Despondent Gold Coast players joked their 50-20 pummelling by Newcastle would extend coach John Cartwright's stay in hospital, but on a more solemn note, the Titans admit they're guilty of something far more serious.

Gold Coast have been an NRL success story since their 2007 admission. In their opening two seasons they punched above their weight and for the past two years they've been impressive finalists.

But after another humiliation and their 15th loss for the season, stand-in coach Steve Murphy said the Gold Coast had lost respect and had gone against everything they stood for as a club.

With coach Cartwright hospitalised after undergoing surgery to remove his appendix, assistants Murphy and Trevor Gillmeister took the reins.

Cartwright was sitting in his hospital bed watching the match and was on the phone giving instructions to football manager Scott Clarke for the duration, although his enthusiasm waned as the story got worse.

The coach may be out of hospital on Monday but there's no quick fix to the crisis the club faces, as they spiral towards their first wooden spoon.

"The second half is not our football team and not our club, Carty's obviously not with us, he's in hospital and supposed to be out tomorrow but after watching that he'll probably be in there a bit longer," said Murphy.

"It was an uncustomary performance from us, I thought it lacked discipline, it lacked everything we took four or five years to establish.

"We're just breaking systems and rules that have been in place since our inception ... all technical things we pride ourselves on just aren't there at the moment.

"I'm bitterly disappointed with that, not just from my point of view personally, just for our club, we lost respect today I thought."

Captain Scott Prince said rival teams are realising the Gold Coast will roll over when the going gets tough.

"It's disappointing, when we lose I take it to heart," Prince said.

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