The biggest question being asked at Parkwood right now is... who will be the Titans captain in 2022?
With incumbent co-skipper Kevin Proctor hinting his focus may just be his role as a senior player this season, and Jamal Fogarty moving on to the Raiders; the prestigious 'c' is expected to be next to a fresh, new name come Round 1.
As the all-important leadership decision looms for Justin Holbrook with fan and media speculation running rife, the Gold Coast head coach has suggested the announcement isn't too far away.
"Probably in the next couple of weeks I think, that’s for sure. We’ll get around to discussing that," said Holbrook, when asked about the Titans captaincy.
Unsure of who will lead the club for the upcoming season and beyond at this stage, Holbrook didn't rule out the possibility of continuing with co-captains, saying he hasn't considered the ideal leadership setup yet given the depth of influencers in the squad.
"I like to think we’ve got some really good options there which I’m comfortable with, but in terms of this week, it’s more about setting the year up and bringing everyone together to make sure everyone is aligned with where we need to go," Holbrook said.
With captaincy talks not on the agenda during the club's annual training camp which wrapped up on Friday at InterContinental Sanctuary Cove Resort, the Titans head coach appreciated the ability for his playing group to come together for the first time in the new year, following all the recent COVID-19 disruptions ruling out a large majority of the squad in the last month.
"The last few weeks, we’ve obviously been knocked around with guys missing training but we’re getting everyone back now, so it’s been really good occasion to pull everyone together for a few days, continuing training and get some meetings around setting the year up," Holbrook said.
"It’s been really great up here at Sanctuary Cove and it’s part of our area too which I like.
"You can go anywhere you like for your camps, but I wanted to try and keep it in our region. It’s been fantastic and we’ve got everything here.
"There are great training facilities here without needing to go anywhere."
'A really good opportunity to all come together' - Holbrook
The last four days in camp has allowed the roster to not only train away from their regular setting, but bond and set goals to achieve premiership success in 2022.
"We want to train as normal and even train a bit harder which is sort of the main focus," the Titans head coach said.
"Obviously, when you’re in your normal environment, people are going home at the end of the day. But when you’re here together, you just get more time to spend with each other.
"It’s a combination of everything really. It gets players talking that don’t normally talk and things like that.
"Particularly with what’s happened the last few weeks, it’s a really good opportunity to all come together and prepare the best we can for the season which is starting soon."
Finishing eighth in the 2021 regular season and painstakingly bowing out in a nail-biting elimination final thriller, the focus for Holbrook is to work with his young, but mature side to improve on last season's result.
"Each year you’re here, you want to get better in terms of your squad and communication, the way you play and everything collectively, so I think I feel much better again, which is where we need to go," the third-year coach said.
"We scraped into the finals last year and we’ve got to get better than that, so we’re really happy with the maturity [of the squad] and levels of communications.
"We’re really happy with how everything is going, but we’ve got to ramp it up now over the next months before trials."
With just under three weeks until the first pre-season clash kicks off against the Broncos at Cbus Super Stadium on Saturday, February 19, the Titans coach said spots in the top 17 are still very much up for grabs, especially in the forward pack.
"The main [positions] we’ve been asked around is the halves and the spine and that’s locked in," Holbrook said.
"In terms of the 17, we’ve got a lot of great depth in our forwards in particular, which is a great headache to have, but that will have to get sorted out once the trials come around.
"So, we don’t have our 17 locked in yet, but that’s a good thing. I’m happy with that.
"It keeps everyone hungry and training for spots, which is a good position to be in.
But despite the final lineup set to play Parramatta in Round 1 still not set, Holbrook has confirmed the missing piece to the spine puzzle, with Erin Clark set to win the race for the No.9 jersey over contenders Tanah Boyd and Aaron Both.
"He’s doing a great job. He's trained fantastically and had a good year for us last year so Erin will start at nine for us," Holbrook said.
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