Roberts up for stay at Coast club

FIVE-EIGHTH Tyrone Roberts is confident of sealing his future on the Gold Coast as he revealed how the team tried to demonstrate their hunger to fans on Saturday.

There has been plenty of conjecture around whether Roberts will remain at the club, with the former Knight publicly expressing his frustration at negotiations pinning him as a utility rather than a starting half.

However, the 26-year-old sounded the most assured he has been of his prospects after the 26-14 loss to Canterbury, indicating a contract extension is imminent.

“I’m happy here, I love it here and I hope I stay,” he told the Bulletin.

“I will hopefully get something done in the next couple of weeks.”

Roberts confirmed he had been clear in stating his desire to maintain his hold on the No.6 jumper. The Bulldogs set up their win at Cbus Super Stadium by blitzing the home side in the first half to open up a decisive 20-0 lead before the Titans showed some heart to stem the bleeding.

Roberts said the playing group had made a conscious effort to prove their “ticker” to their loyal fans through heavy contact, such as Agnatius Paasi’s turbo-charged hit-ups and Jarrod Wallace’s crunching tackle on Dogs captain James Graham.

“We tried to show our aggression out there, we tried to bash them really just to show the fans that we do care,” Roberts said.

“You come to training and it’s not the best feeling when you lose, especially when you lose five in a row but we just wanted to come out there and rip in for our last home game.

“I have been around for a while and the last home game means a lot to the fans, to show that we do want to be out there and we do want to rip in for everyone.”

Roberts listed discipline, execution and ball control as key areas needing improvement ahead of their daunting Round 26 fixture against the secondplaced Roosters at Allianz Stadium.

There is no avoiding the difficulty of that task but he challenged his teammates to get up for a big week of training to finish the season well.

“It’s going to be even tougher, they’re in form,” he said.

“We have just got to keep turning up for each other, being a player that other players want to play with and yeah finish good.”

The Roosters’ clash will mark a full circle in Gold Coast’s tough season, having started their 2017 campaign against the Trent Robinsoncoached side.

That night they trailed 28-0 at half-time before clawing back to a 32-18 final scoreline.