Keebra Park high school coach Glen Campbell confident southeast Queensland ‘has big pool of talent’ for third NRL team

As NRL expansion talks heats up, the coach of one of the high schools in southeast Queensland that has turned the art of player development into a science says the region has the talent to sustain team No.3.

Jai Arrow (centre) looks on during an NRL Titans training session at the Titans High Performance Centre on the Gold Coast, Monday, May 25, 2020. (AAP Image/Dave Hunt) NO ARCHIVING

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The Gold Coast’s largest rugby league talent factory has declared the region is “absolutely” capable of producing the players to sustain a third NRL team in southeast Queensland.

In recent years Keebra Park and Palm Beach-Currumbin high schools have turned the art of player development into a science, launching talented teens into the NRL’s front lines at younger ages than ever before.

Keebra Park coach Glen Campbell says the presence of an NRL expansion team is an exciting prospect for a new generation hunting for an opportunity to make their mark.

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David Fifita was part of an excellent Keelor Park side.

“Between the Gold Coast and Ipswich we’re absolutely producing enough footballers to feed a third southeast team,” Campbell said.

“We’re two of the greatest growth areas in the state, and more teams is going to equal more opportunity.

“The boys are going to be the big winners (of NRL expansion), and particularly the boys who didn’t make it previously.

“There’s such a big pool of talent available that not everyone can make it to the NRL level.

“This will give more opportunity to the boys who deserved a shot but didn’t get one.”

Foundation Titans list manager Scott Sattler, now involved with the Brisbane Bombers bid, said the expansion club could also draw from Australian NRL players forced overseas by salary cap restrictions.

Keebra Park rugby league coach Glen Campbell.

“Every season we’re seeing a gluttony of players who shouldn’t have to leave the NRL go to the Super League for a range of reasons,” Sattler said.

“The Super League is a good competition but Blake Austin and Jackson Hastings, why do they need to go when they can be kept in the NRL?

“I think opportunity breeds opportunity, and with the expansion of the NRL we’ll always find players to fill a squad.

“We don’t want to see a situation where talent is being forced overseas.”