NRL 2022: Six reasons why Gold Coast Titans are sinking
The Gold Coast Titans may be fun to watch but they cannot win an NRL premiership until they rectify this one glaring ommission.
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The Gold Coast Titans have made their worst start to a season since the wooden spoon horror of 2019, prompting coach Justin Holbrook to recall fullback Jayden Campbell for Saturday’s Magic Round clash with the Dragons.
If the Titans lose to St George Illawarra at Suncorp Stadium they will equal the 2-8 start to the disastrous 2019 season under ex-coach Garth Brennan which saw the club go on to collect its second NRL wooden spoon.
The 2019 campaign was the worst in the Titans’ 15-year history and the class of 2022 are on track to match it unless they can snap a five-game losing streak, against the Dragons.
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Brennan was sacked during his second season in charge of the Titans as the club went on to win only four games before Holbrook took over the reins in 2020.
Now Holbrook is facing the biggest test of his career, with the Titans anchored in the bottom four and equal last with the battling Tigers, Bulldogs and Knights.
“It’s not good, I don’t like the sound of that and nobody does,” Holbrook said.
“We’ve got to do something about it. Where we sit has got to get them up. We’ve got a big six-week block now going into a bye. We’ve got to start to win games.
“That is easy to get up for, knowing the position we’re in. I don’t need to drill it in, we know where we are. We are accountable for where we sit. We don’t like where we sit so we’ve got to do something about that.”
Holbrook has recalled Campbell for his first game in six weeks and has shuffled the deck chairs with Kevin Proctor (shoulder) and Patrick Herbert (calf) to sit out the game, allowing Phil Sami and Jarrod Wallace to return.
But a couple of team changes aren’t going to be enough to spark a serious form reversal for the Titans after News Corp delved deep into the fall of the Gold Coast.
Here are six reasons why the Titans have gone backwards in 2022 after a drought-breaking finals appearance last year.
SPINAL TRAP
The Titans took a huge gamble on their key playmakers this season and it has backfired spectacularly.
It was easy to see the Titans didn’t have the experience or proven first grade quality in their spine to challenge the NRL’s top teams this year.
Fullback Jayden Campbell (seven games) and halfback Toby Sexton (four games) went into the season with only a handful of NRL appearances between them.
AJ Brimson was shifted from fullback to five-eighth, but wasn’t the type of experienced No.6 that Sexton needed beside him.
Hooker Erin Clark simply isn’t anywhere near being one of the game’s top No.9s and offers poor service from dummy-half. The Titans had a crack at signing Storm star Brandon Smith but missed out to the Roosters.
Holbrook released co-captain Jamal Fogarty to Canberra because he put all his eggs in the Sexton basket. It was a recipe for disaster and that is the way it has panned out.
Holbrook was asked numerous times during the pre-season about the risk he was taking with his spine but repeatedly declared he had confidence they could get the job done.
He has now signed veteran Manly playmaker Kieran Foran from next year to try and fix the mess.
SALARY CAP SHAMBLES
The Titans’ salary cap is poorly balanced with their big money invested in the wrong areas.
The recruitment department has splashed way too much cash on their forwards instead of keeping top dollar for the players that influence games.
Injured backrower David Fifita is their highest-paid player on more than $1 million-a-season and plays a position that doesn’t demand that type of money. His salary has also heaped too much pressure and expectation on him.
Lock Tino Fa’asuamaleaui is worth $650,000 but when you combine the big money paid to fellow middle forwards Moeaki Fotuaika ($500,000), Isaac Liu ($550,000), Jarrod Wallace ($600,000) and Herman Ese’ese ($450,000), it is too much in the engine room.
In contrast, the Titans aren’t spending enough on their key position players.
Playmakers Campbell, Brimson, Sexton and Clark would be paid roughly a combined $1.3 million. Compare that to top teams like the Melbourne Storm and Penrith Panthers, who make sure their highest-paid players are in the spine.
Ryan Papenhuyzen, Cameron Munster, Jahrome Hughes and Harry Grant will be paid a combined $4 million next season at the Storm. Panthers premiership winners Dylan Edwards, Jarome Luai, Nathan Cleary and Api Koroisau command about $3.5 million.
The Rabbitohs stacked their spine with Latrell Mitchell, Cody Walker, Adam Reynolds and Damien Cook last year on the way to making the grand final.
That is where you spend your cash if you want to be successful.
DEFENCE? WHAT’S THAT?
If you take their recent struggles out of it, the Titans have morphed into a potent attacking team under Holbrook that is exciting to watch. They aren’t afraid to throw the ball around and have some strike players in the likes of Brimson, Fifita and Campbell.
But it is the other side of the game – defence – which the club has struggled with and it continues to be a problem. The Titans simply don’t have a defensive mindset as their priority. Or if they do, it’s not showing.
The Panthers have been the best defensive team over the past two seasons and reaped the rewards. Storm coach Craig Bellamy makes defence his priority every year.
“They have never recruited someone that is the hard-edged, hard-nosed leadership bloke that values defence and the grind. They have never gone down that line,” league legend Phil “Gus” Gould told Channel 9.
“They have only bought players that can come in and enhance their attacking game. They are lacking a hard-nosed forward to lead the way and value winning close games in a grinding situation. The team doesn’t have a defensive resolve.
“They are a very dangerous attacking team, they make you nervous, they can put 30-40 on you on their day. There is little emphasis placed on defence. You’re not going to win football games in the NRL doing that. You need defensive-minded people.”
That is a damning assessment of the Titans.
LEADERSHIP VOID
The Titans are suffering a serious leadership void that is a huge problem for the dressing room.
Tino Fa’asuamaleaui is a fantastic person and player who has leadership qualities, but he simply should not be captain of an NRL club yet. At only 22, and with 58 NRL games under his belt, Fa’asuamaleaui is still in the infancy of his first grade career.
He is on the path to burnout, especially with State of Origin to sap even more energy from him. It will be a long and taxing year for him.
The problem is he was the only captaincy contender going into this season.
The Titans attempted to plug their leadership issues by signing Dale Finucane from Melbourne but lost out to Cronulla.
They secured seasoned prop Isaac Liu from the Roosters, but he is a shy character with no public profile.
The Titans’ experienced players like Kevin Proctor and Jarrod Wallace have been among their worst on the field this year.
Foran will bring experience and leadership but they need more respected voices leading the way.
LOSING CULTURE
A battle for the Titans to overcome is a long-term losing culture on the Gold Coast.
The region’s struggles with sustaining a professional rugby league team are deep-seeded, dating back to the failed ventures of the Seagulls, Giants, Chargers and Gladiators.
The Titans have been around for 15 years and only won one finals match in that time (2010 qualifying final).
They have collected two wooden spoons (2011 and 2019) and have a winning percentage of less than 40.
Holbrook has won 21 out of 54 games (39 per cent) since taking over in 2020, which is not a terrible record but not the best.
Too many players have been guilty of coming to the Gold Coast for an early retirement and that is something the club needs to change.
Immortal Mal Meninga was signed as the club’s head of performance and culture in 2018, but has since returned to live in Canberra and scaled down his involvement.
DRANK THE KOOL-AID
The Titans made a drought-breaking finals appearance last year, making the play-offs for the first time since 2016.
You can’t take that away from them, but the reality is they finished eighth with a 10-14 record, losing 40 per cent more games than they won.
The 2021 NRL competition was incredibly poor, with only three teams – the Panthers, Rabbitohs and Storm – a genuine chance of winning the premiership. Below them were a few teams making up the numbers in the finals and then there was the rest.
While the club was happy to make the finals, and they could have beaten the Roosters, they may have got a bit ahead of themselves.
Publicly declaring they wanted to win two premierships by 2030 after the finals loss seemed premature and the Titans have gone backwards this year.
The Titans have copped a reality check this season, and it’s time they reviewed their plans and stopped being in denial about where they currently sit as a club.
Titan opens up on attack that split open his skull
-Peter Badel
Treymain Spry has revealed he is lucky to be alive following a sickening assault that left the Titans rookie with serious brain and facial injuries and fighting for his NRL career.
Speaking for the first time about his ill-fated night out in Fortitude Valley, Spry says he has no recollection of the vicious coward punch that doctors believe could have killed the Gold Coast Titans young gun.
The 22-year-old will have a final brain scan on Monday to determine if he can resume his NRL career – six weeks after a night out with his girlfriend and friends ended in an unprovoked attack that left him fighting for his life.
Spry suffered a fractured skull, broken cheekbone and bleeding on the brain.
“The doctors told me I am very lucky to still be here,” Spry told The Sunday Mail.
“I have gone for a few tests on my brain and they have been positive so far, but I have to have another test on my head to see how it’s going.
“At the time I was pretty shocked by it all, you don’t go out expecting something like that to happen. The doctors said the split in my skull was pretty bad.
“It could have easily been a much worse outcome for me.”
The 2022 season had started promisingly for Spry. The Queensland under-20s rookie, who has played five NRL games, scored two tries for the Titans in their 26-all trial draw with the Broncos in February.
For one of his tries, Spry sprinted away from Selwyn Cobbo. The Broncos sensation didn’t make a yard on a flying Spry.
But two weeks after his impressive bid for a Titans premiership berth, Spry’s season was in disarray, the youngster rushed to hospital after being the victim of a cowardly and brutal assault.
Spry was walking through the Valley nightclub precinct with his partner when he crossed paths with his ex-girlfriend and her new boyfriend, who allegedly ran across the street and king-hit the Titans rookie from behind.
The coward punch knocked out Spry instantly. Queensland police have cleared Spry of any wrongdoing.
“They need to stop these sorts of (coward punch) attacks,” he said.
“I don’t remember the incident at all, but from what I have been told by people who were there, it was one punch which fractured my eye socket.
“Then as I fell, my head hit the ground and that’s what fractured my skull.
“I was just lucky that one of my mates was there. As I was falling, he broke my fall and caught me. My head still hit the ground but not with as much force if he wasn’t there to catch me.
“I knew the identity of the person who hit me. I have never met him but he is the new boyfriend of my ex-girlfriend, so he must have some sort of grudge against me for whatever reason.
“I’ve never done anything to him or them as a couple, so it’s pretty disappointing.”
In the wake of the attack, The Sunday Mail obtained an image of Spry recovering in his hospital bed, giving the thumbs-up to his Gold Coast teammates while holding a personally-crafted message saying: “Go Titans!!!!”.
The Titans flyer admits he has wondered if he will be able to play NRL again, or even reach his full potential in rugby league.
“My first memory was just waking up in hospital feeling sore and I had to be told what happened,” he said.
“I wouldn’t say I was scared. I was more just confused by what had happened. For the first two or three days, I was just out of it and sleeping on and off. I was really groggy for a few days after.
“I was having bad headaches every day for two or three weeks. I had to keep taking painkillers. I still get headaches every now and then, so I’m not sure how long it will go on.
“At first, I was worried about whether I would play again. I was trying to take it all in and I was just pretty hopeful I would be able to play the game again.
“I have to wait and see. I was happy with my trial against the Broncos. That made me really keen to have a good season and potentially play NRL sometime this year, but I don’t know how long it could be before I get to do that again.
“I am starting to feel better now. My scan is on Monday and hopefully I get the green light to play again.”
Spry praised the support of the Titans. To rub salt into his wounds, the Indigenous product from Ipswich was on the verge of signing an upgraded deal, but the attack has delayed negotiations, leaving Spry in limbo for next season.
“The Titans have been great. They have been in contact with me and making sure I’m OK, so I’ve appreciated their support,” he said.
“The frustrating thing is I was about to sign a new deal with the Titans. I was only on a train-and-trial deal and I was going to sign a full-time deal, but I’m not sure what’s going on now.
“Hopefully I can stay at the Titans next year, hopefully they stick by me.”
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