With a make-or-break clash with Cronulla looming, Preston Campbell believes his Gold Coast side must go back to basics if they are to salvage anything from a dismal NRL season.

In the wake of yet another disappointing performance, this time a 31-8 loss to South Sydney on Friday night, Campbell admitted the team was not living up to their own expectations.

The Rabbitohs thrashing saw the Titans slump to 16th place on for and against - with Canberra picking up two points for the bye this week - after five losses from their last six hit-outs.

And with 28 competition points being the yardstick for a top eight finish in recent years, the Titans must win nine of their remaining 11 matches to snare an unlikely finals berth.

Campbell admitted the only way for that to happen would be for the side to focus on fundamentals, starting next week against the Sharks.

"We've got to get back to basics and do them well," Campbell said.

"We've got to stop missing tackles and get our structure in place, we've got a structure but don't seem to be following it sometimes.

"When we get on the back of our structure we do well but we went away from it (against Souths), we've got to stay patient."

Campbell said the team would also have to cut down their error rate, which saw them repeatedly gift opportunities to the Rabbitohs in their own red zone.

"Even when we were going all right we dropped the ball a few times, gave penalties away, and missed crucial tackles that's what it came down to," he said.

"We started looking a little bit better in the second half, but there was a quick penalty to them we missed a tackle and it just fell away from there, we still tried but there were too many missed tackles."

Campbell, who last week re-signed with the Gold Coast for 2012, also paid respect to South Sydney's dominant Queensland contingent.

Maroons' backrower Dave Taylor was an unstoppable force against the Titans, running for 192 metres and making 28 tackles while having a hand in two tries in a man-of-the-match performance.

While his Origin teammate Greg Inglis shrugged off several injury complaints to delight fans when he bagged a late runaway try in the crushing victory.

"Most of our missed tackles came from Dave Taylor, they're hard to contain out on that left side, especially with Greg Inglis as well," Campbell said.

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