Brimson anchors new spine as Gordon injured
A FRUSTRATED Garth Brennan is hoping his new starting spine combination can spark a win as the Titans prepare for today’s clash with the Bulldogs.
The club is staring down their worst start to a season if they fail to overcome cellardwellers the Bulldogs at Cbus Super Stadium this afternoon.
The Titans go into today’s game on the back of a threegame losing streak that has left them in 14th position, with a 2-7 win-loss record.
An injury to regular fullback Michael Gordon has allowed AJ Brimson to don the No.1 jersey today.
The 20-year-old will form part of the Gold Coast’s new starting spine combination with halves Tyrone Roberts and Ash Taylor and hooker Mitch Rein for the first time this year.
Brennan said he was excited about Brimson’s potential input in today’s match.
“I’m really excited to see him working with Tyrone and Ash and see if they can strike up a bit of a combination,” Brennan said. “We saw what he did when he played fullback against the Cowboys.
“It’s always a case of when, not if, with AJ to get into that starting side, whether it be in the halves or fullback.
“As it turns out with an injury to Michael Gordon, he’s got his opportunity and I’m really excited for it.”
It comes as Brennan admitted he was going through a frustrating period.
“Yeah it’s been tough, there’s no doubt about that,” he said when asked if it was the most testing time of his coaching career. “It’s probably been frustrating more than anything because we’ve been in every game. We’ve been in positions to be able to win the games. It’s not as though we’ve had any real floggings.
“You look at some sides this year and they’ve had 40-50 points put on them.
“We haven’t been put in that position at all. We’ve been in the fight every game.”
Brennan brushed aside questions on whether today’s game was do-or-die.
“We’re not looking at the ladder or talking about what’s going to happen at the end of the year,” he said. “We’re just focused on this weekend. It’s an important game. We need to start winning.”
Jai Whitbread will be on the bench after Shannon Boyd failed a concussion test.