Gold Coast Titans chief executive Steve Mitchell discusses their impending NRL coach appointment

Titans chief executive Steve Mitchell stopped short of confirming Justin Holbrook’s appointment but declared the club will work with their new coach to build a playing roster with the 2023-24 seasons in mind.

TITANS chief executive Steve Mitchell stopped short of confirming Justin Holbrook’s appointment but declared the club will work with their new coach to build a playing roster with the 2023-24 seasons in mind.

Mitchell said an announcement would not come on Tuesday as had been predicted but possibly by the end of the week.

When asked directly whether Holbrook and the club have agreed to terms, Mitchell responded: “The process isn’t finished so we have still got to get to the pointy end of that before we can actually comment on it because of the confidentiality of the whole process and everyone involved.

Titans CEO Steve Mitchell. Picture: Jerad Williams

“Holbrook brings a lot out of what he has done and where he has come from and what he has done with St Helens but so do all of the other parties.

“We have had some wonderful candidates come through.”

Holbrook, a 43-year-old former NRL player, has made a name for himself coaching St Helens to a supreme run of success since the start of 2017 and Mitchell admitted that winning culture was an attraction.

NRL POWER RANKINGS: THE REAL LADDER

“Definitely but a number of the candidates bring that sort of culture with them as well that have come out of systems that have won premierships at NRL level,” he said.

St Helens coach Justin Holbrook. Picture: Getty Images

“A winning culture is fundamental to what we want and we need that culture through the high performance system to complement everything else we are doing in the community and that’s a big part of the criteria.”

The Titans appear unwilling to part pay players to join rival clubs, meaning there is little wiggle room for their new coach to ring the changes for 2020.

Live stream the 2019 NRL Telstra Premiership on KAYO SPORTS. Every game of every round live & anytime on your TV or favourite device. Get your 14 day free trial >

Rather, that squad remoulding process will come with a long-term view – and the coach will be given time to see out that vision, unlike Garth Brennan was.

“I think you would have an expectation that the coach will have input into reshaping of a roster but that happens over a period of years,” Mitchell said.

Garth Brennan didn’t make it through two seasons. Picture: AAP Image

“Strategically we probably have to look forward to ’23 and ’24 as to what the roster looks like then, who is coming through locally, where we sit with regard to the composition of the squad across the paddock.

“The coach would have some input into that but he would have a part of that, not drive the whole lot.

“…There’s a genuine understanding, desire and intent from the club to have a long-term coach, a coach who can set culture and build a squad over a three to five-year period.”

Mitchell added the club believes they have a desirable project for a coach to take on, with an abundance of rising talent and the prospect of being their maiden premiership mentor, and hailed leadership and culture as the two key qualities they were pursuing.

“We need someone who can grab our player cohort over a long period of time, get the very best out of them and take the Gold Coast onto the national platform,” he said.