‘He’s the right man’: Sexton’s big call on Holbrook
“HE’S the right man.”
With that defiant appraisal, Titans halfback Toby Sexton threw his support behind coach Justin Holbrook as the embattled club search for something to salvage from their season.
The Gold Coast’s clash with the Bulldogs on Sunday shapes as a battle for the side to avoid the dreaded wooden spoon.
Pressure has been on Holbrook and his squad throughout a sevengame losing streak, but even with just three wins thus far club hierarchy have publicly backed the former St Helens mentor.
And now Sexton has voiced the faith of the playing group, adamant the coach had given his players the tools to succeed, they simply had not delivered as a collective.
“He’s unreal, he’s got that real care factor for this playing group and he gives us all the knowledge and equipment to be able to go out there and perform,” Sexton said.
“I think he’s a great coach and he’s definitely the coach moving forward. Us as players all back him and we think he’s the right man.
“I guess this whole club is under pressure with the situation we’re in at the moment. We just have to deal with it as best as we can and look after ourselves.”
There have been theories tossed up throughout the 2022 campaign in an attempt to figure out where the Titans have gone wrong.
Among those suggestions has been the decision to allow Jamal Fogarty to join the Canberra Raiders, even as the most experienced half at the club.
Where the Gold Coast were tipped to be one of the biggest improvers, it has instead been their Queensland rivals — Brisbane and North Queensland — who have returned to prominence.
Both outfits recruited experienced, premiership-winning halfbacks in Adam Reynolds and Chad Townsend, partnered with developing prospects Ezra Mam and Tom Dearden to great effect.
But Sexton, now just 17 games into his career, said thoughts of the potential influence Fogarty could have had on him long-term had never been on his mind. Instead, the self-confessed harsh personal critic said it was the things he could control that had been letting him down, however slowly but surely he was finding his feet in firstgrade.
“To be honest I don’t read into it (the Fogarty talk) at all. He’s doing well at the Raiders and I’m really happy for him,” Sexton said.
“We’re a young side and these learning curves are going to come for us. I’m a pretty tough judge on myself to be honest … at times I’ve been sitting in behind the play trying to catch up on games where I haven’t been performing well.
“But I feel like lately I’ve been getting my hands on the ball a lot more and it’s definitely helping.”