He admits he is "looking over his shoulder" at players eyeing off his own position in the Titans 17 but hooker Daniel Mortimer says the club needs that competition for spots in order to challenge the NRL's top teams.
For the first time this season co-captain William Zillman is in line for selection for the team to play Cronulla on Sunday after making a successful return from injury playing for Tweed Heads on the weekend but his position at fullback is by no means guaranteed.
David Mead was terrific against the Broncos on Friday night in scoring a try himself and stopping a couple at the other end, leaving coach Neil Henry with a delicate selection to make on Tuesday.
The inexperience of outside backs such as Nene Macdonald and John Olive could see Zillman return in the centres if not at fullback but Mortimer believes it is a good problem to have.
With two try assists against the Broncos and just the one missed tackle Mortimer has managed to keep Kierran Moseley at bay for one more week and said such competition is keeping every player on their toes.
"From all reports [Zillman] had a very solid game which was expected, he's a very good player," Mortimer said.
"In saying that I thought 'Meady' was very good for us on Friday night and that's what you want, you want players pushing each other and that's something that we definitely do have here in quite a few positions.
"If you don't perform there are boys knocking on the door which is what most successful teams have.
"I'm looking over the shoulder constantly [at Kierran Moseley]. He's a very good little player and he's putting a lot of pressure on 'Friendy' (Nathan Friend) and myself to perform.
"There are no hard feelings, you want everyone in the team to do well and that's what the best teams have."
Although injuries to Kane Elgey and Tyrone Roberts have left the Titans light on for options in the halves in recent weeks, the forwards are also fighting for a place in the starting 13.
Luke Douglas got his first starting spot of the season due to David Shillington's hip flexor injury suffered in the warm-up on Friday night which allowed Eddy Pettybourne to make his return from injury and Lachlan Burr to get his first start of the season.
The experienced back row of Greg Bird, Zeb Taia and Chris McQueen have been the foundation holding the defence together and Taia believes it is up to them to lead the way against the Sharks.
"There's a lot of competition for spots, particularly in the forwards," Taia said.
"We need to set the platform in the middle there and with me and Chris McQueen playing on the edges there's a lot of experience for us to win games.
"We might not be too experienced in the outside backs but definitely with the experience in the forwards surely that will be enough to compete against the big guns like the Broncos and Melbourne and Cowboys and that.
"I saw [the Sharks] play against Melbourne and they started off really well with that aggression and took their big guns out of the game early so we know what we're up for.
"We've got a couple of aggressive players in our team as well so we'll definitely be up for the challenge."
