Albert Kelly starred for the Titans at Skilled Park. Source: Getty Images
ALBERT Kelly's biggest fear coming back into NRL football with the Gold Coast Titans was that he'd fail and let people down.
He still faces a long journey to redemption, but Kelly took one giant stride forward today with a superb performance in the Gold Coast's club record 36-0 thrashing of Canberra at Skilled Park.
Kelly scored two tries, had one try assist and a linebreak assist in the six-try rout by the Titans to celebrate the club's 150th NRL game.
The 21-year-old halfback, who has previously been sacked by Cronulla, Newcastle and Parramatta for off-field issues, has the difficult task of replacing Scott Prince this season and today he was among a long list of standouts for the Titans.
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Hooker Matt Srama bagged a double while Greg Bird was also influential as the Titans were also denied two tries and butchered another.
There was no happier storyline though than the re-emergence of Kelly who in just his second game for the club, after almost two years since his last NRL appearance in mid-2011, showed what a rare find he may be for the Titans.
Skipper Nate Myles rated Kelly a "special" talent, but the halfback himself knows he has achieved nothing yet from one good game.
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"First win, first home game, I couldn't be any happier," Kelly said.
"I was a bit nervous, mostly nervous to fail. I just did not want to let anyone down.
"I had my doubts (I'd get back into NRL) but I was always confident (in my ability) but I don't want to get too cocky.
"I want to have the self-belief and motivation to get back up. It's not that hard, you've just got to believe in yourself."
A dejected David Shillington. Source: Getty Images
Titans centre Jamal Idris, who set up Kelly's second try with a 70m break, rated the win his best since joining the club in 2012.
"It was outstanding the fact we didn't let up for one minute and just stayed on our toes," Idris said.
"Great teams and great clubs have an ability to put the nail in the coffin and I'm happy that we did that today."
Titans coach John Cartwright said the most pleasing aspect for him was not the fluency in attack, or the 10 linebreaks, but the resolute defence that did not concede a single point.
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The Raiders had more tackles inside the opposition 20m zone, but never looked like scoring a point in a limp display.
"They've got some weapons out there and it's hard to keep a side to nil in any level of football and to keep them to nil in that heat," Cartwright said.
"There would have been a reason or excuse to give up towards the end of the game or someone drop off or not finish a tackle but they kept coming up with rushing defence and caused errors and did it right to the 80th minute.
"The thing about it as well is but for a bit of finishing it would have been even better. There was a lot to like."
GOLD COAST 36 (A Kelly 2 M Srama 2 G Bird K Gordon tries A Sezer 6 goals) bt CANBERRA 0 at Skilled Park. Referee: Adam Devcich, Henry Perenara. Crowd: 12,267.
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