Gold Coast turn to 'chippies' as Ash Taylor ruled out

Titans coach Garth Brennan will turn to a couple of 'chippies' to rebuild his side's start to the season after confirmation that both Ash Taylor and Tyrone Roberts will miss Saturday's clash with the Sharks in Sydney.

With a challenging three-week stretch on the road coming on the back of an ill-disciplined 21-0 loss to the Raiders on Sunday night, Brennan will put his faith in two carpenters in a restoration project of a different kind.
Scans on Monday confirmed that Roberts will miss up to three weeks with an Achilles tendon strain while Taylor's 2019 campaign won't commence until round three at the earliest as he spends another week recovering from a quadriceps injury.

Brimson, who completed his carpentry apprenticeship last year, was thrust into the starting side against the Raiders for Taylor but became the senior half when Roberts left the field after just 12 minutes.

He has vowed to take greater control of the team against the Sharks but will be able to work in conjunction with fellow 'chippie' Ryley Jacks who will make his Titans debut.
The pair were opposing halves when Brimson made his NRL debut against the Storm in round 10 last year and have formed a strong friendship since Jacks returned to the Gold Coast in the off-season.

Brimson's recovery from a shoulder reconstruction and an elbow injury suffered by Jacks late in pre-season has limited their time together on the training field but the 21-year-old livewire is confident they can construct a strong combination in a short space of time.

"I was always rotating in and out of each position (during pre-season) so I did end up getting to spend a bit of time with Ryley and the time that we did spend together was good," Brimson told NRL.com.

"I only played against him once last year when he was playing for Storm and I've done a bit of video on him when I was playing for Tweed in the Q Cup competition.
"He's a good leader and marches the team around well.

"He's got a real calm head out there, he's got a good kicking game and is just a really good halfback."

Singled out as the Titans' Mr Fix-It to start the year, Brimson is eager to make one of the Titans' halves positions his own.

He admits that he failed to control of the team following the departure of Roberts early against the Raiders but will spend the week at training asserting himself more on the playing group.

"My role before Tyrone got injured was to help Tyrone out with a few calls and some of the kicks but just really focus on running the ball," Brimson said.

"I've done that sort of a role most of pre-season where I am more of a running half instead of the controlling half but obviously with the injury to Tyrone I had to go into that position.

"At times we were in control and knew what we wanted to do but for a lot of it I don't think there was enough control from myself which is something that I'll be working on going forward.

"It just comes down to confidence and what we do at training.

"If I'm doing it each week at training then it will just come naturally on the field.

"The louder and more confident I am in myself the more confident the players will be around me and the more they will react to what I tell them to do."
Despite the disruption in the playmaking stocks and horrendous weather for their opening game of the year, Brimson said the chance to make amends for their disappointing performance against Canberra can't come quick enough.

"What we showed as a team in round one is not what we are capable of this year," Brimson said.

"I'm really keen to get back out there as soon as we can and show the competition what we're actually made of and what we can do.

"I take those kinds of losses pretty hard. I've got to try and learn to move on but it's pretty hard when you have a disappointing loss like that."