The Gold Coast Titans have lost more than 800 games of NRL experience as well as their foundation coach at the end of last season, but Greg Bird believes the club is on the cusp of a resurgence.
With representative forwards Ashley Harrison and Luke Bailey retiring and back-rower Mark Minichiello leaving to join Super League club Hull FC, NSW star Bird is now the veteran of a youthful forward pack.
But Bird believes the appointment of Neil Henry, who replaced John Cartwright as coach at the back-end of last season, has breathed new life into the club.
“He’s taken his own approach to coaching and it’s a different bunch of blokes to what he’s used to and what I’m used to,” Bird told AAP.
“We’ve got a lot of youth and not a whole lot of experience so it’s going to be a learning curve to see how we go. But there’s definitely plenty of talent in the team, that’s one thing we’re not short of.”
The Titans haven’t reached the finals since 2010, but Bird believes Henry’s record in guiding North Queensland to a top-eight finish in three of his five season in charge is a positive sign for the club.
“Neil’s been quite a successful coach really when you look at his semi-final statistics up at the Cowboys,” he said.
The NSW lock also predicted a big season for young five-eighth Aidan Sezer, who’s recovered from the torn pectoral muscle he sustained last year.
“He (Sezer) missed a fair bit of last season with a pec tear and missed a lot of football and you really saw the decline in our team performance,” he said.
“We saw when he came back for a few games at the end of the year, he really changed the way the team played around.
“I think we’re a much better team with him in it. The more experience that kid gets, the better he’ll be.”
Bird is about to begin his sixth campaign with the Titans and feels confident of returning to his best after battling a series of injuries in 2015.
“I want to get myself and my body right and get back to the form I know I’m capable of,” he said.
“Last year I was coming off a season where I got player of the year for the Titans and I want to get back to that kind of form.”
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