Why Gold Coast Titans don’t need to reach for x-factor talent on NRL market

If there’s one lesson to be learned from the Titans’ Saturday night triumph over the Brisbane Broncos, it’s this. There is no need for the club to reach for x-factor talent on the open market.

David fifita at Broncos training at Red Hill. Pic Annette Dew

If there’s one lesson to be learned from the Titans’ Saturday night triumph over the Brisbane Broncos, it’s this.

There is no need for the club to reach for x-factor talent on the open market.

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In previous seasons teams needed star power to introduce chaos in attack, banking on their stars’ gravitational pull to warp and contort defensive lines into vulnerable positions.

Without those weapons teams were rendered stale and repetitive in attack.

The Titans were the ultimate proof of that through last year’s run to the wooden spoon.

But the six-again rule change has fundamentally altered the game.

X-factor helps – just look at Trbojevic and Tedesco – but clubs aren’t hamstrung by the absence of attacking superstars like they were before the change.

Ashley Taylor of the Titans (left) is seen during the Round 7 NRL match between the Brisbane Broncos and the Gold Coast Titans at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane, Saturday, June 27, 2020. (AAP Image/Dan Peled)

On Saturday night the Titans put 30 points on the (awful) Brisbane Broncos despite injuries to starters AJ Brimson, Young Tonumaipea, Tyrone Roberts and Ryan James.

They found their x-factor in Ash Taylor and 32-year-old Anthony Don, whose game smarts again overcame his waning athleticism to score two tries.

Grafting, workmanlike teams are earning opportunities to score points in the 2020 NRL season.

Why hand over more risky big-money contracts when Justin Holbrook can help this team grow together?

Young players Moeaki Fotuaika, Keegan Hipgrave and AJ Brimson are a nucleus to build a club around.

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NRL; North Queensland Cowboys pre-season training at Townsville Football Stadium. John Asiata. Picture: Alix Sweeney

Adding players to that mix like John Asiata, the off-contract Cowboys prop/halfback hybrid whose distribution skills mirror Dally M lock prospects Cameron Murray or Victor Radley, would make sense given the departure of Jai Arrow.

But do the club’s other high-profile free-agent targets, like 20-year-old Storm edge Tino Fa’asuamaleaui (signed for $2 million, three years) and his best mate Dave Fifita (offered $5 million over five years)?

They are x-factors without doubt. Can they mesh with Holbrook’s vision for the hardest working, highest effort team in the NRL?

Recruitment chiefs Ezra Howe and Mal Meninga had best be sure before repeating the big-money mistakes of the Titans past.