Young gun Sexton absorbing first grade pressure to help growth

The best simile to describe Toby Sexton right now is being like a sponge.

Only 14 games in to a fledgling career as the Titans' chief playmaker, he has been able to soak his whole experience in - and such is the maturity level of the 21-year-old, he has not only accepted the tough times that come with being regular NRL starter, but he has used the scrutiny to continue growing to become an even-better first grade player.

The proof was in the pudding of last Saturday's game against the Dragons.

Stripping back his responsibilities and having live-wire fullback Jayden Campbell return to help alleviate the pressure, he starred with two kicks that led to tries and a number of classy last-tackle plays that saw the Gold Coast capitalise with either a repeat set and / or strong field position.

The Currumbin Eagles junior admits having the band of Campbell, AJ Brimson and himself back together has made the job a lot easier, and that became evident from the very first training session the trio returned as the spine.

"We had our first session earlier last week on Tuesday and it was the first time that our attack had flowed in since JC first left," Sexton said.

"We've obviously trained the whole pre-season together and built some really good combinations. We haven't played much footy together and that's been our problem, but we're looking confident now I think."

Even though the Titans have an immense depth of talent waiting in the wings who can capably fill the roles in the spine, the No. 7 feels it was more the late changes and not being able to build a regular combination with talented players such as Will Smith and Jamayne Isaako that heaped added pressure whilst Campbell was away.

"It's quite hard. Obviously, we trained the whole pre-season together and to kind of get late changes... Will Smith's trained the whole pre-season at mainly lock and hooker and Jamayne's obviously come to us late in the season.," Sexton said.

"I think we've had a lot of criticism but the end of the day, we haven't played much footy together and I think the more the more games we can put forward now, I think the better we're going to be.

"We showed in the Canberra game after our first game together, we put 22 points on them in the first half, then JC got injured so I think it's just a matter of time and we'll be right.

"We're back where we where we want to be now and hopefully we can go on a bit of a run."

Looking ahead to this week, and after boldly declaring he couldn't wait to square off against Penrith halfback Nathan Cleary when the Titans hosted the Panthers a few weeks back, the Gold Coast linchpin has the same attitude for the awaiting contest against Cronulla No. 7 Nicho Hynes, taking centre stage at Cbus Super Stadium on Sunday.

"It's going to be sick. He's probably one of the best halves in the competition," Sexton said.

"I don't know where he's going to line up on the weekend, but they're a quality side and these are the types of games you get up for and I'm really looking forward to it."