Titans assistant coach Brett White has reaffirmed Jim Lenihan's commitment to stop the Gold Coast being bullied by other NRL teams after a tough and gritty showing against the Warriors on Friday.
Having to play the remaining 63 minutes a man down after Moe Fotuaika was sent off for a an accidental high tackle, the interim head coach shared his pride for his team post-match after an inspiring showing to come from behind and almost keep their opposition at bay, declaring it was part of the continued evolution to be a tougher football team, and most importantly be seen as that by other teams in the NRL.
"We don’t want to be bullied anymore. We’re going out there to work hard," Lenihan said.
“For the last seven games we’ve had one bad half (against the Roosters). The other times we’re really working hard and evolving. I’m really proud of how we’re holding ourselves and the mindset that we have.
“We want to shift perceptions of other people about our club into a club that’s a strong club and not being apologetic for it."
Match: Sharks v Titans
Round 24 -
home Team
Sharks
5th Position
away Team
Titans
13th Position
Venue: PointsBet Stadium, Sydney
In full support of his fellow assistant who is currently in the top job, White expanded on their plans to continue growing into a more dogged and determined outfit, which demands the side to back-up their herculean effort when they meet Cronulla on Friday night at Shark Park.
"We're working really hard to try and change the DNA of how we play and an important part of that is we back-up our performances," he said.
"I really want to see more gritty, resilient and physically tougher performances.
"They're all things we've spoken about and we're doing a lot of stuff around training to introduce that mindset.
"It's hopefully slowly starting to show in our performances on the weekends and something we need to keep backing up and keep working towards."
'It's really important for us to back it up this Friday': White
Despite the loss of Fotuaika to a one-match ban, the Titans will be blessed to swap one prop for another, welcoming back skipper Tino Fa'asuamaleaui from the sidelines after missing the past three games due to suspension.
"It's disappointing to lose Moe... he's been one of our best players all year," White said.
"He's been fantastic and he's been great to work with this year. I think he's in career-best form, so it's disappointing not having him, but there's another pretty good player that will come in and fill his spot.
"It's going to be good to have Tino back this week and he's certainly a big inclusion.
"He's the leader of our team and a leader of our pack and he's struggled at training not being able to play... that's the sort of bloke he is."
"He loves his footy and he loves playing, so it'll be a real boost for us and will give us a boost of energy to have him come back into the squad."
