Gold Coast Titans: Boom rookie Greg Marzhew signs two-year contract extension
THE Gold Coast Titans have fought off interest from five rival clubs to re-sign the NRL's hottest emerging wing prospect on a multi-year contract extension. ALL THE DETAILS >>>
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THE Gold Coast Titans have fought off interest from five rival clubs to re-sign the NRL’s hottest emerging wing prospect on a two-year contract extension.
Flying high off the back of a 230m game against the North Queensland Cowboys, winger Greg Marzhew has put pen to paper to stick with the club through the 2023 season.
The former Titans Under-20s representative walked away from an NRL minimum wage contract with Parramatta on a longshot train-and-trial chance with Gold Coast under new coach Justin Holbrook in late 2019.
His leap of faith has resulted in the longest contract of his young NRL career.
Fellow youngster Beau Fermor, who earlier signed his own contract extension through 2024, was thrilled he would be playing alongside Marzhew and not against him.
“That’s really exciting, I’m really happy for Greg,” Fermor said.
“I can remember playing Greggy in the Under-20s when he was at Parramatta and I was playing for Melbourne.
“He was playing centre on the day and I remember he smashed me, I don’t think I’ve ever been hit that hard by anyone in my life.
“I remember when I came to the club and he was here I was happy he was on my team and I didn’t have to run into him ever again.
“To know that he’s here for two more years means I won’t have to run into him for another club so I’m stoked.
“To hear he’s re-signed for two years is a boost for our club moving forward and I’m really happy for him.
“He’s a good person and he’s been killing it.”
Marzhew has converted his Hulk-like reputation inside the Titans gym into powerful displays on the field.
His 185 run metres per game average is sixth-most in the NRL this season and third overall for non-fullbacks.
He is second across the entire league for post contact metres with 75.8mpg, trailing only New South Wales winger Brian To’o (94.7).
The signs were there for Marzhew after a pre-season hat-trick against the Burleigh Bears but an NRL debut would have to wait until a clash with the Storm in Round 13.
After starting in three straight defeats to Melbourne, Sydney and Manly Marzhew was ruled out for a month with a shoulder injury before returning with a vengeance against the Dragons in Round 19.
With Marzhew back in the team the Titans have posted the longest winning streak of an up and down season, winning three straight.
That streak will face its sternest test on Saturday at Cbus Super Stadium when former Titan Jai Arrow and the South Sydney Rabbitohs arrive in town.
TITANS FACE COMPETITION TO RE-SIGN MARZHEW
- Nic Darveniza, 31-July
POWERHOUSE Titans winger Greg Marzhew hopes to sign a two-year contract extension with Gold Coast within the next two weeks despite “significant” interest from five rival clubs.
The former Titans Under-20s and Parramatta squad member has won over the Titans’ legion of fans with his tackle-busting play on the wing since debuting in Round 13.
With his 2020 train-and-trial contract due to expire at season’s end Marzhew’s management has begun negotiating with Gold Coast to stick with the club through the 2023 season.
Marzhew’s manager Tasman Bartlett said interest in reaching a deal had been mutual.
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“Greg is keen to remain on the Gold Coast,” Bartlett revealed.
“Justin (Holbrook) has given him a go and Ezra (Howe, recruitment manager) is a big fan of his.
“We’re hoping for a two-year deal on the Gold Coast, that’s what we want and I think that’s what the club wants.
“There are five genuine clubs banging on the door to find out where he sits but Greg is happy to be there.
“We’re hoping that extension will be signed sometime in the next two weeks but for now it’s about going out this weekend and proving he belongs in first grade.”
Marzhew has offered a point of difference within the Titans outside backs group with his ability to charge back off the line to begin sets on a positive note.
With injury demons now behind him and fitness improving with each match Marzhew has set out to force his way into a first-choice back three with AJ Brimson and Corey Thompson.
After missing the bulk of last Intrust Super Cup season through the pandemic and a pre-season injury this year Marzhew has recaptured the form that catapulted him onto the Titans radar in the New South Wales Cup in 2019.
Bartlett said if not for the injury sustained last month he believed Marzhew’s development would be even further along.
“The biggest deficiency with Greg is he can find an injury,” he said.
“He just hasn’t had an extended run and like anything you need an extended run to prove your worth.
“He’s still carried fantastically but by his own admission he was gassed at certain points.
“He needs three months (on the field) and you’ll find his energy level will go to another level.
“Some blokes get better playing every week and he’s one of those.”
Marzhew’s ties to the Gold Coast run deep on and off the football field.
He began his footballing career on the Coast with the Titans Under-20s program and met his partner Cassidy, who hails from the region.
Titans centre released from contract
GOLD Coast centre/wing prospect Treymain Spry has been released from his NRL contract with the Titans as he grapples with personal issues.
Spry played five matches for the Titans in 2020, including three starts in the five-match winning streak to close out that season, scoring one try.
Despite glittering form in the NRL pre-season and with Tweed Seagulls in the Intrust Super Cup the 21-year-old approached the Titans for a release as he dealt with wellbeing concerns.
Spry declined to comment but a representative confirmed his exit from the squad had been for his own welfare, not as a result of disciplinary action.
A Titans spokesman said the team would continue to work with Spry as he plays with feeder club Tweed.
Tweed president Matt Francis said Spry had his club’s full support as he handled delicate personal matters away from the football field.
“Treymain is just happy playing football at the moment as he deals with some private issues,” Francis said.
The Titans signed Esan Masters from the Cowboys in May to fill Spry’s vacant roster position.
Spry signed with the Titans in 2019 after a stint with the Sydney Roosters in the Jersey Flegg Cup, having shown promise in the Queensland Under-18s representative team in 2017.
Tweed coach Ben Woolf said time with the team had been good for Spry.
“He’s a very shy, quiet kid so being exposed to our guys has been awesome for him,” Woolf said.
“He’s a lot more confident and comfortable in our group and we’re starting to see the effect of that on the field.”
Spry crossed for three tries in a 40-12 thrashing of Sunshine Coast on Saturday.
Spry has eight tries over eight appearances for Tweed, the best strike rate of any player to have played in seven or more games.
'KICK HIM IN THE BALLS': Coast kid's Gallen sledge
The state was in an uproar after Paul Gallen had landed two on the chin of Maroons hardman Nate Myles. The one-two brought an end to football biff, forever.
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Queenslanders were furious they could not get a chance for payback. The Bulletin visited rugby league heartland, the Southport Tigers under-9s for how they would sort out the Blues in the next game.
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One of those young boys was Blake Mozer, this year’s captain of the Keebra Park top side.
How would he have sorted out Gallen?
“Kick him in the balls,’’ the confident Blake said at the time to the giggles of his teammates.
“If I did that, my coach would pull me off straight away. He didn’t have to tell us what Gallen did was bad because we already know what’s right and wrong.’’
Holden Hunt added: “He’s mean . . . and Queensland should spear-tackle him lots.’’
Is that what you really want?
“Yes and no,’’ the nine-year-old said sheepishly. “We should get revenge but (spear-tackling him) is not very nice.’’
Little Leith Scott opted for a different form of payback.
“We should just get revenge by winning,’’ he said. “That would hurt them.
``What Gallen did was very stupid. There was no need for it. Myles wasn’t even ready to be punched. It could have hurt him.’’
Like many league fans, young Dane Lehndorf had mixed emotions watching Gallen’s unprovoked attack.
“It was a pretty good punch but it was also bad,’’ he said.
“It landed right where a punch should land but it wasn’t good for footy.
“I like watching the players push and shove and throw little punches, but not what he did. It was horrible.’’
For all their tough talk, their coach at the time, Adrian Hunt, said his young charges would never copycat such an attack on the field.
“We did speak about it but I didn’t need to elaborate too much,’’ he said. ``I just said we don’t condone stuff like that.
“It was a chance to reinforce what’s not OK.’’
How much Ash Taylor is really worth to an NRL team
Ash Taylor’s $960,000 salary is an anchor around the Gold Coast Titans neck, eating up nearly 10 per cent of the team’s salary cap, but Fox Sports Lab statistics reveal Taylor will still be a valuable asset at a lower price point.
Taylor has not lived up to his billing as the fifth-highest paid playmaker in the NRL but in a market where Chad Townsend commands $660,000 per season and Adam Reynolds $830,000, Taylor’s production in 2021 indicates his true value lies just under $500,000.
Of the game’s 23 highest-paid halves revealed in the NRL Rich List Taylor’s athletic shortcomings are clear but so too are the bursts of creativity that first enthralled the Titans when Taylor became the game’s most in-demand youngster in 2015.
Six years later, Taylor ranks 19th of 23 in run metres per game, 22nd in tackle busts per game and stands joint-18th in tackle success.
The emergence of Jamal Fogarty as the Titans’ primary fifth tackle option has come at Taylor’s expense in the kicking game, ranking 16th of the 23 for possessions per game and 20th for kick metres per game.
Those are the failures that will turn off any team searching for their million-dollar field general in the vein of Nathan Cleary or Daly Cherry-Evans, but Taylor is far from a lost cause for the right team.
Despite recording 42 possessions per game Taylor ranks 3rd of 23 in linebreak assists, reading defences quickly to give hulking David Fifita the opportunity to lead the NRL in defenders beaten (112) and linebreaks for a forward (13).
Taylor is also 12th for try assists with 0.8 per game and commits errors at a rate of 1.4 per 100, roughly half a percentage back from the NRL’s cleanest half Mitchell Pearce (0.07 per cent) to sit sixth of the 23.
His attacking production is better than Broncos $830,000 signing Adam Reynolds in every discipline but tries scored (3 to 0) and kick metres per game (327 to 123), while also outperforming Wests’ $815,000 five-eighth Moses Mbye and future Cowboy Chad Townsend ($660,000) in multiple key statistics.
The $500,000 Warriors offer accepted by Shaun Johnson and the $400,000 Cronulla offer still unsigned by Matt Moylan will temper Taylor’s expectations of reaching loftier salaries than the aforementioned but should also rule out talk of 75 per cent paycuts that emerged before the Raiders game.
FAST FACTS
Ash Taylor (2021 Titans, $964,000 pa; 5th in salary) T-17th in tries; 12th in try assists; 20th in run metres; 17th in linebreaks; 3rd in linebreak assists; 22nd in tackle busts; 19th in kick metres; T-18th in tackle percentage; sixth in errors per possession
Matt Moylan (2021 Sharks, $850k pa; T-11th in salary): T-10th in tries; 17th in try assists; 5th in run metres; 11th in linebreaks; 11th in linebreak assists; 10th in tackle busts; 23rd in kick metres; 22nd in tackle accuracy; 13th in errors per possession)
Adam Reynolds (2022 Broncos, $830k pa; 14th in salary): 7th in tries, 20th in try assists; 23rd in run metres; T-19th in linebreaks; 16th in linebreak assists; 21st in tackle busts; 8th in kick metres; 7th in tackle percentage; 14th in errors per possession
Moses Mbye (2021 Tigers, $815k pa; 15th in salary): T17th in tries; 22nd in try assists; 21st in run metres; 18th in linebreaks; 19th in linebreak assists; 23rd in tackle busts; 22nd in kick metres; 12th in tackle percentage; 11th in errors per possession
Chad Townsend (2022 Cowboys, $660k pa; 17th in salary): T-17th in tries; 6th in try assists; 22nd in run metres; T-19th in linebreaks; 15th in linebreak assists; 19th in tackle busts; 2nd in kick metres; T-18th in tackle percentage; 18th in errors per possession
Shaun Johnson (2022 Warriors, $500k pa; 21st in salary): 12th in tries; 17th in try assists; 19th in run metres; 16th in linebreaks; 12th in linebreak assists; 15th in tackle busts; 4th in kick metres; 13th in tackle percentage; 5th in errors per possession
Just days after Titans coach Justin Holbrook asked of Ash Taylor to rekindle his form from last season, the off-contract No. 6 produced perhaps his best performance of 2021 against the Canberra Raiders.
Taylor, 26, had a hand in four of the Titans’ eight tries and looked every bit the playmaker the club hoped he could be when it signed him to a monster deal at the end of 2017.
The long-labelled ‘million-dollar man’ last year told News Corp that tag was false, and Taylor was seemingly vindicated by the release of the NRL’s Rich 100 list on Sunday, which had the sixth-year Titan on $964,000 a season – good for eighth-highest in the league.
Regardless, Taylor will not command the same pay packet on his next contract. And so the question remains, how much is the five-eighth worth, and can the Titans afford to keep him; lest, will they want to?
It looks increasingly unlikely Taylor will be a Titan in 2022, with the club recently extending the deals of Jamal Fogarty and Toby Sexton while also signing young playmaker Paul Turner from the Warriors.
Prior to the Titans’ 44-6 win over the Raiders on Saturday night, Holbrook had challenged Taylor to reproduce the kind of form that helped the team to five-straight wins at the back end of 2020.
He responded in-kind with a performance that had Titans fans remembering fondly his form from years past – but is it too late?
Holbrook would not bite on Taylor’s future in the post-match, but did share praise for his five-eighth’s efforts.
“I’m not sure on the next year stuff but I thought he was great tonight,” Holbrook said.
“Ash showed a lot more effort and did some really classy things out there tonight – showed what he’s capable of, which we needed him to do.”
WHAT TAYLOR MUST DO TO EARN TITANS EXTENSION: HOLBROOK
GOLD Coast will not re-sign million dollar man Ash Taylor unless he can recapture the form that led the Titans on a five-game winning streak to close out last season.
Titans coach Justin Holbrook said Taylor’s destiny lay in his own hands as the club’s finals dream, already on life support, faces a must-win clash against Canberra on Saturday night.
The Titans have already signed four halves for 2022 but Taylor is not yet among them as a signing spree kicks off on the Gold Coast.
“We haven’t re-signed Ash,” Holbrook said.
“It’s up to him. He’s still getting picked and he’s still playing so it’s up to him to play well so that (contract extension) can take care of itself.
“It’s the ongoing nature of the business of the game - we’re not sitting where we want to sit, so if you want to get locked in you need to play well.”
Holbrook said he believed Taylor was the right choice to start against the Raiders despite toying with the idea of moving AJ Brimson to No.6 and keeping wonderkid Jayden Campbell at fullback.
“We still think that’s our best option, for him (Taylor) to be in our side in the No.6,” he said.
“With the way he played in the back end of last year, if he can pull out that form again we’re all going to be happy about it.
“The best opportunity is the one he creates himself.”
According to Fox Sports Lab statistics Taylor ran for 68 metres, kicked for 199 metres and created almost two try assists or linebreak assists per match across the Titans five-game winning streak.
In 2021 Taylor’s production has stepped down to 29 run metres, 112 kick metres and 1.5 try or linebreak assists created per match.
The importance of elite fullback play in this era of NRL football, exposed so clearly in Round 15’s 24-56 thrashing by Tom Trbojevic’s Manly Sea Eagles, may have saved Taylor from being dropped to accommodate young gun Jayden Campbell.
Holbrook was full of praise for the stand-in fullback but conceded the time was not yet right to include him in the starting team full-time.
“Jayden did an outstanding job for us in three games straight... and he’s a big player in the future of our club,” Holbrook said.
“But for now the best thing for our club is to get AJ back to No.1 and what happens in the future, we’re definitely open to that idea that’s for sure.”
Tanah Boyd and Jamal Fogarty signed extensions through 2022 while former Australian Schools whizzkid Toby Sexton signed a monster extension through 2024, the longest contract of any Titan besides Brimson, who signed through 2026.
Playmaking recruit Paul Turner, 20, has joined the club from the Warriors on a two-year deal beginning in 2021.
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