Brian Kelly seeing success in Titans’ failures to start season

Strike centre Brian Kelly regards the inability of Gold Coast to grab a win as the only downside, admittedly a large one, to a season in which the Ballina product moved back towards his home region.

Brian Kelly has found positives in the Titans’ poor start to the season. (Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)

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The impact of centre Brian Kelly is one indicator of future success for the Titans, tireless forward Jai Arrow says.

Kelly regards the inability of Gold Coast to grab a win as the only downside, admittedly a large one, to a season in which the Ballina product moved back towards his home region and scored two tries in his 50th NRL game on Sunday.

“He’s shown he is a class player and a strong carrier of the ball - I’m really glad we got him,’’ said Arrow, who flew with the rest of his team to Auckland for Friday night’s clash with the Warriors.

Brian Kelly has found positives in the Titans’ poor start to the season. (Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)

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“Brian got an opportunity to come home like I did and he took it with both hands with a good pre-season.’’

Kelly, 22, played finals in his first year in the NRL with Manly in 2017 and said he would have happily been with the Sea Eagles had a release not allowed him to fill the Titans vacancy left by Konrad Hurrell’s departure.

“I’m enjoying being back home and looking forward to the rest of the season,’’ said Kelly, who gave Souths trouble with his two-try game in Gold Coast’s 28-20 loss.

Jai Arrow has been impressed with the recruit. (Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images)

“I definitely want to make the top eight again and go deep into the finals when we get there. The coach (Garth Brennan) said we are only one win out of the eight. It’s definitely doable still.’’

The Titans will on Tuesday include Ash Taylor (quad) for the first time this year and Tyrone Roberts in an extended squad.

Brennan said he did not query a 9-1 penalty count against his side in the Souths match.

“We have to be more disciplined against a quality side. They are warranted penalties. I can’t argue,’’ he said.

“Were they squeaky clean? I don’t know.’’

Kelly said Brennan had restrained himself to a “few angry points about our discipline” after Sunday’s match.

“He told us how our completion at the start wasn’t the best. But we showed the desire to get the win was definitely there,’’ Kelly said.

NRL head of football Graham Annesley said he did not have a disagreement with a video review decision to award a try to Rabbitoh Ethan Lowe when he was folded in a tackle from Arrow.

“I was comfortable with the decisions taken by video officials in that game,’’ he said.