He is a premiership winning veteran about to play his 250th NRL game, but this week Chris Heighington will do something he has never done before, start at prop.
Named to start his first ever game in the front row in place of Sam Tagataese, in what will also be his first starting appearance of the year, Heighington said for Cronulla to regain their confidence it was a matter of individuals doing their best within their specified roles.
"It's just a matter of going back to basics for us and knowing what we do well and going out on the field and doing it the best you can," Heighington said.
"Probably a few guys in our team, well most of us really, are going outside of our jobs at the moment.
"For me, that's going forward and getting quick play the balls and for a winger it's obviously completely different. If we stick to our jobs and do it well then we should come away with more wins than losses.
"[Our start to the year has] put a dent in our confidence by losing our first three straight, because we had such a good off-season, and we probably thought we'd go better than what we have, but we can't change that now and we'll just have to have a crack on Saturday arvo."
Having averaged 86.9 metres and 18.3 tackles off the bench so far, Heighington is up for a hugely testing front row debut against the likes of Gold Coast forwards Nate Myles and former Shark Luke Douglas.
While the Titans accompany the Sharks on the bottom rungs of the Telstra Premiership ladder, Heighington believes his team are in for an "interesting game" considering the similarities between their on-field styles.
"They have been unlucky in two of their first three games. They are playing really good footy and they're probably very unhappy not to have won a couple by now," Heighington said.
"Their quality players have come back and they all played pretty well. They're just big blokes, which is definitely important and they have also played at the highest level meaning they'll always be up for the big games."
Only 51 games from the illustrious 300 club, Heighington is unsure of where his future lies past this season.
"It's a great milestone personally and hopefully a lot of my family and friends can come and watch. I suppose there is [a bit of sentiment] considering there aren't many blokes around achieving what I'm about too," Heighington said.
"[As for the 300th] I don't even go week by week mate, it's day by day for me. I'm off-contract but I'd like to stay or stay in the NRL at least. I like playing at the highest level and I think that this is it so we'll wait and see.
"There's no rush though. My manager [Wayne Beavis] is looking after Jarryd Hayne so I can't get a hold of him at the moment. I might have to try and give him a call soon."
