A confident Brian Kelly says his NRL apprenticeship is over & believes he can make 2020 impact

A CONFIDENT Brian Kelly says his three-year NRL apprenticeship has given him the belief he can match it with the game’s elite as the Titans centre looks to add defensive starch to his natural attacking flair.

A CONFIDENT Brian Kelly says his three-year NRL apprenticeship has given him the belief he can match it with the game’s elite as the Titans centre looks to add defensive starch to his natural attacking flair.

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After 47 games across two seasons at Manly, Kelly returned to the Gold Coast this year and emerged as a shining light in a bleak campaign, scoring eight tries in 23 appearances for the wooden spooners.

A Junior Kangaroos representative during his time with the Titans’ NYC side from 2014-16, the 23-year-old underlined his attacking potency with 10 linebreaks and a career-best average of 123m per game.

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But with a tackle efficiency of just 73 per cent, Kelly has taken it upon himself to improve the defensive side of his game as he pushes for a Round 1 berth under new coach Justin Holbrook.

Titans centre Brian Kelly. Picture: AAP Image/Julian Smith

“Overall I’d give (last season) a seven out of 10 from the halfway point but I still definitely want to pick up my defence and keep out more tries so working on my defence at training has been good,” the Ballina product said.

“Coming into my third year, (the goal) was just to keep on maintaining my defence and the good standards. I took a while to get out of the blocks but towards the middle of the season I started to find a comfortable spot on the left where it was a natural spot.

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“This pre-season I’ve definitely done a lot more on that (defensive) side of things and been working on combinations within inside and outside. We changed halves a lot this year so hopefully during pre-season we can find out combinations and work on them.”

Kelly said Holbrook’s influence on the playing group had already been felt, allowing the 2018 Australian Prime Minister’s XIII representative to continue his coming of age.

“I definitely feel like I belong (in the NRL) now. At training I’m speaking a bit more in our outside backs, finding a voice,” he said.

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“It’s been one of my favourite pre-seasons so far, I’ve been enjoying it. Having all the new staff and Justin, they’ve been ripping in with new stuff at training so it’s a good change up.

“I’m a lot more energetic and excited after pre-season so I’m keen for the future.”