The club copped a lot of criticism in 2017 for its’ defensive efforts but after a strong pre-season, centre Dale Copley hopes the hard work will pay off this year.
Whilst it was not a good start during the round one match, with three tries being scored in 12 minutes, the remaining 68 minutes saw the Raiders only cross for two four-pointers.
“Everyone internally knows the work that has gone into it,” Copley said. “We’ve been written off a bit but that outside noise is not something we concern ourselves with.
“We know where we’re at.”
The New Zealand Warriors were also round one winners and the Aspley junior believes they’ll be full of confidence.
“We expect them to be up. They were another team who were written off but this week they’re winning the comp (from what I read). They will present a good challenge and with the extra travel and time difference, I’m sure it’ll be a good contest.”
Whilst the opposition have strike all over the park, a lot of pressure on Copley’s left side defence will come from Warriors halfback Shaun Johnson.
“He’s a hard one to read, he can do anything on the field and half the time I don’t think he knows what he is going to do. He’s one who plays what he sees, so that makes him very unpredictable.”
The Titans travel to New Zealand on Thursday ahead of the 5:00pm (2:00pm QLD time) kick-off at Mt Smart Stadium.
