Two years of injury heartache may finally be over for Mathew Head with the diminutive playmaker wrestling the Wests Tigers No.7 jumper from John Morris's grasp for Sunday's crunch NRL match against Gold Coast.

Head will start at halfback for the first time in a full-strength Tigers side, the joint-venture club's fans salivating at the prospect of Head playing alongside star pair Benji Marshall and Robbie Farah.

Morris will start from the bench, Sheens denying the playmaking switch had anything to do with the blast he gave his side after his their 38-26 win over Newcastle on Sunday.

"We scored seven tries so we weren't bad and I'm not saying that was the problem," Sheens said.

"The problem was we allowed five against us.

"They need to understand our attitude needs to be stronger in that area. We'll have our heads down this week."

And they'll have to with the Tigers facing a red-hot Titans side boasting the game's most in-form attacking weapon in former Tigers skipper Scott Prince.

Prince should only benefit from Mat Rogers' return from suspension in the No.6 jumper, Sheens admitting his side had struggled to deal with the unpredictable Titans since their entry into the competition.

"We haven't beaten them, they beat us both times last year and they beat us in a trial fairly comfortably this year with Rogers playing five-eighth who will be back this week," he said.

Elsewhere Manly coach Des Hasler has named Steve Menzies in the No.6 jumper for the first time this season, though the veteran backrower has spent most of the season playing five-eighth with a different number on his back.

They go up against a St George Illawarra side boosted by last week's win over a depleted Melbourne and the likely return of NSW stars Mark Gasnier, Matt Cooper and Ben Hornby.

South Sydney coach Jason Taylor has stuck with the same side which went down to Canberra on Monday night, though that may change as the week progresses ahead of Saturday's clash with a full-strength Melbourne.

"It's certainly a tough time and there's a lot of disappointment around the place after Monday night's performance in Canberra," Taylor said.

"It's certainly not good enough, it's going to be a tough game and one we really need to step it up."

Sydney Roosters' NSW and Test backrower Anthony Tupou has been named on the bench for Sunday's trip to New Zealand to face the Warriors, the home side welcoming back centre Brent Tate, five-eighth Michael Witt and Aidan Kirk while Nathan Fien has been named as starting hooker.

Bulldogs fullback Luke Patten (back) will miss Monday night's match against Cronulla but they do get back winger Hazem El Masri and centre Daryl Millard for his first game this season.

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