Jetstar Gold Coast Titans coach John Cartwright has backed pint-sized dynamo Preston Campbell to step-up another level in his second stint at halfback in tomorrow night’s clash against Melbourne at Olympic Park.
With co-captain Scott Prince given another week off to overcome a hamstring injury, Campbell will again act as the Jetstar Titans’ chief playmaker in a veteran scrumbase combination with dual-international Mat Rogers.
The pair were pivotal for the Titans in last Friday night’s 20-12 win over the Bulldogs, with Campbell scoring one of his side’s four tries and also laying on another.
And Cartwright said he expected Campbell to feel even more comfortable in the role tomorrow given there was no long-term pressure on him with Prince likely to be back for the club’s round five clash against North Queensland in Townsville next weekend.
“He was good for us last week and I’m pretty sure he’ll be even more comfortable in that role (tomorrow),’’ said Cartwright of Campbell.
“It’s good for him because he knows Princey is not far away so he can concentrate on that No.7 jumper and always know that he’s going to go back to fullback sooner rather than later.’’
The Storm have also been tampering with their halves combination in the early rounds, with talk that hooker Cameron Smith will switch to five-eighth for tomorrow night’s clash after he played at pivot in stages for Melbourne in their last-start victory over North Queensland.
Cartwright though said he was not phased by who would play at five-eighth for the Storm and was more focused on his side’s own preparation.
“I’m not real concerned because I’m sure at some stage Smith will be playing hooker and at No.6 so we’re not real fussed,’’ he said.
“It’s more been a week about getting us ready, we know at some stage we’re going to face Inglis at five-eighth and Smith.
The Titans have lost both clashes against the Storm in Melbourne, losing 50-6 in 2007 and 44-4 last year.
However, both of those losses came at the back end of the season when the Titans were missing troops and out of finals contention.
Cartwright said it was a clean slate for his side this time around against a team he rates as the toughest side to beat at home in the NRL.
“They’ve only lost three games over the last three years,’’ he said.
“So consistently they are the best side at their home track. It’s a huge challenge but I’m happy with the way we’ve been going to go and confront them.
“It (the past record against the Storm) hasn’t even been spoken about.
“It’s a new year, they’ve changed a lot of players, we’ve changed a lot of players, we’re only three games in and we’re equal on the competition ladder.’’
Cartwright said it was difficult to pinpoint any weaknesses in the Storm line-up and said his side’s best chance of knocking them off in front of their home crowd would be to focus on what they can control.
“I don’t think they have a weakness. It’s tough to pinpoint any weakness in their side - the main thing is that you’re at you’re best.
“You’ve got to reach levels of attitude and completing everything that you set out to do so there’s no one weakness, you’ve just got to make sure you’re 100 per cent prepared and you go down there and you play to pretty well 95 per cent of your ability.’’
The Titans arrived in Melbourne today with an 18-man squad. Cartwright will make a final decision on the make-up of his interchange bench tomorrow.
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