Titans’ Maroons duo are ‘free agents’ in NRL contract bombshell

One single call by the Gold Coast Titans has threatened to tear the entire club apart due to a pair of contract clauses for its biggest names.

Tino Fa'asuamaleaui and David Fifita. Picture: Supplied

The Gold Coast Titans will be sweating on the future of its Maroons duo of Tino Fa’asuamaleaui and David Fifita after it was revealed the pair had their contracts tied to former coach Justin Holbrook.

A fortnight ago, Holbrook, who had been the club since the beginning of the 2020 season, was unceremoniously dumped as the Titans named Des Hasler as the club’s new coach on the same day.

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It was a shrewd juggling act from the Titans who were praised as there were no hints of a leak before the news dropped.

But News Corp has reported that it may not have been as clean as first believed.

Holbrook had just a 31-51 coaching record in the NRL but came into the role after the Titans won the wooden spoon and had struggled under Garth Brennan.

Having put some big names on the teamlist under Holbrook, the Titans were no doubt better but still sitting just outside the top 8.

Despite having taken the Titans to just one finals series in his three seasons at the helm of the Gold Coast, Holbrook had plenty of support, including from the two biggest names at the club.

Fifita and Fa'asuamaleaui are the Titans’ two biggest stars. Picture NRL photos

The report said barnstorming Maroons duo Fa’asuamaleaui and Fifita’s contracts would be “null and void” if Holbrook was sacked.

There are no shortage of clubs that would be interested in signing the duo.

Fa’asuamaleaui’s contract runs until the end of next season with a two-year option, while Fifita extended his deal until the end of 2026 earlier this year.

Titans CEO Steve Mitchell said: “All player contracts are confidential.”

But it’s also understood Kangaroos coach Mal Meninga has been asked to speak to the players, while the pair will sit down with the Titans to discuss their futures after Origin.

It’s understood the players were unhappy with Holbrook’s sacking, as there was reportedly no consultation with the leadership group.

Fifita has impressed in 2023. Photo by Mark Nolan/Getty Images

Big Tino is the club’s captain. Photo by Mark Nolan/Getty Images

Holbrook himself said the axe falling was out of the blue at the time.

“I just can’t believe it,” Holbrook told The Courier Mail.

“I feel awful. Totally gutted.

“I did not see this coming at all, that’s what I am pissed off about.

“I could understand if they said, ‘Look you have three games or whatever time period to do something’, but to be moved on like this, I’m still coming to terms with it.

“If they were a bit more open about the way things were heading, I would have been able to digest this, but it’s hit me out of the blue.”

Mitchell denied the claim and said the in-house review had been done over the past 18 months.

“We’ve done a lot of reviewing over the past 18 months to build out specific areas of the program – we’ve looked at our roster, our high-performance staff and how we’re sourced internally,” Mitchell said.

“We think we’ve got large chunks of that program right. The piece we don’t think we’ve got right at the moment is how the playing group is being brought forward by the head coach.

“It wasn’t a rush. It was the back end of a long process which we started towards the end of last year.

“But with all due respect, we did have a conversation with Justin.”