Dumping representative duo Jarrod Wallace and Nathan Peats has made a statement around reputations not counting as much as form at the Titans even though Justin Holbrook said that was not necessarily his intention.
Wallace, a recent Maroons representative, and Peats, a former NSW hooker, have not been selected in the 17-man line-up for Sunday's clash with the Wests Tigers in Brisbane.
The Titans slumped to a 0-3 record following their loss to North Queensland last weekend in Townsville.
"It was a hard decision [to leave out Nathan Peats and Jarrod Wallace], but I’m trying to pick our best 17 to play the Wests Tigers," Holbrook said.
"I’m not trying to make a statement. Obviously in the games we’ve played we haven’t been good enough, so we’ve got to look at making changes to get the result we want.
"It’s nothing more than that, the boys have been training well and we just haven’t been playing well so I had to make some changes."
Holbrook has faith in Clark to handle the starting dummy-half role.
"He’s worked so hard on his game all pre-season. It’s a bit of a second chance in the NRL for him. He brings a lot of energy to our side. I just want him to go out there and play that way."
Titans v Wests Tigers - Round 4
Even though the Wests Tigers won their last match over Cronulla, coach Michael Maguire wants to see improvement from his side on Sunday.
"We need to be better than where we were last week," Maguire said after his side's final training run on Saturday.
"It's the same every week in the NRL – if you’re slightly not where you need to be you can get bitten. We’ve got to make sure we turn up with the right attitude and go to work like we did against Cronulla.
"We’re a club that needs to do better as well.
"If we want to look sideways at other clubs ... we need to look at ourselves first. That’s the number one thing we are doing at the moment."
