The Titans have had two weeks to sit and stew on their underwhelming performance in their last start against Manly, and are chomping at the bit to get back on the field to show what the team is really made of against Penrith in Sydney on Friday night.
While this season has been disappointing in terms of results there have been few occasions where the Titans have been seriously outclassed.
Unfortunately, one of those occasions arrived a fortnight ago when the Sea Eagles cruised to a 30-12 win at Cbus Super Stadium just as it looked like the Gold Coast was getting ready to build some momentum with good form in the preceding two weeks.
Titans fullback AJ Brimson said a week off with the bye had helped to freshen the team mentally and stoke the fires to get back on the field and make amends for the poor showing against Manly.
“(The Penrith game) is a massive opportunity for us to turn our season around,” Brimson said. “We were very disappointing in last week’s game, so we really need to get down there and get the two points and leave with the win.
“(The bye) was a chance for us to mentally freshen up and come in this week with a good attitude.
“We didn’t finish on a high note with that Manly game. The week off just helped us get away from footy, have some time with friends and family, and that hunger just grew to get back into it this week and make amends for last week.”
The Titans beat the Panthers in Round 5 to arrest a four-game losing streak to start the season, and centre Jesse Arthars said the squad was determined to leave Sydney with two points in the bag.
“As a group, after the last game we played, we had a big talk amongst ourselves,” Arthars said. “For the last nine games, we want to make sure that we are playing to the best of our ability and finishing the year off strong, which is something we would really like to do.
“It is an away trip, and it is going to be tough especially being at the Panthers home ground. I am sure if we prepare well we will be able to get the job done.”
