Mead retained as Titans fullback

Lingering doubts over William Zillman's calf injury and David Mead's strong display in Round 1 has seen Titans coach Neil Henry stick with a winning formula for Sunday's clash with the Storm in Melbourne.

On the back of their 30-12 win over Newcastle last Sunday Henry has taken the luxury of naming both Zillman and Luke Douglas (suspension) on an extended bench while retaining the same 13 that took the field against the Knights.

Interchange forward Eddy Pettybourne is in doubt with a severe cork to his thigh which would open the door for Douglas, the club's reigning player of the year, to come straight back into the 17.

While Titans medical staff believe Zillman is close to 100 per cent fitness, Henry said that the strong win in Round 1 may afford him the luxury to rest the co-captain for a further week.

"It's just a slight calf strain but he still hasn't been able to train fully and hasn't done much contact either," Henry said.

"'Zilly' hasn't been able to string together consecutive training sessions for a while now so it might be prudent to leave him for another week.

"The problem with a calf injury is that it might be good for 60 minutes but he's going to be on the field and running for 80 minutes so it's a fatigue-based injury as well.

"Certainly if we stay healthy there's a bit of depth in our team and a bit of pressure on for positions which is a good thing."

Douglas has only started from the bench three times over the past two seasons but has been unable to push past either Agnatius Paasi or David Shillington for a starting position against the Storm.

In addition to winning the club's top playing award last year Douglas was the NRL Ken Stephen Medal winner for his work in the community but not even good guys get to walk straight back into a team that has had a win in Round 1.

"He's a victim of the side going quite well at the moment and some depth in our back row as well," Henry said.

"'Dougie' will have to force his way back in but Eddy Pettybourne will have to overcome quite a serious cork to his leg.

"Dougie works very hard and is one of the guys who does the extras and doesn't miss out in that volume of work when he's not playing.

"He's got a good motor so I'm comfortable that if he does come back in then he'll do a good job.

"There's a lot to like about how the guys are playing. It's only one game but it was a very positive performance."

Like most teams in the NRL the Titans have a poor record when visiting Melbourne but on the back of their win against the Knights and having won two of their past five games against Melbourne Henry said they are entitled to head south with confidence.

"You need to believe you can compete down there and we have had a win down there when 'Birdy' kicked a penalty goal [in 2014] so we have competed there," said Henry.

"They've got a proud home record and it's built up over a long time but it's early in the season, we're healthy at the moment and we're buoyed by the fact that we've had a pretty good win first up so we go down there with a bit of confidence."