Jarrod Wallace has played in his fair share of Local Derby’s, but says Friday’s win was a “fantastic” result.
Having seen the clash from both sides of the fence after playing in Brisbane for the early stages of his career, Wallace told Channel 9’s Sunday Footy Show that the Titans were keen to put on a good performance in their first game in front of The Legion at Cbus Super Stadium in 2021.
“(It was the) first Friday night game that we’ve had in a long time, local derby and first home game and it was fantastic,” Wallace said.
“Off the back of a loss we were very disappointed and anything can happen in a local derby.
“The emotions are flying all week, the hype is there and then you get out there and you put everything into it.”
Whilst touching on his own performance, Wallace was also asked by the panel of Erin Molan, Brad Fittler and Sam Thaiday to talk about some of his team-mates.
On Ash Taylor:
“He came off the back of a pretty slow pre-season, he had two hip surgeries,” Wallace said.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen him train as hard, he has been fantastic since he has been back.
“He brings such a confidence to our team when he is playing well and when he is whacking blokes as a team we know that we are on.
“When our little generals are putting their bodies on the line our big boys get excited and put their bodies on the line.”
On David Fifita:
“You give him a bit of early ball and he is unstoppable,” Wallace said.
“Last week (round one) everyone was into him for not playing that well, but for a bloke that was in hospital for three days, Justin said to him mate have the week off if you need it but he said I want to get out there and play with my team-mates.
“It shows the type of guy that he is and he wants to put his body on the line.
“I was happy for him to go out there and play like that to show up the critics.”
On Tino Fa’asuamaleaui:
“His work ethic, at training he leads the big boys in the running, he is one of the best wrestlers,” Wallace said.
“His professionalism, he’s only just turned 21 and that’s what we need to build a good culture and these are the guys that Mal (Meninga) and Justin (Holbrook) are looking at brining to the Club.”
