Garth Brennan insists one minute in one game is not going to break his star recruit Bryce Cartwright, and Gold Coast Titans forward Jai Arrow reckons one great game could make the former Penrith Panther.
Call it the 'Cartwright conundrum' if you like but the Titans are yet to unlock the key to the ball-playing back-rower.
Last week the Titans put in their best display of the season with a 26-14 win over the Brisbane Broncos, a game in which Cartwright played just one minute off the bench.
Brennan told pan66.com Cartwright would play more minutes against the Manly Sea Eagles in Gladstone on Sunday and insisted last week's lack of game time would not dent the 23-year-old's confidence.
"One week is not going to break him," Brennan said.
"He he's had a tough year Bryce, but it wasn’t on purpose that I left him off.
“The boys were defending so well against Brisbane I just didn’t want to break their mojo, but if we were 12 points behind or needed points you would have seen Bryce out there.
"He'll play a lot more minutes against Manly but it is about me not putting him under the pump when he is down on confidence."
Titans v Sea Eagles - Round 5
Arrow, who like Cartwright joined a new club in the off-season, said his fellow forward had unveiled "freakish" skills at training and just needed to get the self-belief to do it in a game.
“Once he grows in confidence and gets used to the structure he will kill it," Arrow told pan66.com.
“I think Bryce can only go up from here. At training I've seen his ability to see things and ball play, and that pretty freakish flick pass as well that comes off more often than not.
"As Garth says, it will take time for Bryce to play the footy he has in the past."
Bryce’s uncle, John Cartwright, had a remarkable around the corner pass he used to unveil at the line for the Penrith Panthers in his pomp.
Panthers premiership winner Scott Sattler said Bryce had even more skill than his famous uncle.
“John was one of the toughest and most skilful modern day forwards with beautiful, subtle, light hands but I reckon Bryce has more hand-to-hand skill than his uncle," Sattler told pan66.com.
"Bryce can play before the line, through the line and he can play late but he is a different player to John.
"Bryce probably has to watch vision of [former Cronulla captain] Gavin Miller, a guy that could play tough early and then brought finesse into his game.
"He has just got to grit his teeth and play really physical and aggressive early on in the match and see what happens."
Brennan said he was confident the penny would drop soon, but he added he was not concerned if it took a while for Cartwright.
“He is not a dummy, Bryce, he knows what he needs to work on," Brenann said.
“He is a work in progress. We are in no rush to get him where we need him to be."
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