REMEMBER WHEN

THE Gold Coast Titans were about to have rugby league’s answer to golfing trickster Tiger Woods.

Titans coach John Cartwright got his troops to have a football by their side 24 hours a day at a training camp in Coffs Harbour, in an effort to develop the players’ handling skills.

That includes having a footy tucked under their arm at team meals and keeping it close while they were sleeping.

“You look at the tricks golfers can do with a golf ball or how well soccer players can control a soccer ball,” Cartwright told his players as he presented each of them with a football for the week-long camp.

“We don’t do anything like that.

“You do it (walk around playing with a football) when you are a kid but then you grow out of it.

“I want to see you guys learning some tricks, get really familiar with the feeling of having a footy in your hands at different angles in different positions.”

Golfer Tiger Woods was renowned for his uncanny ability to bounce and balance a golf ball on the end of his club before tossing it up in the air and smashing it down the fairway.

Cartwright put out the challenge to see which one of the players could come up with the best trick involving a rugby league ball.

Gold Coast prop Michael Henderson said he was yet to learn any slick tricks but predicted the unusual exercise would ensure the side had better football handling skills by the start of the season.