As the NZ Warriors fumbled their way out the 2016 NRL season's emergency exit, Konrad Hurrell and his Gold Coast Titans fell to Penrith in a narrow loss but still have a sniff of Finals footy. This week the Titans face the Cowboys up in Townsville which is obviously a pretty big mountain to climb in pursuit of that 8th spot, yet we can be fairly certain that if the Titans do roll out an impressive performance, Koni will be at the heart of it.

Koni did his best to help Gold Coast get up over Penrith, putting up big numbers once again and showing off a certain level of desire and enthusiasm that has ensured that his move to Gold Coast has been a relative success. Koni had 15 carries for 134m with 5 tackle busts and it continues his barnstorming form since moving to the GC as he's had over 10 carries/100m in six of his eight games with the Titans. This was also the second game with the Titans in which Koni didn't miss a tackle, which is a fairly fantastic effort from Koni.

Compare Koni's work to the Titans other centre Josh Hoffman and there's no contest; Hoffman missed 5 tackles and only had 8 carries for 76m.

Two things caught my eye about Koni's game against Penrith, the first was Koni taking the tap from a penalty kick for touch. This isn't anything new in the NRL and it's a trend that has crept into the NRL over the past few seasons - often it's the centre who taps the ball and fires it out to a halfback or hooker who then hits a forward for a carry. Teams like to mix it up these days with the centre taking the tap and making a quick 10m to start their set-of-six and given that Koni has been used to take the first carry from a kick-off, it only makes sense to get Koni charging at the line from a kick for touch.

Koni is quick enough to make that 10m easily and then powerful enough to make metres after contact and get a quick play-the-ball. Between Koni taking these taps, getting constant short-balls around the ruck and taking the first carry from a kick-off, it's safe to say that Titans coach Neil Henry is making the most of Koni's skillset.

This points to high involvement for Koni and this was also on display as Koni was the only Titans player who pushed up in support of halfback Ash Taylor as he burst down field. Taylor started his line break on the centre-right channel (Taylor's a right-sided half) and ran towards the corner flag on the left side, with Koni bursting up on his inside only to be shafted by Taylor as Taylor took the tackle.

Again, Koni just wants to be around the footy and the desire to push up in support along with the speed of Koni to get there was a pleasure to see.

This week, Koni will face off against Kane Linnett who lines up at left centre for the Cowboys. Linnett is coming off a huge game against the Bulldogs in which he had 14 carries, 117m and 3 tackle busts, often steaming on to the ball and cutting back in-field. Linnett - like Koni - put his other centre Justin O'Neill in the shade with O'Neill only putting up 10 carries, 75m and an offload which means that Linnett and Koni are coming into this game hot!

Last week I was a bit worried about the ability of Penrith's play-makers down their left edge and how they might have targeted Koni. That involved Matt Moylan and Nathan Cleary ... this week it's Jonathan Thurston and Lachlan Coote, shit the bed.

Thurston roams from one side of the field to the other, linking with Michael Morgan on the right and Coote on the left. With Thurston being the NRL's leading wizard, the Cowboys are far more organised, creative and clinical with their set-plays than the Panthers and any time Thurston gets the footy down that left edge, I'm going to wince in anticipation as he'll surely look to isolate Koni.

Of course, it's a challenge that we and Koni need to embrace because it's NRL footy. While I'm a little concerned, I'm excited to see Koni play in such a big game for the Titans and come up against the best play-maker in the NRL who loves to wave his wand down the Cowboys left edge. If you're reading this, I'm going to assume that you love Koni just as I do so as Thurston and Coote get the footy down their left edge and put their attacking shape together, keep one eye fixed on Koni and how he defends.

To be honest, many centres and edge defenders have been made to look foolish by Thurston so there's no shame in a Koni mistake. Like, if Koni gets up off the line and puts pressure on, Thurston and/or Coote are good enough to see that and adjust. Same case if Koni slides, either way Koni will be up shit's creek a few times in this game.

What Koni has however, is a fantastic attacking game. Koni might miss a tackle or be bamboozled by Thurston, but he'll take some huge carries through the middle and help the Titans get some go-forward against a forward pack that has been on fire with Jason Taumalolo aka Mr 200, James Tamou, Scott Bolton, Ben Hannant etc all in great form.

Koni is just another big Titans lad with footwork and speed who will chip in to do a job in helping the Titans maintain parity with the Cowboys in the middle. What I really want to see though is Koni get more footy out wide, early ball on the edges where he is one-on-one or in a bit of space. Last week the Titans were reluctant to hit their edges with both their tries coming through the middle, mainly because they lacked organisation and cohesion with their attacking structures/execution. Koni will undoubtedly do plenty of work up the guts and needs footy out wide for the Titans to trouble a stingey Cowboys defence.

This is what it's all about for the Koni Files. Koni has joined the Titans and the Titans are playing big games like this against the NRL's best, putting Koni in the spotlight and up against players who are going to test every aspect of his game. What we should all be fizzing about though, is that Koni is one of the Titans key weapons and any success they have will involve a big game from our toko.