AJ Brimson is relishing the chance to play a full-strength Manly side in one of the toughest road trips on the calendar in a bid to bounce back from Sunday's Dolphins disappointment.
This week's challenge couldn't get any tougher for the Titans at a rowdy and unpleasant Brookvale Oval, matched against the second-placed Sea Eagles, who are undefeated at home and have been buoyed by the likely inclusion of Tom Trbojevic despite suffering a groin strain.
But despite being against the odds, the task ahead is one the Gold Coast No. 1 couldn't be happier to have in front of him, especially given his side was able to bounce back from a substandard performance in Round 3 when against the world-beating Melbourne Storm.
"I think after we were disappointing in Round 2 against the Dragons, we were always excited to take on the Storm. With a quality team like them, there's no better way of getting your season back on track than beating a good team," Brimson said.
"If we could beat Manly down at Brookie, it's a massive win for us; so it'll be a good test and I think it's one that we have to come out on top."
Match: Sea Eagles v Titans
Round 9 -
home Team
Sea Eagles
8th Position
away Team
Titans
11th Position
Venue: 4 Pines Park, Sydney
Set to go up against former Dally M medallist and world-class fullback Trbojevic after being named to overcome injury, Brimson is hoping the Manly No. 1 will be in the final 17 so they are 100 percent for the contest.
"I hope he does play just because of last week and everything like that," he said.
"They're obviously a better team with Tom in the side and I'm looking forward to that sort of a challenge and I always like coming up against him.
"It definitely has an impact on how I would approach the game if he's playing or not.
"He's their main indicator, so it's more like just kind of following wherever he goes and I put the extra number there if we have one.
"They're a pretty dangerous team without him anyway, but I want to play them full-strength and he's obviously one of the best players in the camp, so it'll be another good challenge for us."
Enduring a brutal team review on Tuesday to realign their defensive attitude after starting the game well to lead 26-6 at half-time, the side is hoping to take plenty away from seeing the efforts in the first 40 minutes compared to the second.
"I think the game was lost on the weekend at the start of the second half and the way we came out with a different attitude," Brimson said.
"If you look at our first few defensive sets in the first half compared to the second half, the intent was nowhere near as high and that's just something that we've got to overcome and learn as a group.
"It's obviously not good enough, but I think the only thing we can do now is learn from it and we we sat and watched the first sets of the first half and then we did the same for the second half."
"Even though we were still had decent field position, you could just see the intent of numbers and tackles and kick-chase was nowhere near as much as it was in the first half.
"That set our mentality early for the second half and then they just slowly chipped away at us."
