TITAN’S ON THE BOYLE
ROOKIE PLAYING FOR DEAL:
TITANS terminator Morgan Boyle has seen enough in life to know not to take anything for granted.
Boyle, whose father David, a former Canberra Raiders player, was almost killed in a farming accident almost a decade ago, is grateful for his opportunity to play first grade with the Titans after graduating from their under-20 system last year.
Off contract at the end of the season, Boyle is unsure what the future holds but is content to let his football do the talking as he continues a breakout rookie NRL season.
“There’s always talk but there’s nothing yet,” he said.
“I’m not really worried, I’ll just keep trying to play my footy here.”
Boyle will line up for the Titans against the Wests Tigers tomorrow night, now a regular member of the Gold Coast squad.
An unprecedented run of injuries has forced coach Neil Henry to use all the players at his disposal this year and fasttrack the development of the Gold Coast’s young talent.
The Gold Coast had tagged youngsters like Boyle, Max King and Tyronne Roberts-Davis as first graders of the future. But their injury toll has forced them to push the youngsters from the nest and see if they could fly.
Boyle is certainly living up to expectations.
After a couple of early-season concussions stalled his progress, Boyle made his NRL debut against Canberra in Round 6 after injuries to Kevin Proctor, Chris McQueen and Agnatius Paasi left Henry’s forward stocks bare.
It was a brutal introduction for the former Raider, with Canberra handing the Titans a 42-16 drubbing.
There were few highlights for the Titans that night, although the introduction of the 194cm, 112kg forward was one of them.
Boyle had to wait a few more weeks for his second crack at NRL level, but hasn’t looked back since, playing the last six games for the Titans, averaging just under 100m to be one of the team’s most potent forwards.
His breakout game came in the Titans’ upset of competition leaders Melbourne, with Boyle running for 177m and making 21 tackles. Confident without being cocky, Boyle believed he could make his mark at NRL level.
“I never had any tickets on myself,” he said.
“I would have liked to have thought that if I got the step up I could keep pace but it’s all a learning curve really.
“Even if I only got to play one game this year I would have gone back to Q Cup and kept doing what I was doing during the year and kept plugging away.”