Billy Slater’s ability to organise defence causing headaches for Gold Coast Titans

HIS hero may be Benji Marshall but Phillip Sami is set to learn plenty from Melbourne ace Billy Slater when he plays his final game in Queensland against the Titans.

HIS hero may be Benji Marshall but Phillip Sami is set to learn plenty from Melbourne ace Billy Slater when he plays his final game in Queensland against the Titans.

Still just 21, Sami has made himself a fixture in the Titans’ squad this year, playing all but one of the Gold Coast’s games and sitting just one try behind Anthony Don in the race to become the club’s leading scorer this season.

He faces a stern test against the Storm this weekend despite the absence of injured winger Suliasi Vunivalu, the danger man he would usually oppose. And it’s largely because of Slater, the man who will muster the Melbourne defence as Sami and his Titans teammates try to find a crack in the wall.

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Billy Slater will play his final match in Queensland against the Titans on Saturday. Photo: AAP

“Billy Slater is probably one of the greatest fullbacks that’s ever played the game,” Sami said.

“It’s his last game in Queensland and hopefully we can (get a win).”

Sami has developed a vaunted step that left Warriors fullback Roger Tuivasa-Sheck grasping at air earlier this season and while Maroons ace Slater has some fancy footwork of his own, Sami said he had not grown up copying the Innisfail flyer’s moves.

“I looked up to Benji Marshall more than Billy Slater,” Sami said of developing his own style. “We all know how much of a good player Billy Slater is but I was never there taking apart his game and trying to put it in mine, it was more trying to be like Benji Marshall when I was a kid.”

But there is one Slater trait that has not escaped Sami — who has watched the master at close range during opposed sessions for Queensland when he was representing the Maroons under-20s.

“He was there for the top side when we did our opposing sessions … and you can hear his voice 24/7 out on that field,” Sami said.

Phillip Sami touches down for one of the 14 tries he has scored so far this season — just one less than Anthony Don. Photo: AAP

“He never stops talking. Melbourne’s defence comes off Billy Slater’s talk, so we’ll definitely be hearing him talk at the weekend.”

Sami was part of the Titans’ line-up in their 28-14 loss to the Storm in Brisbane earlier this season — with Melbourne the opponent he rated as the Titans’ toughest this year.

“As a winger, you take tough carries and they were one line, so it’s pretty hard to find one spot where they’re weak so I can find my (metres) easy — they were pretty hard to break through,” he said.