Phoenix rising as Titans close in on a return to finals footy

The Gold Coast Titans will be looking to assert their presence on the competition this weekend and a young outside back is eager to grow her role to make her mark on the finals charge.

The Titans could lock up a place in the post-season if they can beat and leapfrog the Knights on Sunday, a cause that may benefit from possible returns of winger Destiny Mino-Sinapati and hooker Brittany Breayley-Nati from Round 1 injuries.

Titans winger Phoenix-Raine Hippi is seeing the coming weeks as an opportunity to build on the confident start to her NRLW career, which has yielded four tries in as many games, and hold a place as the competition for spots heats up.

Hippi has increasingly been getting into the tough stuff out of yardage to help her side in a sign she's feeling at home at the top level.

“It’s been all pretty quick. I was blindsided being told I was debuting, it’s been a bit of a whirlwind, but I guess I’ve adjusted quite well, I’m pretty confident to say that,” she said.

“At first I did struggle a bit with confidence, especially playing on TV, but I think one of my biggest goals is being more assertive, especially coming in for more runs, but I feel I’m getting everything else down pat.”

The “love” around the Titans playing group, as skipper Georgia Hale highlighted after the win over the Eels, has been a key factor in maintaining the culture built at the club and trickling it down through the club’s elite pathways program, which prepared Hippi to hit her straps early.

The Northern Rivers product played most of her footy in the QRL pathways system with Tweed and Burleigh before earning a shot at the Future Titans Academy, already a proven successful pathway for dozens of NRLW up-and-comers.

“Just getting around the staff and knowing a lot of them before coming into NRLW really helps knowing the girls, making connection with them,” Hippi said.

Now that she’s established a sense of belonging thanks to the guidance of the likes of Shaylee Bent and centre partner Ivania Lolesio, the Queensland Under 19 representative hopes to take it to the next level for her girls and as a reward for the fans she’s still getting used to having her back.

“We need to stick to our game plan and ignore the outside noise, working on our connection, just focusing on us instead of other people,” Hippi said.