It certainly was a click bait title, but I enjoyed that read.
It certainly was a click bait title, but I enjoyed that read.
JOIN THE NEW FORUM AT https://www.titansupporters.com/forum/
PUT EM TO THE SWORD! SHOW SOME STEEL!
Moejoe: "REMEMBER!!!! SLIP - SLOP - SLAP in the sun. Skin Cancer is a growing problem. It could happen to anyone!!"TITANS, DIEHARDS, WARRINGTON WOLVES, MAROONS, KANGAROOS, HONG KONG THUNDER
Don’t quit your daytime job, Dark.
Four reasons to escape to Queensland: Sun, Surf, Sand & the Titans.
Titans winger Don racing time to be fit for 2018 opener
Author Joel Gould
Tue 19 Dec 2017, 12:01 AM
Anthony Don is racing the clock to be ready for round one of the Telstra Premiership next year after an infection forced him into a second round of shoulder surgery.
The 30-year-old winger had the initial surgery to prevent his shoulder from dislocating, an injury that caused him to miss the back end of 2015 plus another month of football at the start of last season.
Don had what is known as a Latarjet procedure, where a piece of bone from the shoulder is attached to the front of the shoulder socket to act as a barrier to preventing it slipping out.
‘’I had the operation but there was a bit of a complication where I had to get secondary surgery because it got infected,’’ Don told NRL.com.
’It is coming slowly better and hopefully in the new year I can be with the main squad. I haven’t spent much time on the field this pre-season. I only just started running so I’ve got a lot of catching up to do.
‘’Post-Christmas I am going to work real hard to get it right but I’m not sure whether that is for round one or not.
‘’I hope to, but realistically I might be slightly off. It is hard to say at this point.’’
The infection not only set Don back a fortnight, it was also inconvenient.
‘’I had to get a PIC line in for two weeks. I couldn’t sweat with it in,’’ he said.
“A PIC line is like a cannula [tube] that goes in your arm and drops drugs off near your heart to spread around the body. I had to wear a bum bag with a constant feed of antibiotics which had to get changed each day by a nurse.”
Don had a stellar 2017 season and won the Paul Broughton Medal as the Titans best.
He was the club’s leading try scorer with 12, and his combination on the right side with Konrad Hurrell was one of the highlights of a disappointing season.
“Koni has been our best player for the last two years and last season especially he was the heart and soul of the team,” Don said.
“He scored tries and set me up for tries as well. We worked hard on that combination and hopefully we can stick it out.
“We’ll see what the coaching staff have in mind, but I’d love to play outside him again next year.”
Don said it was “a great honour” to win the Paul Broughton Medal.
“But it doesn’t count for much in the 2018 season,” he said.
“It is a clean slate with the new coaching staff on board and the young guys have got a bit of a jump on me. I’ve got to work hard to get my spot back.”
A school teacher by profession, Don has a deep appreciation for his career as a full-time footballer.
In 2010 he was running around with the Grafton Ghosts where he captured scouts’ attention after scoring a stunning 40 tries in 18 games.
He debuted relatively late in the NRL at the age of 25 and for the past two seasons has been one of the first picked each week in the Titans line-up.
“I’d be doing it for free at my local team if I wasn’t doing it for the Titans,” Don said.
“I know what it is like to work all day and going to train at night at Queensland Cup level, which is a bit of a slog.
“All of that makes me appreciate how lucky I am to play footy for a living and get a good salary for it, which is something I never thought I’d achieve.”
https://www.nrl.com/news/2017/12/19/...r-2018-opener/
Psmitty
What's Wallace's injury and does anyone know how bad it is?
spoke to wallace in toowoomba, said gets moonboot off next week, starts running after xmas break.
*for info in the opposed training drills the two young boys played FB -- AJ and Kiah?
gordon, sami, elliot, trd were wingers
Last edited by Manzo; 20-12-17 at 08:36 AM.
AJ will get a decent run there, especially after being promoted to top 30. Means he is available week in week out now, as opposed to only being able to play under development contract restrictions.
Kiah can play but anyone who has watched him as a junior will know he is most potent as a centre. He played fullback in 20's because that's what 20's teams do to increase the involvement of their most dynamic players - Phil Sami did the same thing for our 20's.
Good question above on who played centre. I can only assume it was Olive and Copley. I heard Gordon spent a bit of time there too. Early days so could mean nothing but gives an idea as to where Brennan is seeing the boys as being capable of playing
outside backs did move aorund a little bit, copley and olive played and olive rotated with sami. but i cant remember to accurately but they all moved around abit in the outside backs.
karl lawton played 6 on ashes side...did a reasonable amount of kicking
rein and peats were opposite hookers
Big year ahead for Olive-all I can picture with him nowadays is that game against The Drongoes when Moga destroyed him. Make or break for him really. I wonder what his hunger for success is like?
Excited to hear that Brennan feels AJ/Kiah are both good enough to at the very least be training at FB.
The luxury of having a proven player at FB is you can allow some kids to train there in pre season and show something.
What is everyones thoughts on the left side centre/wing combination??
We have the following players fighting for 2 positions, all around similar skill level and none proven to be a class above (as of yet):
1. John Olive
2. TRD
3. Kiah Cooper
4. Brendan Elliott
5. Brenko Lee
6. Dale Copley
7. Philip Sami
8. AJ Brimson (potential to start NRL career on wing before moving to fullback/halves)
9. Anyone else??
I would start 2018 with:
Centre - Brenko Lee, Dale Copley, or Philip Sami (either of them)
Wing - Brendan Elliott
What are others thoughts, do we have any left field options with a positional switch for the mighty Titans?
My guess would be Copley and Elliot.
I have always rated Copley more than others on this forum it seems. Despite the fact he is prone to injury (particularly concussions), I think he is very good in defence (miles ahead of Koni) and sound in attack. I would start him over Brenko who is poor in defence.
Also, reading the earlier articles, Brennan has a very high opinion of Copley so can't see him not starting. On the other side, Don isn't good to go at start of season I think Sami might fill a wing spot.
I am just keen for us to settle on an edge combination. A big part of defence is communication and trust and that is forged through combinations and familiarity. This will definitely help Elgey. Last year Taylor, Proctor, Koni and Don were rarely changed but our left side was always different with Roberts/Elgey, Greenwood/Pulu etc. Hopefully we settle on James, Elgey, Copley and Elliot.
I’m a Copley supporter too over the others ... would flip a coin between Sami and Elliot for the wing.
Four reasons to escape to Queensland: Sun, Surf, Sand & the Titans.
With the NYC gone is there any word yet on what will be the curtain-raiser game to First Grade on game day next season??