Who is Darryl Kelly? Meet the man set to save the Gold Coast Titans

WHY is someone who has already lost more than $5 million on a football club willing to put his hand in his pocket again?

IMAGINE losing more than $5 million on a passion project — and then lining up to cop another financial whack.

That’s a summary of Darryl Kelly, the self-made millionaire and Titans’ white knight who, with former chairwoman Rebecca Frizelle, is set to be handed ownership of the Gold Coast club by the NRL.

FRIZELLE & KELLY WIN BATTLE FOR TITANS

Rebecca Frizelle and Darryl Kelly will ensure the Titans brand lives on. Picture: Luke Marsden.

NRL CONFIDENT OF SETTLING TITANS OWNERSHIP

The league is set to hand the Titans licence to the Kelly-Frizelle consortium in the coming days, with the bid of investor Stuart McAuliffe — the only rival remaining in the race — understood to have been rejected.

A former part-owner, Kelly lost about $5.2 million when the Titans were placed into administration in early 2015 before the NRL took over ownership of the club.

Darryl Kelly. (AAP Image/Dave Hunt)

But he has long said he would be willing to put his hand in his pocket again to ensure the future of an NRL team in the city he has come to love.

Saving rugby league is nothing new for Kelly, who is credited with keeping the sport alive in his home town of Wagga.

His investment in the Titans more than five years ago came from the same pride in his new home.

LOCAL PAIR WIN BATTLE FOR THE TITANS

Rebecca Frizelle and Darryl Kelly. Picture: Luke Marsden.

“I was asked once what you get out of investing in a football team,” Kelly said in a 2014 profile in the Bulletin.

“You certainly don’t get a great deal of financial reward.

“You get an emotional return. Sometimes you’re up, sometimes you’re down.

“As you get older in life, money’s not everything. Doing things you think are important is.”