GREENWOOD TO FIGHT FOR STARTING SPOT
GOLD Coast forward Joe Greenwood believes his lateyear form surge showed he can be a premier NRL player as his place in the Titans starting side comes under scrutiny.
Greenwood played 22 games in his first NRL season since switching from English Super League club St Helens.
After starting the year on the bench behind representative second-rowers Kevin Proctor and Chris McQueen, Greenwood took his chances to churn out a number of promising 80-minute performances.
But there is early talk that Greenwood could be shuffled to the bench as part of Ryan James’ mooted shift from prop to the back-row.
With Proctor a shoo-in on the right edge, that would make Greenwood the unlucky victim.
The 24-year-old won’t give up his spot without a fight though, determined to make hearing the game’s opening whistle a regular occurrence.
“Yeah definitely,” Greenwood said when asked about his desire to start in matches.
“But there is a lot of competition now that Garth (coach Garth Brennan) has brought in, which is good.
“It keeps you on your toes and I can’t wait for 2018.
“I’m going to have a good pre-season under my belt so I’m going to go in all guns blazing.”
Greenwood’s recruitment as part of a player swap with Zeb Taia was only confirmed in late February – and he arrived on the Coast less than a week before Round 1, leaving him minimal time to prepare himself for the added rigours of the NRL.
This time around he will be coming off a full pre-season in the Australian summer heat. While countryman Dan Sarginson lasted just one season, Greenwood is tied to the Titans until the end of 2019 and hopes to keep building his game with a view to representing England at their home World Cup in 2021.
Greenwood watched from the Suncorp Stadium stands this month as Australia retained the World Cup with a 6-0 win over England.
“It was a little bit frustrating because you want to be out there,” he said.