Titans halfback Scott Prince has admitted that the Titans poor showing in the 2009 NRL finals is still in the back of the Titans minds, and it still hurts.
Prince revealed on Thursday that the Titans were simply the victims of their sudden rise to the top, when they finished third before crashing out of the NRL finals in successive weeks.
With the current hype aimed at the Roosters astonishing turnaround in 2010, the Titans captain admits that his experienced side have learned from their previous mistakes leading into their preliminary final against the Roosters.
It’s expected that a monster crowd of 40,000 plus are expected to pack Suncorp Stadium with most of the supporters expected to support the Titans charge to the Grand Final.
Prince has also admitted that should they succumb to defeat, the loss will hurt just as much as last year’s successive finals losses against Brisbane and Parramatta, but the Titans captain has stressed that this year’s Titans side were a smarter and more level-headed group this year.
“It just hurts. It feels like yesterday we were playing Parramatta.
“It’s an ill-feeling. The deeper you go, the deeper the wound.”
Since their establishment in 2006, and their debut in 2007, the Titans simply couldn’t cope with their strong success in the regular season heading into their maiden finals campaign.
“It was all new for us as a club and all new ground,” Prince said.
“It was off-the-field stuff that we got a little bit caught up in with the emotional side of it instead of worrying about what we need to do to get the win and that’s something we’ve certainly learnt.
“We’ve been given an opportunity off the back of our hard work through the year and we just don’t want to throw it away.
“We don’t want to get caught up by the hype of the game.”
Last year’s wooden-spooners, the Roosters who won an enthralling extra-time contest against the Wests Tigers in the first week of the finals has given them most of the media’s attention, and it is they who are being talked up.
Prince, who was a premiership winner in 2005 with the Wests Tigers says that the game-play of opposing halves Todd Carney and Mitchell Pearce reminds him of the partnership he and Benji formed in 2005.
“In `05, that was a bunch of young guys having fun. I guess if you had to make a comparison, you’d have to say the Roosters (resemble that side),” the halfback said.
“They seem to have all the momentum at the moment, no fear about anything – at the end of the day that’s their frame of mind.
“We have our standards and goals and if we come close to those, it will get us the win that we need.”