Sam Verrills has wasted no time reflecting on his frustrating first season on the Gold Coast, instead eager to reclaim the Titans No. 9 jersey the premiership-winning rake was destined to wear long-term.
Only playing 11 games for his new club after being continually troubled by his collarbone that sidelined him indefinitely after Round 23, the 24-year-old has returned to Parkwood for pre-season with a spring in his step and plenty of enthusiasm to make amends for the lost time.
"It was definitely a frustrating year having the (collarbone) break and it obviously getting infected towards the back end of the year, but it's all clear now and I'm feeling fit and healthy," Verrills said.
"It was a pretty down season, so to get back in early with the new coaching staff and all the lads here.. .there's definitely a good vibe around the place.
"I'm really keen for Round 1 despite it only being November."
With the battle for spots at the forefront during this first block of introductory training, the 59-game star isn't naive of Chris Randall's desire to retain the hooking duties after ably taking on the role for 15 games during his absence.
But Verrills has welcomed the challenge with one of his close teammates, knowing how much it will keep him on his toes and push him to continually improve.
"I think healthy competition is always good and I think we're all training pretty hard to be honest," he said.
"Randy is a fit bloke and he's one of my good mates here at the club.
"We've all got to train hard and have high standards, so I think if we can all push each other to that level, it'll be good for us."
Relishing the opportunity to be back under a premiership-winning coach after having previously experienced Trent Robinson when starting his career at the Roosters, the former boy from Bondi feels Des Hasler's appointment is exactly what the Titans need to be finals bound and achieving success on the Gold Coast.
"The change for us has been really good. Dessie has been open and honest with what we want to do next year moving forward and I think we need that as a club," Verrills said.
"He's a premiership-winning coach and the Titans have never had a premiership-winning coach here. It's going to hopefully help us and we're all looking forward to it.
"It's only early days here at the moment... it's November at the moment, so we'll work very hard towards Christmas and then get back in the new year and start ripping in."
