The Titans were humbled 36-0 by Manly in Mudgee on Saturday afternoon, marking the first time Holbrook's side have been held scoreless since he took over last year.

Asked whether it reminded him of the club's dark days, Holbrook said: "It did, unfortunately."

Gold Coast had emerged as one of the league's biggest improvers over the first five rounds of the competition, winning three games to sit in the top eight.

However Holbrook conceded his team's inexperience showed against the Sea Eagles.

"We have been playing okay for the five games this year. (But we're a) very young side, so the minute you think you're travelling alright, something like that can happen. And it did today," Holbrook said.

"We've got to accept it, learn from it, and get better for next week."

Holbrook said his team couldn't shy away from their insipid showing, and suggested they were guilty of buying into their own hype.

"I'm not blaming one-two players. I think all 17 didn't turn up with a great attitude," he said.

"You have a couple of good wins and everybody tells you you're going good, and then you forget to play the next week. That's what happened.

"The games roll around thick and fast. We spent this week patting each other on the back too much and thought we'd just go out and get the job done, and got beaten easily."

Winger Corey Thompson was arguably his team's best, carrying the ball for a team-high 165 metres and breaking six tackles, while star David Fifita had 158 metres and also busted six tackles.

But they were blown away after a 15-minute explosion where they opened up for four tries in the first half, all of which involved returning Sea Eagles star Tom Trbojevic.

"How poorly we played and how they played, they probably didn't need him. But he's a great player and he showed that today," Holbrook said.

"We've got a real good rugby league lesson today, that's for sure."

Australian Associated Press