New Gold Coast Titans chief executive Steve Mitchell to focus on NRL club’s sustainability

Incoming chief executive Steve Mitchell will be charged with the responsibility of ensuring the Titans buck the trend of failed rugby league ventures on the Gold Coast.

INCOMING chief executive Steve Mitchell will be charged with the responsibility of ensuring the Titans buck the trend of failed rugby league ventures on the Gold Coast.

The NRL club has navigated some tricky times in the first 12 years of its existence to avoid joining the Giants, Seagulls, Gladiators and Chargers on the scrapheap.

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Mitchell, who replaces Graham Annesley, is a commercial expert – he held major roles in that sphere at the North Queensland Cowboys and Melbourne Rebels before joining Touch Football Australia as their CEO – and will look to draw on those strengths when he begins his tenure in February.

“I’m here to make the club sustainable as an organisation,” he put it simply.

He is prepared to leave no stone unturned in doing so, even if it means big calls such as potentially moving away from Cbus Super Stadium to a mooted boutique arena.

Steve Mitchell at Titans headquarters in Parkwood. Picture: Glenn Hampson

“I think we look at all options that are good for the sustainability of the club,” Mitchell said.

“If there was an opportunity moving forward, something that is going to strengthen our case over the next 20 or 30 years, all options that make the building blocks of the club (stronger) we have to look at.

“First and foremost, there is a number of commercial aspects that will give us sustainability over a period of time.

“We need to build that out … the equity of the brand that is building at the moment, given the different components that have come into the club, have really put us in a good position there.

“The other part is our community program. We’re very good at what we do currently. I think there is opportunity to grow that space … we’re a community club and that’s our focus.”

Those “different components” include a host of drawcard on-field recruits and the acquisition of Rugby League Immortal Mal Meninga as head of performance and culture.

Steve Mitchell and chairman Dennis Watt at a press conference. Picture: Glenn Hampson

Further to that, it’s less than a year since Rebecca Frizelle and Darryl Kelly purchased the club from the NRL and Dennis Watt was appointed chairman; coach Garth Brennan is only approaching his second season at the helm; and their new development program launched this month.

“We want to get a level of excitement about the club,” Mitchell said.

“The owners and Dennis are pushing through a fair transition period from the NRL back to where we are now so now it is about stability, consolidation, let’s get some energy and let’s get excited and rip into 2019.”

Mitchell, who has promised “honest conversations” to drive accountability, confirmed he checked out the club’s financials before taking on the role and was duly impressed.