Preston Campbell remains great asset to Gold Coast Titans long after retirement

HE’S hardly a lost Titan but Preston Campbell may be the most popular Gold Coast player of all time and there’s no doubt he remains one of the club’s greatest assets.

HE’S hardly a lost Titan but is Preston Campbell the most popular Gold Coast player of all time?

There’s little doubt he remains one of the club’s greatest assets, even if he did finish his NRL career and time with the Titans seven years ago.

The Titans’ inaugural signing, Campbell started his career on the Gold Coast 20 years ago with the Gold Coast Chargers and has had an affinity for the city ever since.

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Preston Campbell has a great love for the Gold Coast community and the Titans. Pic: Luke Marsden.

“I think it stems back to my debut. It was the club that gave me my debut,” Campbell said of why he still has such an affinity with the Gold Coast club.

“I know it wasn’t the Titans but it was the Gold Coast nonetheless.

“I always said if there was a Gold Coast team in the comp I definitely would have stayed up here.

“Apart from the lifestyle, it’s the people — they embraced the Gold Coast Chargers when I was up here and they did in the beginning.

“At least during the time when I was playing, they embraced the team and the team embraced the community — there was a relationship there.”

That relationship continued with the Titans, with their work in community helping lure Campbell away from Penrith to join the new venture.

“The Gold Coast Titans set the bar when it came to community work, made a lot of clubs, made the NRL stand up and look at the great work they were doing in community,” he said.

Preston Campbell in action at Titans training in 2010. Pics Adam Head

“In the early days, the board wanted to head in that direction and I loved Penrith at the time — they really looked after me but the fact that I could work in community was something that I was really passionate about and really drew me back to the Gold Coast.”

That work continues to this day, with Campbell working with the Preston Campbell Foundation at Dreamworld to help indigenous people gain workforce skills, while also acting as an ambassador for the Deadly Choices program.

“We’re based at Dreamworld and manage a cafe there in the hope that we can train and educate people,” Campbell said.

“The cafe is a vehicle where we can bring people in and then we can share with them and we can help them decide what it is they want to do.

“The hospitality industry is a great place to start for a lot of people — but it’s not about hospitality, it’s about bringing people in and helping them with direction.”

Preston Campbell in action in the Titans’ first NRL match against St George Illawarra in 2007.

Campbell’s work for the Titans was recognised by the club earlier this season with a stand at their home ground named in his honour.

“Rugby league gave me so much, I’ll spend the rest of my life trying to repay the faith that it had in me,” Campbell said.

“For me to be associated with the Gold Coast and the Gold Coast Titans, I’m very honoured.”