Randall's defensive grit why Titans honed in on Knights rake
Justin Holbrook couldn't be anymore happier with the latest addition to have joined the squad as his Titans roster takes shape for 2023.
Recruiting rake Chris Randall this week to add to the No. 9 stocks alongside Sam Verrills, the 26-year-old's attitude and work rate is what has the Gold Coast coach most excited about the former Knights hooker's relocation.
Particularly with a crucial focus on defence to match it with the other top powerhouse clubs in the NRL competition.
"He's going to be so important to us. We've got Sam Verrills which is excellent, but we need more options there," Holbrook told titans.com.au.
"He was actually one of Newcastle's hardest working players and I spoke to a lot of people about him and he was their best trainer and loves defence, which is a big part of our game we've got to improve next year."
"In that hooking role, we had Sam McIntyre and Jarrod Wallace playing there in our last month. We tried Erin Clark and Tanah Boyd there, but and Erin prefers to play at lock and Tanah prefers the halves, so we saw the importance of that No. 9 position.
"The top clubs are always strong in that area... just think of Melbourne, they had Brandon Smith and Harry Grant juggling that spot, so we needed to make sure that it was a a real priority for us."
The player swap saw Greg Marzhew move to Newcastle in the process, which Holbrook is sad to see go, but is happy for the metre-eater to be guaranteed a longer-term future in the Hunter Valley for him and his young family, especially with so much competition for spots in the outside backs.
"It's not ideal when you have to lose a player to get one in and Greg was terrific for us, but we do have some exciting outside backs," he said.
"We've got Aaron Schoupp that's joined us, and then we got young Lofi (Khan-Pereira and Tony Francis knocking on the door, as well as plenty of established players with Phil Sami, Brian Kelly and Jojo Fifita who's been excellent.
"We saw it as an important chance to make sure we get the No. 9 position right, particular defensively.
"We've got to improve, so we're going to filter that right across the park."
Making his NRL debut in 2020 with a record 71 tackles at an incredible 95 percent efficiency - smashing the previous record by 21 - the Titans mentor is hoping his defensive speciality when playing in at No. 9 will help lift the rest of the team and allow them to complete their roles.
[Hookers] are workhorses in defence and even in attack with knowing which side of the ruck to give the ball so you've got to have smarts there and you've got to be a natural No. 9," Holbrook said.
"As a club and as a team we want to work harder and with Chris making 71 tackles on debut, they're the sort of players that we want to bring into our club.
"In that area, we really needed to make sure we got the the No. 9 sorted so that everybody else can play better."
