League: Fortnite, Netflix key to settling NRL nerves, Warriors rookie Chanel Harris-Tavita says

The trick to settling the nerves before your NRL debut is a simple mix of video games and television.

At least, it appeared to do the job for 20-year-old Warriors five-eighth Chanel Harris-Tavita who impressed on debut in the side's 26-10 win over the Gold Coast Titans last night.

Harris-Tavita had prepared for the majority of the week to make his first NRL start. Fellow Warriors rookie half Adam Keighran was told he would be dropped for the game and let Harris-Tavita know the situation before the team was announced on Tuesday.

He said he didn't feel too nervous heading into the game, with a healthy dose of Fortnite and Kevin Hart's Netflix special Irresponsible keeping his mind occupied.

It wasn't until Roger Tuivasa-Sheck's game starting kick off went out on the full that reality set in.

"Straight on defence – welcome to the NRL," he said.

The Titans were expected to run the ball at Harris-Tavita at every opportunity, with their strong forward pack posing a big test to the young half. But Harris-Tavita was up to the challenge, making 24 of his 28 attempted tackles.

"(Tohu Harris) made a lot of tackles for me and I'm very grateful," he said, laughing.

As well as impressing defensively, Harris-Tavita showed a willingness to take on the line with ball in hand as the opportunity presented itself and kicked all but one of his attempts at goal. While he settled into first grade nicely, there was one aspect of the game he wasn't quite prepared for.

"I can't believe how long that was," he said with a grin in the sheds afterwards. "That was the longest 80 minutes of my life."

Second rower Tohu Harris, who scored the game sealing try late in the piece, was full of praise for the young five-eighth, but said it was important Harris-Tavita didn't revel in his winning debut too long.

"I certainly didn't make tackles for him; he went out and made his own tackles and that's the most pleasing thing – he went out and did his job," Harris said.

"That's what the good players in this competition do, but they also do it each and every week.

"That's the challenge for him going forward – he can't just be happy with the one performance, he's got to go out and play back to back good performances and that's something, as players playing next to him, we're certainly going to challenge – how can he get better? How can he back it up?"