Tino and his Titans ready for Bulldogs

GOLD Coast captain Tino Fa’asuamaleaui and coach Justin Holbrook have headaches to consider as the Titans wash off the disappointment of a seventh straight loss and look ahead to their next clash with Canterbury.

Rarely has a 14 versus 15 meeting held as much intrigue as Sunday’s game at CommBank Stadium between the lowly Bulldogs and Titans.

But with every game now do-or-die for the embattled Holbrook, and the Bulldogs’ Tevita Pangai Jnr telling media he wasn’t happy about Titans skipper Fa’asuamaleaui’s treatment of Canterbury’s NSW star Matt Burton in Origin, the stage is set for an explosive clash.

The Titans looked much improved in Saturday night’s 16-12 loss to the Broncos, but Holbrook needs wins, not honourable losses.

With Gold Coast now mathematically out of the finals race, attention turns to maximising the final seven rounds. Holbrook handed an NRL debut to Jojo Fifita and first club start to hooker Aaron Booth against the Broncos, with one eye on the future.

But for the coach to be part of that future he needs the team to show more, and quickly, which makes for a precarious juggling act over the final two months of the season.

That could make Jayden Campbell’s possible return from injury this week more of a headache than blessing, with AJ Brimson hitting form since returning to his old No.1 jersey.

Holbrook admitted he had not yet considered where or how Campbell would slot back into the side should he be cleared to play against the Bulldogs.

“Hopefully he (Campbell) will be cleared to be available next week … we have to get him in there somewhere,” Holbrook said.

For his part, Fa’asuamaleaui told the Bulldogs to “bring it on next week” before urging his teammates to set Saturday night’s effort and intensity as the standard for the remainder of the season.

“We’ll fix that (handling errors) and make sure that effort there tonight is our standard (going forward),” he said.