The Gold Coast Titans are set to reveal a surprise spine shake-up for 2023, with Jayden Campbell and Toby Sexton relegated from starting roles.
Kieran Foran's arrival on the Gold Coast, and that of Sam Verrills to take over at hooker, has been touted by coach Justin Holbrook as the move the club needed to make in order to return to the top eight.
Holbrook went with a young and in many ways untried spine for 2022, with Jayden Campbell at fullback, star AJ Brimson moving to five-eighth, Toby Sexton taking the number seven jersey, and Erin Clark playing at dummy half.
Ultimately, the move to play the spine with Brimson out of position and the remaining players inexperienced backfired, with the Gold Coast winding up at the bottom of the table and unable to salvage what was a disaster of a season for the club.
While Verrills' arrival at Robina gives the club a genuine number nine and allows Clark to move into the lock role that he played strongly during the final rounds of 2022, the remainder of the spine still seemed to be a mystery.
The Courier Mail are reporting however that Sexton will be missing from the 17, while Jayden Campbell will be forced into a super sub role.
Instead, Justin Holbrook is expected to go against popular opinion and stick with Kieran Foran in his preferred five-eighth position - a role he has played alongside Daly Cherry-Evans in the Manly halves for the last couple of years.
That will allow Tanah Boyd, who impressed at halfback during the second half of 2022, to continue in the number seven jumper, while Brimson will return to fullback.
Brimson's 2020 season saw the Titans battle early on in attack, before his return from injury was the catalyst for the club to double their attacking output.
It was more of the same in 2021, with Brimson's form the catalyst for the Titans to sneak into the finals. The now 24-year-old played three games for Queensland in the State of Origin arena across that time period and will be looking to get back to his best in 2023.
Campbell is expected to play off the bench.
That still leaves Sexton, Paul Turner and the untested Thomas Weaver as backup options in the spine for the Titans.
That won't be the only selection question for the Titans either, with Greg Marzhew's departure and general uncertainty after a poor 2022 creating big questions in the backline. All of Brian Kelly, Phillip Sami, Patrick Herbert, Jojo Fifita, Alofiana Khan-Pereira and new recruit Aaron Schoupp will be battling for the wing and centre positions.
The Titans open their season with a clash against the Wests Tigers on Sunday, March 5 at Leichhardt.
