Kierran Moseley hopes to use his recall to the NRL team to not only secure his immediate future in the top grade but also open the door to a contract extension at the Gold Coast Titans.
With Daniel Mortimer ruled out with a hamstring strain for Saturday afternoon’s game against the Bulldogs at ANZ Stadium Moseley returns to the first grade team for the second time this season and at the venue where he won consecutive grand finals with the Panthers in under-20s in 2013 and the NSW Cup team a year later.
The Canterbury clash will be his first in the NRL at ANZ Stadium but how long he stays in the top grade will depend on what contribution he can make off the bench on Saturday.
Moseley’s only NRL game this season was against Canberra in Round 4 where he helped to inspire a second-half comeback with his work around the ruck but says he doesn’t feel any pressure to perform, just an opportunity to play his natural game against the big Bulldogs forward pack.
"It's not really pressure," Moseley told NRL.com.
"The best way for you to approach it is to play the normal style of play that you do play each week and what's pretty much got you there.
"You put the pressure on yourself and then you start worrying about not being there next week and things like that but for myself I'm just going to try and do what I've been doing down in Q Cup and a little bit more."
Fighting for a spot in the 17 during the pre-season alongside the likes of Mortimer, Nathan Friend and Matt Srama, Moseley suffered a syndesmosis injury to his right ankle during a wrestling session and missed all the club’s trial games.
It gave Mortimer and Friend the jump on him but he has been diligently working away in the background to improve his kicking game to the point where it can be used as an attacking weapon by the team.
With kicking options to his left and right in halves Ashley Taylor and Tyrone Roberts, Moseley doesn’t expect to be called upon to kick any 40/20s on Saturday but said in order to keep pace with other hookers in the NRL he needs to be able to execute under pressure in the attacking zone.
"I have been working on my kicking game. It's only going to help the team and help my chances of being in the team. I'm still working on kicking in general play," said Moseley, who has kicked just 10 times in 17 NRL games for the Titans to date.
"You've got to have that as part of your game because which way the fullback positions himself, he's just looking at the halves and it's an easier option for the hooker to jump out and put one in [to the in-goal] to get a repeat set and build pressure.
"In 20s I loved jumping down a short side, looking up and playing up and dropping one in. I did get a few of them in 20s but being first grade it's a little bit harder with the amount of feet going down short sides and halves wanting to kick.
"It's a bit harder in first grade but I still need to work on that."
Coaching staff at the Titans have been impressed in recent weeks with the way Moseley has been bringing forwards onto the ball whilst playing for Tweed Heads in the Intrust Super Cup and he admits that he needs to trust his instincts more in the NRL arena.
"I sort of come into first grade and hold back a bit but Neil [Henry, Titans coach] and the staff have given me a bit of confidence and telling me to play how I play and to do pretty much what has got me to where I am now," said the soon-to-be 22-year-old.
"The structures from last year in the first grade team is a lot different to this year.
"Neil and the coaching staff are trying to push that a bit more for us hookers because of the reduction in the interchanges and to bring us into the game a little bit.
"If I keep my eyes up and what's happening around the ruck that helps me a lot when I get the chance to play first grade."
Currently studying a Certificate IV in Youth Work, Moseley told NRL.com that he has settled well on the Gold Coast and is eager to stay at the Titans beyond the 2016 season.
"I'd love to stick around the club and be here for a while," said Moseley, who is one of four hookers off contract at the Titans this season.
"The club has been really good to me in getting me up here and giving me an opportunity and I'm just trying to do my best to get another contract."
