Jesse centres in on impressing Titans
JESSE Arthars has made no secret of the fact fullback is his preferred position but it’s in the centres where he is making his mark.
The Runaway Bay and Helensvale junior signed with the Titans in the off-season with the ambition of eventually netting an NRL debut.
That chance could come as early as this Sunday with Arthars part of the extended squad for the club’s Round 6 clash with Newcastle.
Arthars and other Titans-affiliated Bears players are not making the trip to Mackay to play the Cutters tonight.
Arthars has had to bide his time for now with the Bears but is doing his best to catch the attention of Gold Coast coach Garth Brennan.
After six rounds, the 20year-old is the Intrust Super Cup’s leading tryscorer with seven four-pointers.
He has crossed in all but one game and notched an early double last weekend to set up the Bears’ 26-18 win over Wynnum Manly.
“To be honest, it’s probably just the team around me,” Arthars said.
“They are helping me out
around the park and stuff like that so it makes my job a lot easier when you have got a team where everyone is on point all the time. That is what has helped me the most.”
Having mainly trained at fullback during the pre-season, Arthars is growing in confidence in the three-quarter line.
“I looked at it as a positive and as an opportunity to improve my overall game and I feel like it has,” Arthars said of his positional switch, which allowed Kurtis Rowe to retain the No.1 jersey.
“It helps the resume if you can play multiple positions so it’s just a positive. I just want to keep playing good footy and keep putting heat on the big boys.”
Burleigh coach Jimmy Lenihan spoke highly of Arthars’ influence on the squad.
“He has been really good for us this year,” Lenihan said.
“We were sort of looking at what centres we needed. Sami (Sauiluma) has always been a decent centre for us; it has always been locking down that next centre.
“Josh Berkers plays really well too but with Jesse Arthars coming back from the Titans, he got the first go and since then he has been really good for us.
“He is certainly playing well enough if the Titans needed to find anyone in the outside backs.
“Defensively he is doing really well and has tightened up our right edge a fair bit.”