FORMER NRL player Michael Ennis has given Bryce Cartwright an almighty serve, saying the struggling Gold Coast player is currently not up to NRL standard.

Ennis’s comments come after the Titans went down 32-18 to Canberra on Saturday, with Cartwright producing another disappointing performance which featured seven missed tackles.

While the Titans’ overall defensive performance was sub par — the side missed 44 tackles — Ennis highlighted the very reason why coach Garth Brennan decided to drop five-eighth Kane Elgey and replace him with Cartwright, who had largely been playing as a bench forward.

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Round 20

“Cartwright, boy oh boy is he struggling,” Ennis told Big League Wrap.

“They removed Kane Elgey because of his defence. He needed to go back (to Queensland Cup) and work on some areas of his game, but Garth Brennan was specific in saying it was about his defence.

“Well Bryce Cartwright’s defence is atrocious. I can’t say it in any other manner.”

It’s not the first time Cartwright’s been the target of criticism this season, and Fox League expert Alex McKinnon claimed back in March that the former Penrith player’s playing style wasn’t tough enough for first grade rugby league.

Ennis virtually echoed McKinnon’s views on Monday.

“The Raiders targeted the left edge of the of the Titans and he missed tackle after tackle,” Ennis said of Cartwright.

“He doesn’t want to get down and dirty at all. He lacks any sort of aggression in his game.

“When I think of backrowers who have gone and played five-eighth, I think of Greg Bird, Shaun Timmins, I think of Wade Graham from time to time. They play tough, they roll up their sleeves, they run the football with intent.

“(Raiders five-eighth) Blake Austin led the way at times, and Bryce Cartwright’s giving him 20 kilos.”

Bryce Cartwright of the Titans in action. Source: AAP

Cartwright made the move to the Titans after gaining a release from the Panthers and is just in the first season of a four-year deal which ends in 2021.

Ennis said the 23-year-old needed to repay the faith that the club and Brennan had put in him, because he wasn’t showing it.

“Phil Gould doesn’t let really good players go,” he said.

“Now he let him go over the summer for compassionate reasons and Garth Brennan took Bryce Cartwright on the sheer fact that he delivered for him and he’d had a good relationship with him in the NSW Cup.

“Bryce is letting his coach down. There’s no two ways about it.

“He’s given him a lifeline and he’s taking the p*** up there, Bryce. No two ways about it.

“He needs to show that he wants to be an NRL player, he’s nowhere near NRL standard.”

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