THE Gold Coast Titans won't be tying a yellow ribbon around the old oak tree at Skilled Park on Saturday night but they will be tying yellow bootlaces in support of the Cancer Council's Call to Arms NRL round.

The idea of the Call to Arms round is to raise both funds and awareness for men's cancers by each club displaying yellow in their game gear.

Some clubs are donning yellow jerseys, others yellow shorts and in the case of the Titans, bright yellow bootlaces.

Sit in a coffee shop, pub, on a bus or stand in a queue at the bank – there's almost a 100 per cent chance that someone in your near vicinity has been touched in some way by cancer.

The Titans are no exception.

Two of the players who will do battle with Penrith Panthers on Saturday night have had their lives touched by cancer; Luke O'Dwyer, who will come off the bench, and starting prop Michael Henderson.

O'Dwyer lost his brother, Ryan, to leukaemia in 1998 and Henderson has his wife to thank for discovering on his back a melanoma in its early stages.

The resulting successful operation to remove the melanoma may well have saved his life.

“Naturally I was over the moon when I heard about the Call to Arms round, especially in the fact that it was targeting not only something as terrible as leukaemia but other cancers which particularly target men,” O'Dwyer said.

“The yellow shoelaces are a great idea and I'll be wearing them with pride against the Eels.”

Everyone who attends Saturday's game at Skilled Park is urged to purchase a pair or three of yellow laces.

Dig deep to support the Titans and a very worthy cause.

Might we suggest that you wear the laces with green shoes and take patriotism to the nth degree.