Wonder Will: Smith shows versatility from opening whistle

It comes as no surprise how handy the recruitment of Will Smith has been to bolster the Gold Coast line-up this season, and his all-round ability proved ever-so handsome right from the very start in the season opener against his former club.

A late minute replacement for five-eighth AJ Brimson - who wasn't quite 100 percent for the Round 1 showdown - the utility took the 80-minute playmaking role like a duck to water, with two try assists and a line-break assist in a complete performance in the halves with youngster Toby Sexton.

The only thing that would've made his Titans debut even sweeter was getting the two competition points in the narrow loss to the Eels.

"It was a tough game. I think we took a lot of confidence out of that game knowing that if we started a lot better than we did, I’m pretty sure we could’ve come away with the win," Smith said, on 4BC's Wide World of Sports with Peter Psaltis.

"There’s a lot of positives to take out of that game on the weekend, but you have to move on as soon as you can.

"You learn from those mistakes that we made in that game and we look forward to this week's game being our first home game."

Spending the last five seasons at Parramatta before making the journey north to the Coast, the 29-year-old relished the challenge of facing off against his old club at the weekend, but is quite enjoying his time at his new home.

"It’s always an awesome game to play against your old teammates and your team," Smith said.

"I was there for five seasons, so I had plenty of mates and had a good time there, but this is my new team and this is my focus. 

"It’s been a very welcoming experience coming to the Titans, and from day one to now, I’m very comfortable to turn up to training and do the best I can with the boys.

"I’m loving my time here at the Titans."

The 76-gamer is also thrilled to be surrounded by such young talent who are all naturally gifted players and have progressed through the Titans junior pathways system.

We’ve got a lot of lads here who can play a lot of footy from basically anywhere on the field," Smith said.

"The likes of young Jayden Campbell and Toby Sexton, and you've even got Phillip Sami out wide… they’re all killing it."

With the imminent return of another club 'youngster' in Brimson, who is set to play in his first match of 2022 this weekend, the skilled utility will return to the pine, ready and excited for whatever role is needed to be undertaken in his first game at his new home, Cbus Super Stadium.

"It’s up to Justin on how he wants to use me but anywhere he wants to use me, I’m happy to just get out there and do my job for the team," Smith said.

"I just can’t wait for the experience to have my first Titans home game.

"Hopefully there is a full crowd... $20 from every ticket is going towards the flood relief, so hopefully we can get a packed stadium."