Pre-season performers: Injured duo among Titans best

ACL returnees Beau Fermor and Ben Liyou have been among the Titans best performers in the first three weeks of the Titans' 2024 pre-season.

With the majority of the squad having now returned except for representative trio Tino Fa'asuamaleaui, Kieran Foran and Moeaki Fotuaika who are due back in early December, it's pleasing signs for the pair who have worked extremely hard to come back from their season-ending injuries sustained at the start of 2023.

Both forwards came back to Parkwood as standouts in the gym with their showing of strength alongside Aaron Schoupp; whilst rising prop Liyou is among the best in the squad for body composition, alongside Ken Maumalo and Jojo Fifita.

On the field, teen sensation Keano Kini was ultra impressive in his first week back after his maiden Kiwis experience, smashing the yo-yo test to put his name in lights alongside Fermor and utility Chris Randall who went the distance in tandem during their aerobic endurance fitness test they completed in their check-in at the start of week two.

Titans head of physical performance Cameron Ferguson has been extremely pleased with the opening block of pre-season training, especially with a number of train-and-trial players joining with the main squad in this first stint.

"It’s been really good and it’s definitely exciting times," he said.

"There’s a lot of new faces and new things the boys are facing, but the ones that have been here before have hit the ground running."

Whilst the squad has seen some changes to the football program with Des Hasler commencing his reign as head coach, the Gold Coast's high performance philosophy has remained similar with players working hard to continually improve and better themselves as athletes.

"The training is definitely similar to what our players expected last year in regards to the standards that we've set for our players," Ferguson said.

"The way that we train and the principles of how we are structured football-wise may have shifted slightly with Des coming in this year, but we'll still be training hard and lifting heavy in the gym."

The Titans squad continue pre-season training for the next four weeks before breaking for the Christmas / New Year holiday period.