Gold Coast Titans forward Keegan Hipgrave identifies his Sharks targets in Thursday night clash

AS the Gold Coast Titans fight to stay in the NRL finals hunt against Cronulla on Thursday night, forward Keegan Hipgrave has identified his three main targets.

AS the Gold Coast Titans fight to stay in the NRL finals hunt against Cronulla on Thursday night, forward Keegan Hipgrave has identified his three main targets.

Desperate for their third win of the season after falling 28-14 to the Cowboys in Round 8, the Titans tackle the Sharks in the opening game of the NRL’s inaugural Magic Round at Suncorp Stadium.

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“They’ve got a pretty solid pack so if we can dominate their pack I think our guys will just do the rest,” Hipgrave said.

“We’ve got a pretty good mindset right now to just stay simple, get into the grind of the game and just win those little cycles with our defence. It’s pretty simple, we’ve really gotten back to basics in the last couple of weeks.

Titans forward Keegan Hipgrave. Picture: Chris Hyde/Getty Images

“We took a lot out of last week. I think we played pretty well except for some minor individual lapses but we took a lot from it.

“We’re all sticking together and it’s not like everyone’s sulking at the club. We’re all upbeat and we know what we need to fix, we’ve just got to do it.”

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KEEGAN HIPGRAVE’S SHARKS TARGETS

BRITON NIKORA

“He’s a really good young second-rower and I used to play with him as a kid (at Nerang Roosters),” Hipgrave said.

“He’d be making our division 2 local side and now he’s playing NRL so he’s come a long way. He’s so talented.”

Sharks second-rower Briton Nikora. Picture: Mark Kolbe/Getty Images

PAUL GALLEN

“If we can get under Gallen’s skin and roll him over, that’s probably a big one.”

JOSH DUGAN

“Dugan’s a pretty strong carrier so if we can get a hold of him it will help us a lot.”