NOW OR NEVER
Origin period opens door for battling Titans to reignite season
THE Gold Coast Titans concede it’s now or never in the bid to reignite their finals dream, with the State of Origin period looming as their ticket to a surge up the NRL ladder.
With Jarrod Wallace and Tyrone Peachey axed from the Queensland and NSW teams respectively, the Titans have emerged largely unscathed with Maroons forward Jai Arrow their only Origin representative.
The Cowboys will be without key duo Michael Morgan and Josh McGuire when they face the Titans at Robina tomorrow and Coast forward Bryce Cartwright (pictured) said the Origin window could be their chance to make amends for a
3-8 start to the season.
“We only have one Origin player … we just need to make the most of this Origin period,” Cartwright said.
UNDER-FIRE Gold Coast halfback Ash Taylor’s laststart performance against Manly should serve as his benchmark for the remainder of the year, according to second-row teammate Kevin Proctor.
Taylor has copped it from all angles this season for not playing like a man on a seven-figure salary, with Andrew Johns and Darren Lockyer among his public critics.
The 24-year-old again played second fiddle to Titans skipper Tyrone Roberts in their 36-18 win over the Sea Eagles but he did have some nice touches, including a long cut-out ball to put winger Dale Copley over for a try.
Proctor, Taylor’s right edge bodyguard, said he had let the No.7 do his own thing rather than add another voice into the equation but noted it was up to the entire team to help him back to his best.
“He doesn’t have to do too much, just his job,” the New Zealand international said of Taylor.
“I know he has been hard on himself but the only way he is going to get out of it is if we’re all helping him … it doesn’t make it any easier on him if everyone else is going bad.
“That (Manly) game, that’s his benchmark from now on and nothing goes below that. I’m pretty sure he is going to build some confidence off that.”
A clear trend of the Titans’ team-wide slump was their inability to hold leads. They came from behind against the Sea Eagles in a result that Proctor put down to improved composure.
“We have been trying to implement that at training and when things are not going our way we have got a new couple of calls that we use,” he said.
“As soon as momentum is not going our way or we have had a bit of a crappy set, we’ll call it and all of the boys answer to it.
“We just simplify everything and we have everyone pushing on the ball so we have got 12 people supporting. As soon as it’s called, everyone knows what to do and it’s kind of just a trigger to get back in the grind and try to swing momentum back our way.”
Proctor will mark up on dumped Maroons forward Gavin Cooper in a key match-up in Gold Coast’s 4.05pm kick-off tomorrow against the Cowboys at Cbus Super Stadium.