Revealed: new high performance sports centre in Gold Coast hinterland kicks goal for Titans

A super sports precinct with a high performance centre will be built in the Gold Coast hinterland as part of a $20 million planned park upgrade next to the Pacific Motorway.

A super sports precinct with a high performance centre will be built in the Gold Coast hinterland as part of a $20 million planned park upgrade next to the Pacific Motorway.

The Bulletin can reveal preliminary plans for Firth Park at Mudgeeraba include two new AFL fields along with a rectangular oval for rugby league.

Aerial footage of Firth Park at Mudgeeraba on the Gold Coast.

Council has ticked off on $5 million for 24 netball courts which has sparked the interest of the Titans, given the NRL club has added the game to its growing sporting portfolio which includes an NRLW squad.

Councillor Glenn Tozer told the Bulletin: “Overall, this is probably the most exciting project for Division 9 since my election in 2012, and I hope to see it through.”

Sporting club officals are backing the plans about to be released for community consultation.

Mayor Tom Tate in February last year was supported by councillors when he asked that plans included a high performance training centre and “at least one high performance playing field”.

New early designs for a major sporting precinct at Firth Park, at Mudgeeraba in the Gold Coast hinterland.

Cr Tozer said he was hopeful the City would “attract the interest of a suitably qualified partner to work with us on delivering the project”.

“The High Performance Training Centre could be sports ambivalent, based on the operator’s interests and broad community support, and might include activities such as a gym, physio, therapeutic services, sports psychology and other needs of elite athletes,” he said.

At least $5 million has been allocated over the next two years to transform 17 netball courts into 24 fully-lit competition courts for recreational netball.

Another four stages are planned on the 54ha site to cover baseball, grassed fields for cricket and AFL along with open space for flood management and mitigation.

“I think it’s realistic that each stage might total $2 to $5 million and be delivered over the coming two to ten years, depending on our partners and peak sports bodies,” Cr Tozer said.

Firth Park has rugby league and netball juniors playing every weekend in season, providing opportunities to link up with the Titans, he said.

Firth Park and the massive green space just west of the Pacific Motorway at Mudgeeraba on the Gold Coast.

“While it’s premature to lock anything in, I’d welcome interest from groups like the Titans to assist with our Firth Park Sports Precinct project,” Cr Tozer said.

Titans CEO Steve Mitchell said the Firth Park redevelopment was an exciting project which the club believed would be a great addition to the Coast.

“The inclusion of high performance centre at the location is significant and something that is definitely on our radar. We are very active in the netball community through our Titans Netball program with the club competing in the Queensland Netball Sapphire Series,” he said.

“Having the opportunity to activate in that precinct is of real interest to the club moving forward.

Councillor Glenn Tozer — about to start community consultation. Picture: Keith Woods.

“Our current location, The Club at Parkwood, also has a big future as it looks to expand to include a surf wave park amongst a range of other additions that will make the facility a lifestyle destination.

“It is been a great training base and head office for our club. The expansion of the business from our core NRL program with the addition of our NRLW and Netball programs now means we have significant increases in facility needs.

“We’re looking closely at our options moving forward so we make the best long term decision for the club to ensure we can set our athletes up for success and both our current facility at Parkwood and the proposed facility at Firth Park have the potential to do that.”

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