Titans do it tough in the real world
GOLD Coast captain Ryan James says the Titans need to toughen up and a week on the tools could help turn around their NRL fortunes.
James was hard at work washing cars yesterday after coach Garth Brennan sent his 31-man squad into the real world.
The Titans will spend this week working fulltime and training in the evening as Brennan attempts to give his $10 million squad a reality check.
A former schoolboys footy star, James admitted he had never worked a day in his life but now realised how good he had it.
“Doing something like this makes your appreciate what you have,” he said.
“I’ve been working for three to four hours (washing cars) and in footy you only train for one or two hours, have a break, lunch with your mates, do whatever on your phone then get treatment. Here you have to slug it out all day.
“For someone like me who’s never worked a day in his life it makes you appreciate what you’ve got. If you can do this here then on the field it’s not too hard.”
James was washing cars with Bryce Cartwright while Jarrod Wallace (landscaping), Nathan Peats (bricklaying) and Jai Arrow (plumbing) are
working on job sites.
The Titans finished 14th last season and had major defensive issues which Brennan is hoping to fix next year.
James said the work experiment could help toughen up the Titans on the field.
“Our defence is where we
need to pick up and that’s what we’ve been working on this off-season,” he said.
“Football is a mental game. If you want to win, you win. If you want to play hard, you play hard. If you want to tackle hard, you tackle hard.
“It’s about getting everyone to that same level.”
Brennan said he hoped his players emerged from the week with a better understanding of what awaits them in life after football.
“They were all pretty excited about it but it’s only day one – we’ll see how they are on Thursday afternoon when they’re combining work with training,” he said.
“If I ask them to do a little bit extra on the training paddock they don’t go whinging about it because they realise they’ve got it pretty good.
“They get to play a game they love and are paid very well to do it. They have to be conscious of life after football. They should be realising that football doesn’t go forever.”