Titans maestro Preston Campbell calls on old club to play with a bit more magic

Former Gold Coast maestro Preston Campbell says the Titans need to find a bit of magic if they are to get themselves out of their losing slump.

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Former Gold Coast maestro Preston Campbell says the Titans need to find a bit of magic if they are to get themselves out of their losing slump.

The club legend was in Brisbane on Wednesday to promote the Magic Round opener between the Titans and Cronulla at Suncorp Stadium on Thursday night and called on his former club to get into the spirit of the weekend.

The Titans are languishing near the bottom of the ladder following their 2-6 win-loss start to the season.

Preston Campbell was at City Hall for the Magic Round launch. Photo: Annette Dew

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Their two wins came after coach Garth Brennan called on his side to play more enjoyable football, and ended up allowing centre Tyrone Peachey and backrower Bryce Cartwright playing with “more freedom”.

Club legend Campbell said they needed to return to playing a riskier style of football if they are to find a win against the Sharks.

“For the Titans, I think they’re playing a little bit too safe,” Campbell said.

“You look at the way the Sharks played last week against the Melbourne Storm, they won because they took risks.

“They did play really tough but they took calculated risks.

“When they had a chance to play football, they played football.

“The Titans haven’t been doing too much wrong. For a lot of them, they’ve been playing really safe football.

“For a lot of teams, there’s that fear that they’ll make a mistake.

“It can cost you at the back end of a game (but) for the Titans right now, they just need to start enjoying their football.

“You’ve got a bunch of boys there that have trained so hard in the off-season and the team on paper is unbelievable.”

Campbell referred to the Round 6 walloping at Bankwest Stadium, where the Wests Tigers played “safe football”, completing at 81 per cent, but were still flogged 52-6 to the Eels.

He said the likes of Cartwright, Peachey and livewire AJ Brimson needed to add a bit of spark to their game or risked getting the same result each week.

Campbell urges the Titans to play with a bit more magic against the Sharks. Photo: Adam Head

“Look at Bryce Cartwright and his flick pass,” Campbell said.

“You’ve got to keep having a go. Bryce is one of those guys, if he pulls it off, it changes the whole fabric of the game.

“He just needs to keep trying that.

“When you do something long enough, it becomes habitual. If you don’t enjoy your football, it’s really hard to get out of that slump.

“If you’re doing the same thing all of the time, it’s hard to get out of it.”

Brennan said the loss of captain Tyrone Roberts to a failed head knock assessment was a massive blow but it was time for halfback Ash Taylor to stand up.

“Ash probably needs to stand up this weekend and take up a little bit more of a (leadership) role on,” he said.

“He doesn’t need to prove anything to me.

“He just needs to go out there and focus on his own game.

“I’m really looking forward to him putting his stamp on the game tomorrow.”

Originally published as Titans maestro Preston Campbell calls on old club to play with a bit more magic