Gold Coast Titans eyeing Melbourne Storm hooker Brandon Smith
Melbourne Storm are in danger of losing star Brandon Smith to a Queensland raid, with one club leading race to poach the New Zealander from Victoria.
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The Gold Coast Titans will use salary cap space freed up by the departure of Bryce Cartwright to jump on Melbourne Storm star Brandon Smith if he hits the open market.
The Courier-Mail can reveal the Titans are intent on securing a high-quality hooker for next season and have New Zealand Test gun Smith in their sights.
The Titans freed up another $450,000 of salary cap space for 2021 on Thursday when they released Cartwright from the final year of his contract to return to Sydney.
The club will farewell $4 million of their salary cap after next Friday’s final game of the season against Newcastle at Cbus Super Stadium.
The Titans have already parted ways with Leilani Latu (Warrington), Kallum Watkins (Toronto), Shannon Boyd (retired) and Cartwright (released).
Captain Ryan James will join Canberra next year while Queensland Origin forward Jai Arrow is headed for South Sydney.
Former NSW Origin hooker Nathan Peats will not be re-signed along with Dale Copley and Tyrone Roberts.
The Titans are now monitoring the Melbourne Storm’s intriguing situation around club legend Cameron Smith.
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Cameron Smith is yet to announce his plans for 2021 and if he opts to play on, that could force Brandon Smith or Harry Grant to look elsewhere to continue their careers.
The Titans would be happy to secure any of those three hookers, however Brandon Smith appears the most likely to leave the club.
News Corp revealed the Gold Coast’s interest in Brandon Smith on August 20.
The Titans’ recruitment manager Ezra Howe is heavily involved in the New Zealand Test set-up as Junior Kiwis coach and an assistant to Kiwis head coach Michael Maguire.
Holbrook has already secured three key signings in David Fifita (Broncos), Tino Fa’asuamaleaui (Storm) and Herman Ese’ese (Knights) for 2021 and the acquisition of Smith would give the Titans a finals-quality spine.
Holbrook is comfortable with the improving halves combination of Ash Taylor and late-bloomer Jamal Fogarty while AJ Brimson has been a sensation at fullback since returning from a fractured spine.
Ahead of Saturday’s game against Manly at Lottoland, Holbrook said the Titans would look to beef-up their squad following Cartwright’s departure.
“Now the Carty situation has been resolved it’s great for us and Bryce,” he said.
“He is a really good person so I hope everything works out for him.
“Our situation in terms of getting an extra spot to fill, the recruitment team will look into that over the next couple of weeks. It only got finalised the other day so we’ll look into it now.
“I’m really happy with all the positions we’ve got covered for now and next year.
“We’ll see where we need to add more depth over the next couple of weeks.
“Off the top of my head I’m happy with where we’re at with the playing roster.”
The Titans will be gunning for four straight wins against the Sea Eagles, who have been on a slide since a hot start to the season.
Holbrook said confidence was high on the Gold Coast and the Titans wanted to finish 2020 in good fashion.
“I’ve noticed the players are getting on great and enjoying each other’s company which helps,” he said.
“You hear that said a lot but it’s such an important part. You’ve got to enjoy who you’re playing with.
“As coaches, I’ve noticed we’re not having to intervene as much during training on any part, whether it’s technical, tactical or an attitude point of view.
“The players have been fantastic for a number of weeks now which makes our job easier.
“We’re also wary that we don’t want to fall in love with ourselves. We’re playing really good but we’ve got to maintain that.”
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