Trial win creates a puzzle

TITANS coach Justin Holbrook says Saturday night’s trial win over Brisbane has given him some welcome headaches as he pieces together the selection puzzle for next week’s NRL opener.

Gold Coast players had their final chance to push for Round 1 spots in the preseason hitout at Redcliffe and they made the most of the opportunity to seal a come-frombehind 28-22 victory.

While they were without first-choice fullback AJ Brimson and props Shannon Boyd and Moeaki Fotuaika, the Titans fielded a near fullstrength side and overcame an early 16-0 deficit to emerge triumphant ahead of Friday week’s trip to Canberra.

Question marks hung over a number of positions heading into the game, most notably the backline and hooker, but there were signs of promise in the performances of halfback Ash Taylor, dummy-half Mitch Rein and centre Kallum Watkins.

Holbrook said he now faced a challenge picking his 17-man squad to face the Raiders.

“Everyone has given their best chance to be selected Round 1,” he said.

“Obviously, there were a few missing – AJ, Shannon and Moe – and we’re hoping those three will all be right for Round 1.

In terms of how the boys played, they’ve really given themselves the best chance of being in the side.

“We’ve had an unsettled few weeks with the Nines … and then trials and All Stars. This was the first week we’ve come back together as a group so we needed (the) game.

“Full credit to the team for fighting their way back the way we did. We got a good hitout and now we’ll concentrate on the next two weeks going into Round 1.”

While he is all too aware the game has little significance come next weekend, Holbrook said the win over Brisbane was a step in the right direction.

“We’ll get a lot out of that. I don’t want to downplay (the game), I thought the players were fantastic,” he said.

“Obviously, both sides were resting players for the last 20 minutes but for that first 60 minutes I was really happy with what I saw and we’ve got a lot to work with.

“We’ve got two weeks (until we play Canberra), which we’ll need, and we’ll get ready for Round 1 when competition points are up for grabs.”