HOLBROOK’S TITANS CALL TO IMPROVE MENTALITY
GOLD Coast coach Justin Holbrook has admitted the Titans must improve their “mental toughness” as they attempt to end a terrible season on a high in New Zealand.
The Titans will round out their 2022 NRL campaign with a bottom four clash against the Warriors on Saturday afternoon in Auckland.
It has been a season to forget for the Titans, who went into 2022 full of optimism following a drought-breaking finals appearance last year.
But the wheels fell off emphatically at Parkwood, with the Titans crashing to last place on the ladder a month ago and facing a second wooden spoon in three years.
Barring a total disaster, the 15thplaced Titans (five wins) will avoid the wooden spoon and could climb out of the bottom four if they beat the Warriors and other results fall their way.
With two wins (Manly and Newcastle) from their past three games, the Titans could finish 2022 with some momentum by beating the Warriors ahead of a pre-season which will see experienced recruits Sam Verrills (Roosters) and Kieran Foran (Sea Eagles) join the club.
Regardless of the Warriors result, Holbrook said the Titans had to become a mentally tougher side if they were going to climb back into title contention next year.
“The mental toughness side is what we need to improve on the most next year,” he said on the back of conceding 27.5 points per game.
“We all know that, as staff and players, everybody knows it.
“We’ve had a head start in the right area. We’ve showed we can do it (in recent wins). We’ve got to show we’re getting better in that area.
“I’m disappointed with how the season’s gone but the main thing is we’ve improved over the last six weeks. We haven’t got the wins, but we’ve improved with the way we’ve played. Last weekend (36-26 win against Newcastle) was to show our fans we are working really hard and we’ve got some key guys coming, some key staff too.
“We want to finish on a high this weekend. There’s a lot of excitement around next year.”
The Titans this week confirmed former NSW Origin prop Brett White would leave Canberra to become Holbrook’s chief assistant coach and they are expected to beef up their fitness division ahead of the pre-season, which will have a renewed focus on mental toughness as opposed to sports science. Holbrook has also declared the halves race wide open, with Foran, AJ Brimson, Tanah Boyd, Toby Sexton and Tom Weaver to battle for playmaking roles next season.
Sexton, 21, was viewed as the club’s long-term No. 7 but was dropped a month ago and must now fight for his future.
“We need competition for spots,” Holbrook said. “There was a lot of pressure on poor Toby for the majority of this year.”