JUST A PAASI PHASE
Titans tyro hopes to recapture his barnstorming form after NRL year of injury and upheaval
RAMPAGING forward Agnatius Paasi admits he is still searching for confidence after a tumultuous year with injury but will push his battered body to the limit in a bid to break the club’s losing streak.
Paasi made 12 runs for 110m against the Bulldogs last week in just his third start of the year, reviving images of the feared forward that set the competition alight early last year.
Shoulder problems have prevented Paasi from being at his best this season and he admitted he was still struggling with pain after breaking the shoulder he had reconstructed at the end of last year.
“I still don’t have confidence,” Paasi said.
“After the games it always gets sore and at the end of the year I’ll be getting surgery, just a little clean-out.
“I’ve got scar tissue in there, so hopefully that will be the last surgery.”
Despite his woes, Paasi will wind up off the long run when the Titans take on the Roosters in Sydney tomorrow at impossibly long odds.
“Definitely, we’re going to go down there and give it a good crack,” Paasi said.
“We want to try and win for the fans because they’ve been waiting for a win for six games now, so hopefully we don’t make it a seventh.
“I’m just glad to be back after having shoulder issues during the year and finally to get back on the field with the boys.
“I was charging (last week), just trying to get that lift for the boys to do a comeback but obviously it wasn’t enough.”
Paasi’s efforts at the preseason Auckland Nines last year made him a cult hero for Titans fans and helped earn an upgraded and extended deal on the Gold Coast.
But he admitted this year had been a step back in his journey.
“I couldn’t control what happened to my shoulder, unfortunately I was just playing and got a crack to it but I’ve enjoyed the season even though everything bad happened,” he said.
“It’s been frustrating due to my shoulder but everything happens for a reason and I’m just glad to play 10 games this year and hopefully next year will be better.”
The Titans are staring down the barrel of a club record seventh consecutive defeat and their severely depleted outfit heads into the clash against the Roosters as $7.50 outsiders with betting agency UBet.
Despite having eight regular first graders out of action this week, Paasi said the Titans were determined to stand tall in their last match of the year.
Paasi, Jarrod Wallace (groin) and Ash Taylor (ankle) will be booked for surgery over the next week, the trio joining Tyrone Roberts (shoulder), Ryan James (ankle) and Nathan Peats (shoulder), who will miss tomorrow’s game to go under the knife in a bid to be ready for the start of the preseason.
Young guns Karl Lawton and Tyronne Roberts-Davis (both shoulder) have already had operations to ensure they too, will be ready to start training again in November.