Titans coach John Cartwright liked enough of what he saw of Luke Capewell to persevere with him in the No.6 jumper despite his losing debut against St George Illawarra on Saturday night.

Cartwright also declared the Preston Campbell experiment off the bench as a back-up hooker a big success although cautioning how much punishment he could subject his new lightweight super-sub to in the role.

Capewell showed enough to give Cartwright hope he will fill the key role left vacant by the retirement of dual international, Mat Rogers, although he has a bit of work to do on his kicking game to take help some pressure of Scott Prince.

"I was really happy with Luke. I thought he showed in the second half especially some broken field stuff to suggest he's going to be a good player," said Cartwright.

"He's finding his way.

"He's a real quiet kid, a country boy but the quicker he gets comfortable within the side, he is going to offer us a lot."

Capewell roamed around hanging off players in the ruck looking for an opportunity to use his speed and clever footwork.

"He hangs around the ruck for a reason," said Cartwright, prepared to give him time to find his feet.

"If there's something on, he'll have a go.

"I thought in the second half he went through the middle a few times.

The Titans other new recruit Riley Brown started at hooker for the injured Nathan Friend with 33 year-old Campbell assigned the back-up role off the bench against the Dragons.

When Campbell entered the game in the first half the Titans looked a lot more dangerous with the ball in hand.

"I was really happy with that experiment," said Cartwright.

"I thought when he can on we looked really dangerous around the middle of the field.

"Defensively we've got to be careful we don't over-use him, he's not the biggest fella in the world and he puts his body on the line.

"But I thought the time he was out there he was very sharp.

Campbell loved mixing it with the big men and using his nimbleness to make darting runs and valuable metres.

"I really enjoyed it," said Campbell who excites fans by putting his 76kg frame on the line.

Cartwright was satisfied with the effort given the Dragons had benefited from two tough games in the Charity Shield and world club final against Wigan.

"They entered the game pretty hardened," he said.

"Physically I didn't see anything to make me not feel confident that we're going to be up there with the best," he said.

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