Burr's NRL push to start at Nines
By Tony Webeck, Chief Queensland Correspondent
NRL.com
6:00am Wed 28th January, 2015



He is eating Aidan Sezer out of house and home but it is Lachlan Burr's hunger to secure an NRL spot that makes the Titans' back row rotation the most contentious position at the club.

Burr will begin the auditioning process for a place in the team for Round 1 at the Dick Smith NRL Auckland Nines this weekend but it will be his work in trials against the Warriors (February 7) and Cowboys (February 21) that will carry most weight.

Stuck behind a Bulldogs forward pack overflowing with internationals, Burr sought a new opportunity on the Gold Coast but is now engaged in a tussle with the likes of Greg Bird, Dave Taylor, Ben Ridge, Matt Robinson and Ryan Simpkins for a spot in the back row.

Add in the recent addition of former Rabbitoh Eddy Pettybourne and players such as Jai Ingram and Agnatius Paasi who are hoping to parlay strong trial performances into full-time contracts and you have a logjam of big men pushing to stake their claims to Titans coach Neil Henry.

Since arriving on the Gold Coast Burr has been living with former Bulldogs SG Ball (under-18s) teammate Aidan Sezer and the Titans five-eighth has been impressed with the hunger he has displayed both on and off the field.

"He works hard, he's a big boy and he eats a lot. Sometimes the cupboard is empty two days after we do groceries," was Sezer's frank summation.

"I think he's hungry. Coming up from the Bulldogs where they had a well established pack, he's hungry for an opportunity and he's putting his all into training and hopefully he can reap the rewards come the season starting.

"He's a wide-running back-rower, he likes to run good lines and I think he's one of the fittest in the squad so that's an added bonus."

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Although the Nines may not give the best indication of how a player fits into a 13-man NRL team, Burr is eyeing off a spot on the Titans' right edge, a position predominantly filled by Queensland Origin representative Dave Taylor in recent years.

With Greg Bird all but guaranteed to start the season on the left edge, it leaves a host of players fighting over just a couple of spots but Burr says he is concentrating only on what he can control.

"I've been practising on the edge and that's where I want to play. I don't mind playing a bit of middle but at the edge is where I feel most comfortable," said the 22-year-old whose one and only NRL game to date came with the Bulldogs in Round 25, 2013.

"It starts with Nines and then the trials are when I'm really going to try hard in but it starts with the Nines.

"I can only really look after myself and control what I'm going to do and how I'm going to play so just need to get on top of a few little things I need to improve on, get them right and concentrate on the trials."

The Titans' opening game of the Auckland Nines is a daunting proposition against the hometown favourite Warriors but will represent a special occasion for Burr and Sezer.

Having grown up around the corner from each other in Bankstown, Burr and Sezer came through the Bulldogs' lower grades together but haven't played together since the 2011 NYC season, with Sezer joining the Titans the following year.

"I always knew Aidan was a half and he was always yelling at me. He played for East Hills and was a talented, talented player and we started playing together in SG Ball together and won the comp there," Burr recalled.

"It's been three or four years since we played together and to be honest if you'd asked me back then whether I was going to be playing with him at the Titans in 2015 I wouldn't have believed it."

Adds Sezer: "It will be pretty special. Me and 'Burry' are local Bankstown boys and we only lived around the corner from each other.

"We've played in numerous lower grade teams together so for him to be up here this year, playing in the Nines on the weekend will be pretty special and it will be a huge honour playing alongside one of my good mates."