Senior Assistant Coach Jim Dymock says the Titans’ new coaching staff has stripped back pre-season training to help the playing group “move on” from the implosion of the Gold Coast’s 2019 season.
Dymock joins the Titans this year after a stint as Assistant Coach at Cronulla.
The move north has led to a reunion with Gold Coast Head Coach Justin Holbrook, with whom he shared time at Canterbury while the pair were players, and later together on the Bulldogs’ coaching staff.
Dymock reiterated Holbrook’s stance that the entire playing group was starting with a clean slate this pre-season, with everyone given equal opportunity to push for NRL selection in the new year.
That clean slate philosophy also extends to the Titans’ training sessions, with a “back to basics” approach being adopted to rebuild the Gold Coast’s game from the ground up.
Titans strip back training
“Whatever happened last year, we just have to move on from that,” Dymock said. “Our job is to try to give the players the best opportunity to maximise their potential. Hopefully we can do that.
“We are putting systems in place. We are stripping the training right back to just some core skills and core principles. We are not going to make it too hard for them, and hopefully we can be very competitive and consistent.
“Whatever club you go to, the football community there are very similar people. They have a good work ethic. It is our job as coaches to give them a job. They have to know their job, but we have to show them what their job is.
“Everyone has a fresh new start, so everyone is on the front foot.
“Whatever happened previously, that is not our concern. Whatever they did off the field, on the field – it is all about starting fresh in the pre-season. It is what you do now that counts for us.”
While the Titans first premiership game for 2020 is still four months away, Dymock says internal competition at training means the players must turn up every day with their “game faces” on.
Rather than the usual start to pre-season with a focus on running to put miles in the legs, the Titans started on ball work from the word go to help bring a competitive edge to each training session.
“We don’t want them to come here and, by the time we start the season, we have taken all the petrol out of them,” he said.
“We are stripping it right back in attack, just getting our core skills right, and also in defence.
“With the boys, what they like doing is playing with the ball. It is all about competition.
“Everyone likes competing. No one likes just doing laps around a field. Every time we are out there, we are out there competing for everything – if it is a play the ball, if it is a two-on-one. It is always a competition.”
Dymock said Holbrook’s coaching style would get the best out of the playing group by putting an emphasis on enjoying their hard work.
“For me, Justin is really laid back and a bit old-school. He likes to work hard when we are here, but also to have fun,” he said. “You don’t want the boys coming here not enjoying coming to work.
“That is what our job is – every time they come to work, they have an enjoyable experience and they are learning something.”
