Hayne needs time to get back to best
His position in the line-up remains a mystery though, with Henry yesterday suggesting he could come off the bench, or play in the centres rather than at fullback in his first game since suffering the injury in Round 2.
Regardless of where he plays, Henry does not expect Hayne to single-handedly turn the Titans’ fortunes.
“No one has patience for him. Everyone expects Jarryd to come out and do something special and be the payer of the match,’’ Henry said.
“He’s heavily scrutinised every time he plays a game of footy and he’s got high expectations.
“He could certainly do something special on the field but if he gets through the game and we have a solid performance and we could get a win down there, that would be great.”
Hayne headed into the pre-season hoping to build a strong combination with fellow spine members Ashley Taylor, Kane Elgey and Nathan Peats but admitted ahead of Round 1 he had had little opportunity due to injury.
“He had a couple of good games for us last year but he hasn’t been able to settle into any rhythm,’’ Henry said.
“A lot of our team haven’t had a lot of training together and he’s one of them. He’s a key piece of the puzzle really at fullback. It’s a crucial role.
“My expectations are he has a solid game – he’s involved in the game, he’s getting on to the ball, he’s carrying the ball back strongly and that will do.”
Kevin Proctor and Konrad Hurrell also completed training yesterday and are expected to play against the Sharks in a match the Titans believe they can win if they can stiffen their leaky defence.
Cronulla have not conceded a try in the past two weeks, conceding just a penalty to both the fancied Storm and Panthers outfits, and the Titans are expecting a tough match.
But the Titans will not go away from the style of football that has them rated one
The Titans have conceded 24 points or more in each of their past five away games — and lost them all.
Kane Elgey has scored three tries in his past three games, taking his season tally to five to be the club’s leading tryscorer. of the best attacking sides this season.
“We’ve been using the ball a bit and we’ve got to couple that with a high completion … but we also can’t be trying to throw the ball around too much against a side that’s pretty aggressive off the line,’’ Henry said.
“It’s a balance there but you really do have to play a bit of footy to break down their defence.
“It’s hard when they haven’t conceded tries for two weeks, we expect a tough game.”