By the time Alofiana Khan-Pereira is finished his debut NRL season, the Titans' record for tries in a single season will not only be beaten but obliterated... much like the defensive lines the 21-year-old flyer has bamboozled in his 16 games in the top grade.
Since making his NRL debut in Round 1 against Wests Tigers, Khan-Pereira has chalked up 30 tackle breaks, 22 line breaks and 17 tries, equalling the mark set by David Fifita in the 2021 season.
Included in Khan-Pereira's impressive CV are six doubles racked up against some pretty handy opposition in the Storm, Cowboys, Broncos and Sea Eagles and twice against the Eels.
With seven games still to play and a possibility of playing finals, it's anyone's guess how high the record will go by the time Khan-Pereira is finished, with interim coach Jim Lenihan adamant that "scoring tries and running hard is the easy part" for the youngster.
"That’s a natural skill for him, he's got exceptional speed, he's certainly someone who can find the tryline and he’s been doing it for a long time," Lenihan said on Friday.
"We all know he can finish off tries really well but the next thing about being a professional rugby league player is getting all the details of your job and he is working really hard at that and getting better.
Alofiana Khan-Pereira sure knows how to score them
"It's the defence and the mindfulness to set our edge, our bounce on the line when you’re nowhere near the ball - there's lots of little parts that are very detailed in his position that he has to get better at and he is getting better at but still has a lot to work on."
The prospect of Khan-Pereira getting even better at his job in his second season and beyond is a scary one for rival teams, but Lenihan has no doubt the Keebra Park State High graduate has only scratched the surface in his rookie year.
Lenihan sees a healthy confidence and limitless potential in a kid who has already surpassed a couple of pretty handy speedsters in David Mead (16 tries in 2011) and James Roberts (16 tries in 2015) for four-pointers in a season at the Titans.
"Like most young blokes he’s cocky but he needs that little bit of swagger that makes him who he is. We don’t want him to lose that, it’s what makes him who he is," Lenihan said.
"It's really important that he harnesses all his effort into getting the ball over the line and defending well."
David Fifita is outrageous
Helping Khan-Pereira hold the line in Saturday's must-win game against the Rooster will be AJ Brimson, who returns at fullback after a week off to recharge his batteries.
The livewire No.1 has played just nine games for the Titans in 2023 but is coming off an Origin appearance for the Maroons in Game Three and should be ready to fire in the run to the finals.
"Brimmo didn’t have any major issue [last week], he is just so tightly strung that playing State of Origin into a game next week could pose a problem moving forward for rest of the year so just to give giving him those few days off is smarter for us to ensure he plays deep into the back end of the year," Lenihan said.
With the loser of Saturday's clash likely to be three games out of the eight by the end of the round, the electric skills of Brimson and Khan-Pereira are critical to the Titans' chances of staying alive in the finals race.
If Khan-Pereira can take sole possession of the 'yellow jersey' from Fifita for tries in a season then Gold Coast could be well on their way to breaking a nine-game losing run against the Roosters.
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