Matty Johns gets hands on repairing Titans junior pathways
Incoming Titans co-owner Matty Johns has started immediately on repairing the misfiring area of the game holding back Gold Coast from a rugby league dynasty.
Incoming Titans co-owner Matty Johns has started immediately on repairing the misfiring Gold Coast pathways that have failed to capitalise on the treasure trove of elite talent in the club’s backyard.
Johns was this week announced alongside Gorden Tallis as part of a five family consortium joining majority shareholder Rebecca Frizelle in the Titans ownership group.
The Matty Johns Show host and former premiership-winning Knights five-eighth flew to the Gold Coast on Wednesday to present his vision to players in the club’s Future Titans program and their parents.
It was the start of what Johns said he viewed as his core area of contribution to the club.
“I’ve said to them (the Titans), anything I can help with at all just let me know … but the main area I’m going to get involved with is in and around the juniors,” Johns told SEN’s The Run Home with Joel and Fletch.
“They have up there some of the most powerhouse rugby league schools but for whatever reason the kids get out of Year 12 and they bypass the Titans and they go elsewhere. That’s the area they’ve got to get right.
“If I was going to throw myself into any coaching or anything, that’s what it’s going to be: in and around the juniors.
“(Wednesday’s parents and players night was) having a talk to them and getting into those schools, and not so much selling the club, but trying to strike a bit of a connection between the big schools and their players and the club.”
Gold Coast’s Keebra Park State High School and Palm Beach Currumbin State High School have appeared in 10 of the past 17 national schoolboy finals, winning seven, but that junior dominance has not translated to the Titans.
Reigning national champions Keebra Park are based just 6km south of the Titans’ Parkwood headquarters but signed a three-year exclusive affiliation agreement with the Rabbitohs from 2024.
Keebra fielded 16 NRL contracted players in September’s national final victory but just
five of that number are under contract with their hometown club.
The Rabbitohs, Broncos, Bulldogs, Storm, Dolphins, and Tigers signed the other 11.
Further south, 2024 national champion Palm Beach Currumbin had 11 NRL-contracted players this season but the Titans account for five, with the Dragons, Broncos, Cowboys, Dolphins, Bulldogs and Storm snapping up the remainder.
Johns is determined to correct that record and inspire Gold Coast youth to dream of donning the blue and gold.
“If you look at clubs that have had great periods or dynasties … and the best example is the Penrith Panthers right now - the magic formula is 75 per cent of your squad need to come through your juniors, who are taught your system as they come through,” Johns said.
“The 25 per cent are the blokes you buy to complement the 75 per cent. That’s the big thing the Titans have to get right.
“Everyone looks at the top end and thinks we’ve got to buy this bloke, buy that bloke, but the most important thing … is they’ve got to get that base right and that junior structure right.
“They need the best kids in the area coming out of those powerhouse schools wanting to play for the Titans.”
The Titans fielded 15 local juniors in its 2025 squad with 16 imported from outside the region.
Originally published as Matty Johns gets hands on repairing Titans junior pathways
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