The Titans’ hopes of breaking their 2019 duck are set to receive a significant boost with first-choice halves Ash Taylor and Tyrone Roberts named to return from injury against the Warriors on Friday night.
The pair have played just 12 minutes between them so far this season with Taylor yet to appear due to a quadricep tendon injury and Roberts limping from the field early in the round one loss to the Raiders but both are on track to be welcomed back into the fold this week.
Taylor and Roberts were named at No.7 and No.6 in the 21-man squad released on Tuesday after completing the morning training session in Auckland. How their respective injuries respond to the extra workload will determine whether they run out onto Mt Smart Stadium on Friday night.
"They completed training and did a bit extra at the end. It's a matter of seeing how they pull up over these next few days after doing a little bit of work," coach Garth Brennan told NRL.com.
"At this stage it all looks good but we’ve still got another three or so days before we play.
"The big key is how they pull up after they do some training.
"I'll be more confident if they're all right tomorrow and then we'll see how the pull up after captain's run."
The only win-less team through three rounds of the Telstra Premiership, Brennan won't be pressured to bring either Taylor or Roberts back until their injuries have completely recovered.
The topsy-turvy results that have played out over the opening three rounds sees the Titans sitting just one win outside the top eight, re-affirming to Brennan that his chief playmakers have plenty of time to make up for lost ground.
"Ash trained really well last Saturday so if I was going to rush him and roll the dice then he would have played Sunday night," Brennan explained.
"We deliberately said no and decided to wait.
"When Nathan Peats got injured I could have easily brought Ash straight back in after the way he trained but I held my nerve there on that one.
"They won't be playing unless they're right.
"I've got Ryley [Jacks] and A J [Brimson] over here as well and I've waited this long so I don't really want to rush them.
"If it was a must-win game and we had to win otherwise our season was over then you would roll the dice. But the fact the competition has panned out the way it has with not too many teams being undefeated and a few teams beaten twice we're only two points out of the eight."
