Walters call for faith in halves
BRISBANE playmakers Anthony Milford and Kodi Nikorima’s early-season resurgence should be a blueprint for Titans counterparts Ash Taylor and Kane Elgey to get their side’s season back on track, according to Queensland coach Kevin Walters.
Taylor and Elgey’s performances were criticised during Gold Coast’s Toowoomba meltdown in which they were clobbered 54-8 by St George Illawarra at the weekend.
The Broncos halves duo came under intense scrutiny after their first-up loss to the Dragons three weeks ago but the doubters have backed off after consecutive wins.
Walters, in his dual position as Brisbane assistant coach, saw first-hand how they rebounded.
“The pressure on these players goes with the territory when you are playing in the halves,” he said ahead of the M1 Derby at Suncorp Stadium on the night of Easter Sunday.
“It was on Milford and Nikorima ... when a team isn’t performing well, in the old days they used to blame the wingers but now they seem to blame the halves.
“That’s just modern day rugby league. How they handle that now – only speaking from Kodi and Anthony’s behalf, they worked really hard and continue to work hard to try to improve their game.
“As long as (Taylor and Elgey) are doing that, I’m sure that’s going to keep the coaching staff reasonably happy.”
Walters went as far as to label the Titans’ six and seven “as good as any going around” and leapt to the defence of offcontract Elgey, who has been a constant target of fans since returning from a knee injury last year.
“Kane is a good young player,” Walters said.
“He has shown that at different stages throughout his career and I think that everyone needs to be reminded that it is only Round 4 of 26 in the NRL.”
The southeast Queensland rival clubs have often had nailbiting derbies, including Brisbane’s 24-22 great escape at Suncorp Stadium last April.
Walters was shocked by Gold Coast’s heavy defeat to the Dragons and is expecting them to bounce back from both that and their 54-0 crushing by the Broncos last August.
“Regardless of the results of the season or where the teams are on the ladder, it’s always one of those games where you throw all that out and you just go and play some footy – not dissimilar to the Broncos-Cowboys games,” he said.