AJ Brimson all but ensures Kane Elgey will leave Gold Coast at season’s end
TITANS dynamo AJ Brimson has all but ended Kane Elgey’s tenure at the Gold Coast after clinching the No. 6 jersey for the rest of the season.
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TITANS dynamo AJ Brimson has all but ended Kane Elgey’s tenure at the Gold Coast after clinching the No. 6 jersey for the rest of the season.
Brimson was sensational for the Titans in Sunday’s 20-12 loss to the Roosters which put a dagger into the Gold Coast’s faint final hopes.
The 19-year-old junior Queensland playmaker produced the best performance of his eight-game NRL career to prove he is the future for the Titans.
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Brimson was given a crack at the five-eighth duties in Round 10 after Elgey and Bryce Cartwright flopped as Ash Taylor’s playmaking partner.
Elgey, a Gold Coast product, is off-contract at season’s end and destined for the exits after not being offered a new deal by the Titans in the wake of Brimson’s rise.
With seven games left in the regular season, Brennan is expected to persevere with Brimson and Taylor together.
“I’d love to keep partnering him,” Brimson said.
“We work well together and I really enjoy playing with him.
“He is a dominant half. I let him call the shots and I back him up and have faith in his calls.
“I’m slowly getting more confident and easing into the role. I’m enjoying it and loving it.
“It’s hard to judge it when you have a loss like that. You don’t really look at it that way (like it was my best game).
“I was happy in parts of my game and my defence but there are still a lot of areas to work on.”
While Taylor struggled for the second straight week against the Roosters, Brimson was electric.
He ran for 108m and made 21 tackles in a strong performance with and without the ball to prove his talent is worth persisting with.
Even more impressive was the fact Brimson was playing his third match in eight days.
His tough run began in last Sunday’s loss to Brisbane before he played for Queensland in the under-20s Origin on Wednesday and backed up against the Roosters.
“The body is better than I thought,” Brimson said.
“One of the boys asked how I’d be after three games in a week but I didn’t think about it.
“My body felt good leading into the game. It’s nothing too bad.
“It was great to get a win (for Queensland) and take confidence out of that with a more senior role there.”
Brennan is viewing Brimson as a potential fullback for the Titans, but at the moment his five-eighth experiment is showing promising signs.
Brimson is contracted at the Titans until 2020 and said he wanted to step up and play a more commanding role alongside Taylor.
“I’m trying to take some pressure off Ash,” he said.
“He is the number one kicker and has a great kicking game. Teams are starting to realise that and putting him under pressure so I’m trying to step up and give that second kick option.
“I want the boys to believe in me that I can get the job done kicking so there’s not too much pressure on Ash.
“It comes with me being more confident and the team having confidence in me as well.”
Brennan said he was pleased with Brimson’s development.
“AJ was enormous,” he said.
“He ran the ball and whenever a half runs the ball they are threatening. He ran the ball really well and did a really good job.
“AJ took it upon himself to take a bit of the load off Ash. We’re starting to see AJ develop into the halfback to complement Ash that we are looking for.”
The Titans are expected to welcome back Queensland prop Jai Arrow from a corked knee for Saturday’s trip to Newcastle.
Originally published as AJ Brimson all but ensures Kane Elgey will leave Gold Coast at season’s end