The Titans are preparing to turn it around this weekend back at home in their clash against the Dolphins, especially after the devastating loss of their fearless leader.
Lock Jaimin Jolliffe is ready to fill the shoes left by the season-ending injury to Titans captain Tino Fa’asuamaleaui, who will be sidelined for the remainder of 2024 due to an ACL rupture.
“We’ve got a job to do after losing Tino," he said.
"Injuries happen, but I feel for him as he’s such a big part of our team.
"He’s our leader, he’s our captain and we’re going to miss him.
"Everyone is devastated. He loves this club, and it means so much for him to pull on the jersey and to go out there every week.
"He’s not going to be able to do that this year, but he’ll work hard in rehab and he’ll bounce back from this to be even better."
Reflecting on back-to-back losses to start the season, the 71-game forward is trusting the experience of their new coach to help them with the almighty challenge ahead.
“[Against the Bulldogs] we had no possession and poor field position all game," Jolliffe said.
"We need to work on ourselves, where we turn the ball over and both our defence and offence.
"We’re going to have to turn it around but we're working hard. We have to keep at it and we have trust in Des and the coaches to keep working hard and try and get that result.”
Match: Titans v Dolphins
Round 4 -
home Team
Titans
17th Position
away Team
Dolphins
5th Position
Venue: Cbus Super Stadium, Gold Coast
Looking forward to Saturday’s Sunshine Showdown against the Dolphins, Jolliffe stressed the importance of bouncing back this weekend, especially back at Cbus Super Stadium for Easter Saturday.
“The Dolphins are a good team and they had a good win against St George," he said.
"I’m sure they were watching us and they’re going to come out firing, but we’re back at home and we need to get the ball rolling, so it’ll be a massive game for us."
Particularly with the loss of the skipper, the long-term Titan knows the entire squad has a job to do in order to get the result.
“We just need to adjust the way we do things and that’s what we’ve done. We’re going to focus on a few things where we can get at the Dolphins and try to turn it around,” he said.
"That includes working even harder on our defence and keep working on our sets and where we finish our sets.
“There are quite a few middles, but as long as I’m stepping out there, I’m going to do my best to lift this club up and try and win some games of football.
I’m sure guys like Moe (Fotuaika), Keenan (Palasia) and Erin (Clark) will all try and do the same… [Tino left] big shoes to fill, but we’ll be working hard together to cover him."
