Iszac Fa'asuamaleaui has a big desire to be back playing finals footy again in 2024.
Whilst he may have missed out in featuring in the NRL playoffs this year, the emerging prop was in the thick of the action at a Hostplus Cup level, experiencing the intensity and ferocity that comes with sudden-death football.
Achieving great success with the Burleigh Bears having progressed all the way to the finale, it was a bitter pill to swallow falling short on the big day... but that gut-wrenching feeling Fa'asuamaleaui felt on September 17 has only fired up the 21-year-old to be back on a similar stage next year, but this time with his Titans teammates.
"I guess you could say I got a little bit of a taste of that finals feeling, but obviously it's going to be a lot different in the NRL," he told titans.com.au.
"As a team, we want to be playing finals and we want to make it to the grand final... that's the ultimate goal, and I reckon we've definitely got the team to do that.
"That's what we want as a team and I'm looking forward for the rest of the pre-season to help us get there."
Playing 13 games in 2023 after a surprise debut in Round 3 against the Storm, the 21-year-old wants to spend this pre-season working hard to become a regular in Gold Coast's team each week, especially with the inclusion of former Broncos star Keenan Palasia and the return of Beau Fermor from his ACL injury.
"Obviously I want to be in that 17 every week... that's the biggest personal goal for myself in 2024," Fa'asuamaleaui said.
"I want to put my best foot forward every week and do my job better than I did this year, which will hopefully allow me play some really good footy.
"There's a challenge set up for myself to obviously try to make that 17 every week, and if I can do that I'll be very happy.
"There's a lot of hard work and a lot of challenges ahead, but I've just got to keep pushing hard and improve."
But in the younger Fa'asuamaleaui's corner is knowing what it takes in the pre-season to earn an NRL call-up, especially after his dream start to first grade last year after only officially joining the Titans ranks as a development player at the end of 2022.
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"It was a massive year for myself, especially to debut in Round 3 and since I've been in the NRL, I've quickly realised it's a lot of learning and improving every week.
"I definitely enjoy doing that and I was very fortunate to debut so early because of the injuries, but it allowed me to push myself even more earlier than when I thought and the hard work really paid off.
"There's still a lot of hard work to go and the biggest thing I've learnt is you have to always keep improving. I think especially on the field, there's always new challenges, new players coming at you and you have to learn on the go.
"I think coming back to training and applying myself properly every week is the biggest thing I've learned from the year just gone and hopefully this pre-season, I can do a bit better and see how I go in getting in that 17."
