‘I’ll own it’: How Holbrook’s faith helped Boyd turn match winner

With his very last act of the 2022 season, Tanah Boyd repaid the faith coach Justin Holbrook had shown in him with the gift of a golden point victory.

Boyd slotted the match-winning field goal three minutes into golden point on Saturday night to hand the Titans a 27-26 victory over the Warriors, having earlier kicked two conversions and a penalty in a dramatic final seven minutes of normal time, which saw the Gold Coast score 14 unanswered points.

The series of clutch plays, culminating in the field goal kicked into a breeze on a rainy night at Mt Smart Stadium, further justified Holbrook’s decision to promote Boyd to a starting halves role back in round 18.

Prior to that the 22-year-old had spent most of his previous 31 career games as a bench hooker.  

Boyd told pan66.com that belief from Holbrook meant he headed into golden point feeling confident that he was the man who should be receiving the ball with the game on the line.

“At the end of the normal time I said, ‘I want it, I’ll own it’,” Boyd said.

"I stuck my hand up straight away and as soon as it left the boot it felt good.

“Those big, big moments tonight, the goal to get us equal and then the field goal, I dreamed about those moments growing up.

“It’s been massive that Justin has put a lot of confidence in me and encouraged me to keep playing the way I am and to back myself.

“Hopefully I can stay there [at halfback] and keep putting in good performances.

“I will see what the coach wants and hopefully I can stay there. I feel like we are building a good combo on our edge with Jojo [Fifita], Davey [Fifita] and whoever the winger will be. So I hope I can stay there.”

Where Boyd fits into the Titans’ plans next year is a big question, with incoming Kiwi international Kieran Foran set to command one of the starting spots in the halves, and the emergence of Jayden Campbell at fullback meaning AJ Brimson is now likely to be a dedicated half as well.

Even at hooker the club will have more depth after signing Sam Verrills from the Roosters.

Holbrook said while he hadn’t yet decided where everyone would fit into his plans for 2023, Boyd could take plenty of credit for the side winning three of their final four games this season.

“The way we have played the last month, the team have really progressed so quickly and obviously Tanah, we moved him and he’s been a big part of that,” Holbrook said.

“He kicked a goal at the end there and then went into extra time and nailed the field goal into a pretty stiff breeze in rainy conditions, so probably as hard as you can get.

“We are really looking forward to [Foran] joining the squad and joining a squad that has now finished the season in encouraging fashion.

“A lot to look forward to, a disappointing season, but important that we got a few wins at the back end to move forward.

“When you can’t play finals footy sometimes teams can fall away, but we didn’t want to be one of those teams.”