Gold Coast Titans great Preston Campbell says he’s happy to help out RLGC club in 2021

The Gold Coast Titans great says he wants to help, develop and be part of the Helensvale Hornets in 2021.

• Helensvale Hornets appoint former Titan as inaugural head coach
• Preston Campbell crowns AJ Brimson greatest Titans fullback of all time

WHEN his mates ask for help, Preston Campbell has a hard time saying no.

So when Clinton Toopi, the new Helensvale Hornets A-Grade coach, asked his former teammate and Gold Coast Titans legend Campbell to join the club at training his answer was, “I’ll definitely be there to help them out”.

Toopi told the Gold Coast Bulletin earlier this month his pursuit of Campbell was “no secret” but, with a smile, Campbell said his answer “got lost in communication”.

“I said, ‘I’ll come up and do some work with the boys, do some specialty stuff if you want, do some kicking with them and be part of drills’,” Campbell recalled.

“I think to Clinton and some people at the club, that was me saying I would come and play football.”

Preston Campbell played a handful of games for the Helensvale Hornets in 2018. Picture: Supplied

As Helensvale prepares for a long-awaited foray into the Rugby League Gold Coast A-Grade competition, Toopi said having someone of Campbell’s calibre would do wonders for the players, both young and old, on the Hornets’ list.

Campbell said he would be happy to help out, just not on the field.

“Rugby league is a young man’s game. If I’m there playing football at 43 years old, I’m taking an opportunity from a young person,” he said.

“If I can help and develop and be part of that club, I’d like to be there, but there has to be a time when you pull up (from playing).”

As for the man leading the way for Helensvale, Campbell gave his former teammate his full support.

“Toops has aspirations of being a coach and he is a coach. What he brings to any footy club is he works with passion,” Campbell said.

“If you go to training you’ll notice Clinton is always talking, always yelling, because he wants the club to be successful.

“The thing with Toops is … it’s not just about the football. He really cares about people. He encourages and instils confidence.

“Being Helensvale’s first year in A-Grade I’m quite confident they’ll do all right – and they’ll do well this year having Toops at the helm.”

‘No secret’: Helensvale’s push for former Titans great

February 6, 2021

GOLD Coast Titans legend Preston Campbell set a cat among the pigeons this week when a throwaway line referencing a potential rugby league return caught curious ears.

His quip was that good friend and former Titans teammate Clinton Toopi had sounded him out for a Gold Coast Rugby League reprisal with incoming A-Grade outfit Helensvale Hornets, headed by Toopi and ready to make waves.

Trotting out a 43-year-old Campbell in a Hornets jersey would likely do exactly that – and Toopi was unabashed in his desire to bring the 2001 Dally M Player of the Year winner to the club.

Helensvale Hornets new A-Grade coach Clinton Toopi at Robert Dalley Park Helensvale. Photograph : Jason O'Brien

“There’s no secret in that; no hiding or denying it,” Toopi said.

“If he’s feeling up to it as a 43-year-old playing in the local comp, a lot of players would just love that opportunity to not only learn from him but run out alongside him.”

Now a decade removed from his final season in the NRL, Campbell remains arguably the Titans’ most loved player past or present and would serve as a great mentor for Toopi’s young Helensvale outfit.

Campbell played a handful of games for Helensvale in Reserve Grade in 2018, when the club began its initial push to return to A-Grade.

“His son Jayden, who is currently at the Titans, was a Hornets junior, so it’s only fitting that we get somebody of that calibre to help with our outside backs,” Toopi said.

Preston Campbell played a handful of games for the Helensvale Hornets in 2018. Picture: Supplied

“For us it’s also about getting him involved and helping nurture some of these young guys.

“He was a Dally M Player of the Year, he’s won a grand final; he’s a superhero in our community not just on the field but off it as well.

“I see him as my mentor as well – he’s been my mentor since I finished footy. I’d love the opportunity to have him at the Hornets.”

The Hornets are midway through their second six-week pre-season training block and Toopi is still holding out hope that Campbell will make his way to Robert Dalley Park for a run in coming weeks.

“I said to him, ‘hey bro, we have training Tuesday and Thursday, it would be good for you to come down’. He says, ‘OK yep, I’ll come down – I have a bit to work on’,” Toopi recounted.

“So I said, ‘oh, so you’re going to play?’ He says, ‘I’ll come down for a run’.

“How I interpret that is, there’s hope.”