There’s nothing like testing yourself against the best of the best and Titans halfback Tom Weaver made the most of his opportunity to do just that when he made his NRL debut against the Panthers on the weekend.
Weaver slotted into the number 7 jersey in place of the injured Tanah Boyd, who is out for the rest of the season, and showed few signs of nerves as he got in amongst the action with a line break assist and 737 kick metres in front of his large contingent of supporters.
“It was definitely pretty special to be able to debut here, at home, with all my family and friends here and especially to go up against the benchmark team in Penrith,” Weaver told NRL.com.
“It was good to see where I was at with my game as well against the best team and obviously, the best halfback in Nathan Cleary.
“It sets forward where I've got to look to get to in the next couple of years.”
The performance of the Cudgen Hornets junior, who played Under 19s Origin for New South Wales last year, earned words of encouragement from Cleary following the game.
“He was good, he looked pretty confident and he took control of pretty much of all the kicking. Happy for him and congratulations to him,” Cleary said post-match.
“Hopefully, there's many more to come. I think he's the kind of guy that can really develop his game and it's a debut against a team like us, I think it'll set him in good stead, so I thought he went well.”
This season, Weaver has been developing his game in Queensland’s Hostplus Cup with Tweed, who no doubt missed his presence as they went down in what was a must-win game against Sunshine Coast Falcons, knocking them out of finals contention.
While Tweed’s season has drawn to a close, Weaver is set to feature again this week for an injury-depleted Gold Coast side who saw Phil Sami and Jayden Campbell, who was playing at five-eighth, ruled out early in the loss against Penrith.
Debutant Weaver is made of tough stuff
Expected to pair with veteran five-eighth Kieran Foran, who has been sidelined with a sternum injury, the young half is set for another tough challenge against the Storm and their dynamic halves duo Cameron Munster and Jahrome Hughes.
Weaver however said he was looking to take everything he learnt from his debut game and make improvements for the future.
“I've got a bit of a taste of it (against Penrith),” Weaver said.
“I definitely want to keep working on my game and keep trying to improve as much as possible.
“I'll have a look at (the Panthers game) and look at where we went wrong, where I went wrong, and look to improve on that in the future.”
The Titans will travel to AAMI Park to take on Melbourne on Saturday.
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