Justin Holbrook has cited the return of Jayden Campbell this weekend, against the Dragons, as a potential turning point in the season for his struggling side.
The live-wire fullback last took the field in round three and in his absence Gold Coast have plummeted to equal-last in the table.
“We spent all pre-season with Campbell, AJ [Brimson] and Toby [Sexton] as the spine and we’ve only played one and a half games with them out of nine,” Holbrook said in his pre-match press conference.
“That’s hurt us. So, it’s good to know we can get back to what we’ve practised all pre-season.”
The return of Campbell is a huge boost for the Titans who have struggled for points over the last few rounds. In fact, across their last three games they’ve scored 26 points in total, while in two of those matches, they were able to register just four points.
“He only got three games in at the start of this year and halfway through that third one he actually picked up his injury,” Holbrook said.
“We played our best footy in the first couple of rounds. So, he’s got to come back in and do that again.”
Campbell will also be supported in the backline by the return of Philip Sami. The winger has made an impressive start to the year, constantly offering polish on the end of sets and great metres out of yardage.
However, David Fifita is still a few weeks away from returning, which will continue to heap pressure on the Titans' new-look spine to produce the goods in attack.
“We want to go back to what we had a week before, against Penrith,” Holbrook said.
“We were a real committed side who was going to do everything they could to win a game of footy. I don’t think we saw that [against the Roosters] and that’s the most disappointing thing for me as a coach.
“The Roosters had a lot more urgency than we did and that’s unacceptable,” he added.
The Titans are in the midst of a five-game losing streak, having not tasted victory since their last-second try against the Wests Tigers in round four.
“It’s been different reasons [for the losses]. Last week, and against the Cowboys, we got beaten on effort and enthusiasm,” Holbrook said.
“All the others, a little bit of inexperience hurt us. [Being at the bottom is] not good. We’ll do something about it,” he declared.
“Where we sit has got to get the players up. I don’t need to drill it in- we know where we are. The playing group and coaches are accountable for where we sit. But as I said, we’ve got to do something about that.”
