Kev puts the heat on Fifita

BRONCOS coach Kevin Walters has turned up the heat on David Fifita after the Titans backed their $1.2m man to fire against his former club.

Fifita will make his first appearance against the Broncos in tonight’s derby at Cbus Super Stadium.

The Queensland Origin star shocked the Broncos last year when he quit the club to take up a $3.5m three-year deal with the Titans.

Fifita’s Titans debut in last week’s loss to New Zealand was lacklustre after he battled an infected boil in his ankle in the lead-up to the game.

Now one of the highestpaid players in the NRL, Fifita’s performances will be heavily scrutinised and his form will go a long way to deciding how the Titans fare in 2021.

Walters has long believed $1m-a-season players must deliver weekly and the new Broncos coach did not back down.

“Certainly yes, they have to be able to deliver,” he said.

“I don’t think my opinions have changed on that.

“Dave came up in our video stuff, he is a good young player.

“We’re really focused about us and our role and he is a concern for the Titans, how they want to go with Dave.

“I don’t think he has a point to prove. He was a player here and now he is at another club.”

Fifita, 21, punched out 70 minutes against the Warriors before being replaced as the Titans suffered a 19-6 loss.

Titans coach Justin Holbrook said he was expecting his star recruit to have an improved performance after a steady week of training and now facing his old club.

“That’ll happen naturally no matter who plays their old club,” Holbrook said.

“It will be no different. I just want him to play well. He has had a normal week which is great for him and our team.

“I felt a bit for Dave and left him out there longer than I had planned. When you’re down 12-nil someone like him can change it.

“If we were up 12-nil he would have come off after 50 minutes. I left him out there a bit long. You want round one to be perfect but those things happen.”

After a pre-season of optimism, the Titans were disappointing in Round 1 but Holbrook isn’t stressing yet.

“There’s a bit of hype around us this year and we didn’t play as well as we would have liked in round one,” he said. “It’s only round two so we’re worried about trying to perform our best to win.

“Regardless of finals footy and where the opposition came last year, it’s our biggest game of the year against our biggest rival.”