Titans Enlist the help of Joey Johns

[Tamwelg]

Nine Gold Coast news report that Joey Johns is currently on the coast as a specialist halfs coach for the Titans. This is something we have all been talking about for a while now, let hope it pays off.

[Bayside Titan]

I think that this is a great move. As we well probably agree. Should have happened about a month or so ago.

[DIEHARD]

A fantastic move and something the Titans Forum brain's trust has been talking about and wanting for a few years. And they don't come better than ANDREW JOHNS! They just don't.

[Titanic]

Fair enough but a pity he's not a Queenslander :-)

[DIEHARD]

Fair enough but a pity he's not a Queenslander :-)

Well Allan Langer is busy with the Broncos. And I rate Johns a better player.

[Smakked]

This is good news, He was/is the best in that position.

[Tamwelg]

Joey Johns in secret session with Titans
Jake Dew | July 26th, 2011

IT'S the secret session that could set the Titans back on the winning path.

But only time will tell exactly what Newcastle Knights champion Andrew Johns was doing on the Gold Coast yesterday.

Johns steered the Knights to two premierships but the club could feel the impact after the NSW Origin great spent yesterday working closely with Titans halves Scott Prince and Beau Henry and young hooker Matt Srama to get their combinations firing over the final rounds.

Although the Gold Coast club divulged little regarding Johns' "one-off" visit, his advice could be just the shot in the arm the bottom-placed Titans need to snap a wretched season against the eighth-placed Knights.

While Henry is preparing for a bittersweet return to Newcastle to meet the club who off-loaded him last month, he was confident that together with Prince, results could begin turning in the Titans' favour.

"We had a little run together (yesterday) and while it's not going to click straight away we're very close to being where we want to be," Henry said.

"We're working hard at it. My position is to try and help Scotty out, and the team out, and if I can take a little bit of the pressure off him, that's what I'm here for."

Despite a first-up loss against the Cowboys, Henry was encouraged by his 60-minute performance against Prince.

"I think we jelled well together and if he took a shot I took the next one ... we were working hard for each other and that's what you have to do as halves," he said.

"Figuring out his game is going take another couple of weeks but if I'm out here every day at training with Princey it's easy to pick up, you can pick up on the little things he does."

The Titans will head to Newcastle without winger Steve Michaels, who is expected to be the only change to coach John Cartwright's line-up when he names his team today.

While cleared of any serious damage yesterday, scans confirmed Michaels suffered another concussion after clashing heads with young backrower Tariq Sims late in the Cowboys match.

www.goldcoast.com.au

[Coaster]

The boys are doing a "Coke Zero challenge" after training today,
coincidence? i think not

[GoldCoastTitans100]

Good to see Carty has decided Prince & Henry need serious help.

[Smakked]

Good to see Carty has decided Prince & Henry need serious help.

WTF comment is that they have played one game together thats all, give em some time mate

[GoldCoastTitans100]

WTF comment is that they have played one game together thats all, give em some time mate

Im talking about there form in general.
Prince has taken some mistakes out of his game in recent times but still lacks what he needs.

Henry just needs some good coaching because i still think he is not good enough by a long way.

[DIEHARD]

PRINCE: Masterclass just the ticket
Scott Prince

IT was the masterclass I needed -- my own session with boyhood idol Andrew Johns.

And it felt surreal.

I have played against Joey and I know him well enough to seek him out in a crowded room and sit down and have a chat with him. But this was different.

This was him and me, one-on-one, working on my game.

Carty had organised the session this week so Johns could spend some time with myself, Matty Srama and recruit Beau Henry working on our individual games and our combinations.

There is something special about working with someone who has stood where you stand, faced what you face on a weekly basis and who has done it as well as anyone in the game ever has.

Even more amazing was that although Joey retired five years ago, he is still brilliant with ball in hand.

As we progressed through the session, he didn't just tell me how a play should happen. He executed kicks and passes with incredible precision. He still has it.

As we spoke and he coached, I couldn't stop my mind transporting me back to my teenage years, when Joey was my idol.

During my early days at my first club North Queensland, I would sit in a small room at the Cowboys training centre in Townsville. In that room was thousands of video tapes of players and their plays and two TV sets.

As soon as my training commitments were over, I would grab a bite to eat and sit in that room, line up the Andrew Johns tapes, feed them into both TVs and sit there glued, digesting every move he made.

This week, almost a decade and a half later, again I was learning from Joey, except this time he was there, right in front of me, in the flesh.

Like most great mentors, the advice Joey gave me was not ground-breaking or out of left field. He just went back to basics.

He gave me confidence my game was far from broken but could certainly be boosted with a couple of tweaks. And those tweaks were simple things that over the years you forget, or downplay their importance.

It was a great session, an informative masterclass that I hope will happen on regular occasions in the future.

I had to miss training yesterday because I was in bed with the flu. However Kristy is filling me full of garlic and chicken soup so I am hopeful I should be fine for our away game against the Knights on Sunday.

http://www.goldcoast.com.au

[DIEHARD]

Hope Scott is fit and fighting for Sunday's game. And I hope we see more of Andrew Johns at training. I really do believe that this is a big thing that we have been missing, as do many of us.

[Tamwelg]

Even though Henry didn't set the world on fire last game, he was pretty solid and I thought Prince looked a lot more relaxed as a result. I think they can build a good combo.

[DIEHARD]

Joey Johns to school Titans halves

PLAYMAKING great Andrew Johns will join Gold Coast Titans in a consultancy role as the club attempts to transform a brigade of promising halves into NRL-worthy talent.

The club will spend the pre-season hoping a five-eighth candidate will emerge to accompany halfback and captain Scott Prince.

The likes of Jordan Rankin and Beau Henry will get a full pre-season under their belts while Aidan Sezer, who has been signed from Canterbury, is another front-runner for the vacant No.6 jersey.

Titans coach John Cartwright said former representative halfback Johns would help the young playmakers blossom.

"He's very well respected in the game and has a great football brain," Cartwright said.

"We've spoken regularly during the off-season about where he sees we're at and what we can do.

"We've got a couple of Australian schoolboys halves in the system as well in Kane Elgey and Jamal Fogarty.

"He'll be involved in the under-20s at some stage and then in the top grade we've got Beau Henry, Aidan Sezer, William Zillman, Jordan Rankin, Matty Srama.

"He works with all the ball-players, not just the halves.

"His experience speaks for itself. I really enjoy talking footy with him."

Johns spent some time with the club this year and his impact led to Cartwright extending the role.

While Johns' credentials are undisputed, the Titans will also employ a more left-field approach in former AFL ruckman Peter `Spida' Everitt.

Everitt, who played 291 AFL matches, will help the Titans with kicking and catching.

Respected trainer Ronnie Palmer has cut ties with the Titans and will link with Penrith next season.

Source: http://www.goldcoast.com.au