You get the feeling recalled Titan Jordan Atkins will be happy with one or two tries against the Warriors following a stunning NRL debut that proved virtually impossible to replicate.

Coach John Cartwright has plucked Atkins from the Queensland Cup to play in the centres alongside returning veteran utility Mat Rogers for Sunday's game in Auckland.

With Esi Tonga serving a club-imposed one match ban for missing a recovery session and fellow centre Brett Delaney facing an extended time on the sidelines injured, Atkins gets another crack at resurrecting his NRL career.

He'd had a dream debut, scoring four tries on the wing for the Titans against the Cowboys at Skilled Park in round one last year.

But it turned into a nightmare with instant expectations as he was dubbed "Air Jordan".

He managed to play 14 games last season adding only three more tries after suffering a number of injuries.

"I thought it (media) would have been over and done within a week or two but it kept going on and on," bemoaned the 26 year-old, not in the club's 25 man roster at the start of the season.

"I would always have people from the papers ringing me up and it all got to me after a while.

"I became a bit of a recluse. I didn't like talking about footy and I just sort of stayed at home."

Cartwright said Atkins had earned his latest shot.

"Hopefully he can repeat his debut for us," he said.

"He's always been a centre, he was a centre when he first came to us.

"He's worked hard to overcome a lot of injuries. He's being playing well in the Queensland Cup and there's an opportunity for him."

Cartwright played down an early departure from training on Thursday of co-captain Luke Bailey.

"Bull (Bailey) runs his own race," said Cartwright.

"He does that in a game sometimes, he just wanders off," he added.

The Titans are keen to improve on their average away record after losing their first home game of the season to the Cowboys at Skilled Park last weekend.

"We we pretty poor against the Cowboys, we realise that," said Cartwright.

"Not many sides can defend against (Johnathan) Thurston and (Matt) Bowen when they're on song and we probably made it too easy for them."

Halfback Scott Prince said it was important for the Titans to start building some momentum towards the finals which started with improving their defence which was disappointing against the Cowboys.

"I think our attack will always be there, it's our defence that seems to be the issue of late," he said.

"We've worked with Gilly (Trevor Gillmeister) on our defensive pattern in the sand pit all week and hopefully we'll be ready to show a lot more desperation in defence."

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