Titans young guns in rush to make their mark Albert Kelly runs with the ball at Gold Coast Titans training at Skilled Park, Robina. Picture: Adam Head Source: The Sunday Mail (Qld) ALMOST four decades and 700 NRL games of experience is the difference between the Gold Coast Titans' new spine and the quartet that carried the club to one win from the grand final in 2010. Much change has occurred inside coach John Cartwright's team since they last played in the finals three years ago, none more so in the key fullback, five-eighth, halfback and hooker positions. Indigenous All Stars pioneer Preston Campbell and dual international Mat Rogers have retired, while Scott Prince and Nathan Friend have left the club in a changing of the guard which has seen the club lose a total of 895 NRL games worth of experience. In their place stands a new fearless combination that will be the youngest in the NRL when it plays the Panthers at Penrith's Centrebet Stadium in round 4 today. At 26 and with 117 games is "veteran" William Zillman, while 22-year-olds Albert Kelly (17 games) and Matt Srama (40) plus 21-year-old five-eighth Aidan Sezer (21 games) complete the team. Combined, they have 195 games of experience and with an average age of 22.75 they are significantly younger than most NRL clubs. Most NRL clubs are at least two years older than the Titans' combination, with reigning premiers Melbourne an average of five years older and Cronulla easily the veteran spine of the NRL at 29.25 years of age. That Titans preliminary final foursome from 2010 had an average age of 31.5. But the only numbers Cartwright is interested in from his men is the ones they produce on the field and after three weeks there are enough promising signs to suggest this youthful group can lead the Gold Coast back to the finals. "We've always been confident, there were some people who weren't, but we've always been confident and they're going as we knew they would," Cartwright said. That is the missing piece of the puzzle now, just first grade games under their belt. Winning games in tough situations, coming from behind, winning from in front, you know you can talk about that all you like but you've got to go out there and do it. You only get that by first grade games and the more they get under the belt the better they're going to be. Crucially for the Titans, not only is this group young, but it is locked into contracts for at least next season. Kelly and Srama have deals that expire at the end of next year while Sezer is secured until the end of 2015 and former Canberra Raider Zillman is on the longest deal in the competition through until 2017. If what they are showing in three NRL games together is any indication, imagine what is capable after two, three or four seasons as a unit. "You take your spine out of any side and it's hard to replace, you don't do it overnight," Cartwright said. We have been working away at it, we've chopped and changed a little bit but hopefully we can settle on these guys that are there now. While many thought the lack of experience would be the Gold Coast's weakness this year, particularly after releasing Prince to the Broncos, it must be said their new formation is still older than Brisbane's 2012 spine. Brisbane's foursome of Josh Hoffman, Corey Norman, Peter Wallace and Andrew McCullough started 2012 with an average age of 22.5. But with the looming departure of Norman to the Parramatta Eels, Broncos supporters will never get to see the full potential of what could have developed among their rising young stars.