

“That was his best performance for the Titans,” Brennan said. “He wanted to take control of the football side. It showed with the amount of carries and touches he had — he really wanted to stamp his authority on that game.”

Brennan praised Elgey for the way he responded after being relegated to the Queensland Cup on Saturday but hinted that he would continue to pair Cartwright with No. 7 Ash Taylor.

“I watched Kane’s game before our game and I thought he did some real good attacking stuff,” Brennan said.

“He can get some confidence out of that game and whether he is back next week or whether he spends a bit more time there depends on how we pull up injury-wise.

“But I am quite comfortable with the effort shown by our halves.

“They (Cartwright-Taylor) have had one week of training together but already they have grabbed me aside and said ‘we want to do some more video first thing in the week’.

“There are some real positive signs how much they want to work together and get this team on the right track.”

It’s safe to say the fans are not quite as ‘all-in’ on Cartwright as Brennan is:

Everything Bryce Cartwright does is at about 60 per cent. Can't cop him. #NRLTitansSharks — Tony Webeck (@TonyWebeck) April 28, 2018

@GCTitans I highly recommend not picking Bryce Cartwright at 5/8 ever again #NRLTitansSharks — Adam Hayward (@Hayward_AdamK) April 28, 2018

59' Bryce Cartwright throws a forward pass early in the count close to the try line and I nearly throw my laptop through my TV #NRLTitansSharks — NothingButLeague (@NothingButRL) April 28, 2018

Bryce Cartwright......coming to a Superleague club near you (very soon) #NRLTitansSharks — Punter No1 (@Punter_No1) April 28, 2018

Anyone notice the Bryce Cartwright made TWO ‘selfish hog’ plays in the last 4 mins which BOTH were decisive in ruining Titan’s chances? #NRLTitansSharks — Alex (@iCranky2) April 28, 2018

Hard to see #Titans winning many games with Bryce Cartwright at five-eighth. — Gavin Lauman (@bigman_ed) April 28, 2018

Talking about overrated footballers, I introduce you to Bryce Cartwright — Benny (@saintbenny63) April 28, 2018

Can Bryce Cartwright run or does he just power walk #NRLTitansSharks — Matthew (@mattcrf) April 28, 2018

LIVE stream the 2018 NRL Telstra Premiership on FOX SPORTS. Every game of every round LIVE in HD, with no ad-breaks during play! Get your free 2-week trial now