Titans coach Neil Henry insists that Kane Elgey remains his long-term option at five-eighth despite retaining Tyrone Roberts in the No.6 jersey for this Saturday's clash with the Knights at Cbus Super Stadium.
Elgey was a shock omission from the team that defeated the Sharks 16-12 last weekend with Henry citing a minor hamstring strain as his reason for missing out.
The 23-year-old is back in the team this week but has been chosen on the bench in the No.14 jersey as Roberts and Ash Taylor reignite the combination that served Gold Coast so well in 2016.
Elgey's return comes at the expense of Karl Lawton (hamstring) with Dale Copley (rib) and Chris Grevsmuhl (shoulder) also sidelined through injury, leaving Henry again to reshuffle his side for the ninth week in succession.
Henry's plan for Elgey would see the Gold Coast junior partner Taylor in the halves off the bench and Roberts move to the hooker position, the coach conceding that it has the potential to disrupt their attacking momentum.
"It could but we haven't got many other options," Henry said of the potential for disruption.
"We had Tyrone jumping between fullback and the halves last week and Jarryd defending in the three spot as well so we mixed it up a little bit."
Returning this year after a ruptured ACL wiped out his entire 2016 season Elgey has been struggling to regain the confidence that marked his entry into the NRL in 2015, Henry conceding that he will need time to rediscover that form.
"He's a quality player but we need to make sure we're not placing too much pressure on him," Henry said.
"We talk a little bit about second year syndrome for some players and he didn't really have that because he had his knee in that second year.
"He's coming into his second year of football now with a lot of expectation on him.
"I think he's been improving his game, he's been working hard defensively and his running game last game was pretty good.
"Both our halves had some issues with kicking which was costly at the back-end of the Broncos game so he's disappointed about that."
While Copley's rib injury is not expected to sideline him for any length of time the story is far different for Grevsmuhl who is looking at a minimum of six weeks out after suffering a dislocated shoulder five minutes after coming onto the field against the Sharks.
"He's certainly got some significant shoulder damage," Henry said.
"Whether or not it's something like Nathan Peats had... It's a similar injury actually. If that's the case it would be six weeks or it could be worse.
"At the moment it's quite sore and he hasn't got much movement."
