LAWTON ON CALL
Lawton keen to come off the pine to play vital role at dummy-half
KARL Lawton is in line to become the Gold Coast’s bench utility for their season opener next week in the wake of the Titans’ nightmare trial in New Zealand.
Frontline hooker Nathan Peats and back-up rake Pat Politoni will both miss up to a month after injuries sustained during the 26-6 loss to the Warriors in Palmerston North on Sunday.
The Titans are sweating on results of scans on Peats’ shoulder but are resigned to him missing their seasonopener against the Roosters, a broken radius in Politoni’s arm is expected to sideline him for at least a month.
Ryan Simpkins could have been an alternative dummyhalf option but is also likely to miss a few weeks due to rib cartilage damage sustained in the same trial.
All this has put Tyrone Roberts firmly in the box seat for a starting role, having previously been destined to act as a supersub.
“Tyrone Roberts played a bit there in the All Stars game and played a bit more against the Warriors so at the moment I’d say he’s probably got the No.9 on his back,” said Titans coach Neil Henry.
That leaves the bench hooker or utility role wide open and Lawton appears to be the frontrunner to fill it, dewhile spite not being selected for the Gold Coast’s final trial match.
Tyler Cornish should overcome concussion in time to be ready for Round 1 but his specialty is predominantly in the halves or at fullback while Lawton has long been viewed as a dummy-half option.
“He’s certainly had a desire to play at No.9,” Henry said of Lawton.
“(He) played in the halves on the weekend for Tweed but he has filled in at nine and trained there so he will certainly come into consideration.”
A Titans under-20s graduate, Lawton played the first and only game of his NRL ca- reer to date in Round 17 last year. He was impressively solid filling in at centre until suffering a gruesome season-ending ankle injury.
John Olive’s hopes of winning the left wing spot also appear to have been dashed by a pectoral strain picked up during the Warriors clash.
That could reduce the contenders for that No.5 jersey to William Zillman, Nathan Davis and Daniel Vidot.
Henry mentioned young second-rower Morgan Boyle as a Round 1 bolter and even labelled Agnatius Paasi, on the comeback from a shoulder reconstruction, an “outside chance”.