NRL 2024: Gorden Tallis had urged Titans turncoat David Fifita to repay the $4 million of loyalty shown by Gold Coast before he joins the Roosters

David Fifita has been paid $4 million by the Titans over the past four seasons. Now Gorden Tallis has urged him to repay the faith, as the Gold Coast turncoat faces being booed on home soil.

David Fifita has turned his back on the Gold Coast Titans and signed with the Roosters. (Photo by Ian Hitchcock/Getty Images)

Gorden Tallis has urged David Fifita to not throw the towel in on the Gold Coast and repay jaded Titans fans as the Roosters turncoat faces being booed on home soil.

Fifita will run out at his home ground of Cbus Super Stadium on Sunday to face the Cowboys, just 72 hours after abandoning the 16th-placed Titans to sign a four-year contract with the Roosters.

Fifita, 24, has pocketed $4 million from the Titans over four seasons since leaving the Broncos at the end of 2020.

With Gold Coast hurtling towards three consecutive bottom four finishes, a guaranteed $2 million over the next two years couldn’t convince Fifita to extend his time with the Titans until 2026.

Fifita waited until the eleventh-hour on Thursday to inform Gold Coast bosses he would not activate a two-year option in his contract.

The saga has left a bitter taste in the mouths of success-starved Titans fans who are expected to make their feelings known during the Mother’s Day clash with North Queensland.

Maroons legend Tallis, a Titans ambassador, said it was up to Fifita to depart the Gold Coast with his integrity intact and his performances meant everything in his final months at the club.

David Fifita has turned his back on the Gold Coast Titans and signed with the Roosters. (Photo by Ian Hitchcock/Getty Images)

“It’s disappointing that he has made the call,” said Tallis, who played a role in luring Fifita to the Gold Coast.

“We fought really hard to get him there and then they had a clause in the contract and we fought again. It was partly the club’s fault for putting the clause in.

“The next six weeks for Dave is the most important in his career, to show the Roosters fans what they are going to get, but the Titans have been pretty loyal to him.

“Three million over three years is a great pay cheque for anybody playing the game.”

The Titans were left in salary cap limbo waiting for Fifita to make a call on his future before the start of round 10 fixtures on Thursday night.

By giving the Queensland Origin forward so much power, they were effectively hamstrung when it came to planning their 2025 and beyond player rosters given the $1 million-a-season salary that was in the balance.

Coach Des Hasler now has an extra $1 million to spend but few marquee players are on the open market for 2025.

Gold Coast-based Scott Sattler, the Titans’ foundation football manager, said fans were angrier with the club’s management than Fifita personally.

Fifita in happier times at the Titans. (Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images)

“I’ve spoken to a lot of Gold Coast fans and about 30 per cent are disappointed Dave would want to leave and the other 70 per cent were disappointed in the organisation for allowing Dave and his management to make the decision,” he said.

“There is going to be the core supporters that feel a south east Queensland kid has turned his back on them.

“But there will be a larger section that’s more disappointed in the organisation. Maybe this is the rattle of the cage they needed.

“The Titans have always been big on not talking about recruitment and retention. They’ve got their reasons. Whether it was driven by Des Hasler or the recruitment committee, we’ll never know.

“It was good by Dave to get a clause of that nature. He wasn’t sure what the future of the club would look like, especially when he had a really good connection to the previous coach (Justin Holbrook).

“It makes sense he would ask for something like that, but then it comes down to whether you accept it as a club.

“In hindsight, they should have said ‘we appreciate you asking for that clause, but if you really want to be here and form a great legacy at the club we’re not going to allow it’.

“There’ll be some fans that will boo him but that’s the nature of the game and surely he knows that.”

Originally published as NRL 2024: Gorden Tallis had urged Titans turncoat David Fifita to repay the $4 million of loyalty shown by Gold Coast before he joins the Roosters