He has been at the club for less than 12 months but Queensland representative Chris McQueen says he is ready to step up and lead what will be another new-look Titans team in 2017.
With recruits Dan Sarginson (Wigan) and Kevin Proctor (Storm) still yet to join the squad for pre-season training it is not so much the new faces that have caught McQueen's attention but those who are no longer at the club.
Greg Bird, Nathan Friend, David Mead, Luke Douglas and Josh Hoffman have all departed in the off-season, leaving a leadership void that the six-time Origin representative insists he is ready to help fill.
The 29-year-old played 116 games for South Sydney – including the 2014 premiership campaign – before playing all 25 games in his first season on the Gold Coast in 2016 and says he is now ready to impart some of his experience onto the younger members of the squad.
"Obviously we lost quite a few of our leaders and some of our senior players at the end of last season, so for me it's probably just that leadership both on and off the field because I am one of the senior players, one of the oldest players here now," McQueen told Titans TV, having only joined the club last December.
"So for me the goal is to be that senior player and help the younger guys to adjust and learn our system and really fit in."
Younger players such as Brian Kelly, Morgan Boyle, Kurt Bernard and Tyrone Roberts-Davies are up in the top squad training with the NRL team and McQueen has been impressed with the attitude and application they have displayed in the first week of pre-season.
"Obviously got a new squad, we've got some young guys there that sort of want to make a mark here in first grade," said McQueen, who is entering his ninth season in the NRL.
"We do still have that mix of senior players, so I think it's going to be good.
"All the boys are here for the same reason, we want to be competitive, we want to play good footy and we want to win.
"We've still got a bit of work to do between now and the season but we've got plenty of time to work on that."
