Teenage star Tanah Boyd keen for Gold Coast Titans halves role despite utility value
A confident Tanah Boyd is making no secret of his desire to nail down a Titans halves spot for next month’s season opener, insisting his two-game cameo last year has given him the belief he can become an NRL force.
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A CONFIDENT Tanah Boyd is refusing to give up on a Titans halves spot for next month’s season opener, insisting his two-game cameo last year has instilled the belief to become an NRL force.
Having impressed in Gold Coast’s successful NRL Nines run earlier this month, the 19-year-old was today named on the bench in a 22-man squad for this Saturday’s final trial against the Broncos.
While Tyrone Roberts and Ash Taylor will start in the halves in the Redcliffe hitout, Boyd showed off his growing maturity at halfback in the Titans’ 18-16 loss to Burleigh on Friday night.
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The former Australian Schoolboy and fellow teen playmaker Toby Sexton mixed flashes of brilliance with a handful of errors in the defeat and while Boyd’s ability to play dummy half could prompt coach Justin Holbrook to plump for him as a bench utility in the looming Round 1 clash with Canberra, he is desperate to prove he has the tools to become an elite playmaker.
“I’ve been training in the halves so I’m getting comfortable there and that’s where I want to be. I’m just trying to play consistent footy,” the Runaway Bay junior and Keebra Park product said.
“Being a regular first grader, that’s the ultimate goal but we’ll see how we go. I feel more confident (from the two games last year), a bit more comfortable around the boys and the group and myself and my own footy.
“It gives me heaps of confidence coming into this year and I just want more of that now. It’s been a big pre-season and you start to get a bit of itchy feet.
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“I like to play fast and bit of free-flowing and play what I see.”
A mid-season recruit from Brisbane in 2019, Boyd’s decision to return home paid dividends in August when he debuted off the interchange in a 38-4 loss to Newcastle.
A week later, he made his first run-on appearance in the no.7 in the Titans’ final-round battle with St George-Illawarra and said those experiences had proven pivotal.
“(Justin) has been pretty good with me, he’s been pretty happy with how I’m going,” Boyd said.
“He just wants me to keep trying to be better and work on my weaknesses. He doesn’t put too much pressure on me. I like that and I’m just playing my footy so it’s good.”
Roberts has shaken off a minor ankle injury suffered in Saturday’s NRL All Stars game to take his place at five-eighth for the Titans this weekend, while AJ Brimson (back), Shannon Boyd (shoulder) and Moeaki Fotuaika (knee) have been left out for precautionary reasons ahead of the March 13 battle with the Raiders in Canberra.
TITANS TRIAL TEAM
1. Phil Sami
2. Anthony Don
3. Kallum Watkins
4. Brian Kelly
5. Jonus Pearson
6. Tyrone Roberts
7. Ash Taylor
8. Jarrod Wallace
9. Mitch Rein
10. Sam Lisone
11. Kevin Proctor
12. Bryce Cartwright
13. Jai Arrow
Interchange
14. Jai Whitbread
15. Tyrone Peachey
16. Nathan Peats
17. Tanah Boyd
18. Dale Copley
19. Sam Stone
20. Jaimin Jolliffe
21. Erin Clark
22. Greg Lelisiuao
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