Gold Coast Titans co-captain Greg Bird showing exceptional leadership qualities Greg Bird has developed into a tremendous leader for the Titans. MAYBE this is what Immortal Bob Fulton was talking about five years ago when he said Greg Bird was the next Wally Lewis. Not Bird's qualities as a five-eighth, but his exceptional value as a leader. Bird will play his sixth Test for Australia on Friday night and the Titans co-captain has never been in better form. He might have won three man of the match awards for NSW, including his Origin I performance in 2008 that prompted the high praise from Fulton, but Bird now consistently delivers a peak performance. Maybe it has something to do with coach John Cartwright's decision to hand Bird and Nate Myles the co-captaincy, giving the Gold Coast two workhorses that lead with actions, not just words. "I've always tried to be a talker and be a leader on the field with what I do," Bird said. (The captaincy) probably hasn't changed me that much, it's probably brought a lot more of my personality out with the added responsibility. Sometimes you can take a bit of a backseat when we had so many senior players like we had in this (Titans) team. But I think having that title does make you want to make your personality as a leader come out more. I like forwards as captains. I think sometimes it's a bit more 'do as I say not as I do' as a halfback when you're in there tackling your tail off. When you've got a forward as captain you really look to him to set the pace and intensity. You can really follow him with the hard work and effort you can see him putting in. It would be easy to chart the rise, fall and rise again of Bird's career as a way of measuring how far he has come in his time on the Coast. But he is still very much the old-school footballer who enjoys a beer after the game with coaching staff. In 2013, Bird has not missed a minute of club football with his average metres a career high 151m, 21m up on last year.