NRL 2020: Gold Coast Titans will farewell $4 million of playing talent as part of huge roster overhaul
When Justin Holbrook promised change, he wasn’t kidding. The Titans will farewell $4 million worth of playing talent this year in a bold bid to fast-track their competitive window. SEE WHICH PLAYERS ARE LEAVING HERE.
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Justin Holbrook’s Titanic overhaul has taken shape with the Gold Coast to farewell $4 million of talent in the biggest roster shake-up in club history.
News Corp can reveal the Titans have completed a significant salary cap remodel which will see Holbrook launch a 2021 NRL premiership assault with a vastly different looking squad to the team he inherited from sacked coach Garth Brennan.
The Titans will farewell a third of their top squad in 2020 and welcome key forward signings David Fifita (Broncos), Tino Fa’asuamaleaui (Storm) and Herman Ese’ese (Knights) to launch a new era.
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Gold Coast products Ryan James (Raiders) and Jai Arrow (Rabbitohs) will depart the club while ex-Origin hooker Nathan Peats, Tyrone Roberts and Dale Copley are unlikely to be offered new deals.
The Titans are looking to retain team captain Kevin Proctor, Keegan Hipgrave and Sam Stone, but are yet to strike new deals with the off-contract trio.
The Titans managed to offload ex-Kangaroos prop Shannon Boyd (retired), Leilani Latu (Warrington) and Kallum Watkins (Toronto) throughout the year and will soon release Bryce Cartwright, who has returned to Sydney for family reasons.
Holbrook said farewelling players was not an enjoyable part of his job, but the Titans were determined to build a winning culture following years of poor results.
“As a coach that’s not the best part of the job,” he said.
“It’s a high performing environment. We’ve got to be winning games. We’ve got to have that rugby league focus at our club.
“We want to keep playing well and whatever changes we have to make we’ll make.
“I think it is (taking shape) which is obvious with the three players we’ve signed. That’s a good indication of where we’re heading.
“It’s due to a lot of people at the club. We’ve made the right decisions there.
“I’m really happy with how we’re going this year as a group. We’ve got a lot of good young guys heading into the future.”
The Titans’ recruitment committee, which includes Immortal Mal Meninga, recruiter Ezra Howe, co-owner Darryl Kelly, chairman Dennis Watt and Holbrook, are still on the hunt for a quality No. 9 and are holding out hope that Melbourne Test star Brandon Smith will become available.
The team could also do with some experienced hard heads following the loss of James, Arrow and Peats, but Holbrook said no further signings were imminent, particularly with uncertainty around squad sizes for 2021.
“I’m not sure, that’s my honest answer, there’s not anyone close to joining us,” he said.
“It’s about us as a recruitment team now weighing up things. There is nothing close to being locked in.”
The Titans’ last NRL finals appearance was in 2016 under Neil Henry and the club has endured some dark days since, including collecting last year’s wooden spoon.
But optimism is high on the Gold Coast following the arrival of Holbrook, who has been warmly embraced by the players, and improved performances in the second half of this season.
The Titans are out of finals contention and with three rounds left this year Holbrook wants to see his team head into the 2021 pre-season with momentum.
“I want to keep playing well and winning games,” he said.
“We can talk about next year next year. I want to finish this year strong, the guys train hard every week for a reason. We want to go out and do our best and keep winning games.
“Since the Penrith game (Round 11) we’ve shown we can compete hard every week and give ourselves a chance of winning. That’s what I want from our side.
“We’re definitely improving. I’m really happy with it.”