David Fifita rules out return to rugby league despite Gold Coast medical team clearing him
The Gold Coast Titans medical staff have cleared David Fifita to resume playing, but the mercurial 110kg wrecking ball is refusing to suit up - see why here.
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Titans superstar David Fifita is at odds with Gold Coast’s high-performance team over his planned return to the NRL.
There is fresh uncertainty over Fifita’s long-term future at Parkwood, just six weeks after the former Queensland Origin forward was dropped to reserve grade by Titans coach Des Hasler.
Sport Confidential understands Titans physios gave Fifita, who last month underwent minor ankle surgery, a medical clearance to return to the field.
Well-placed sources say Titans medicos last week assessed Fifita’s ankle and told the 110kg wrecking ball he had a clean bill of health to play.
But Fifita disagreed with the club’s medical advice, telling Gold Coast doctors he needed more time to get his ankle right before he plays again.
The former Broncos young gun was not named for the Titans’ derby showdown with Brisbane on Saturday night at Suncorp Stadium.
The development is another ruction in the ongoing Fifita saga and will fuel rumours the 25-year-old’s future at the Titans is untenable in the wake of his axing by Hasler.
Fifita was privately disappointed with his relegation from the top grade and told this masthead the “truth will one day come out” over why he was dropped by Hasler.
Fifita is contracted to the Titans until the end of next season and he was buffeted by speculation last month that he was shopped to NRL rivals.
Titans backline ace Jayden Campbell hopes Fifita doesn’t want out of the Titans and said he has stayed in touch with the injured forward to check on his well being.
“You worry about your mates at any time,” Campbell said.
“I want to make sure he’s happy because when he’s happy he’s at his best as a person and playing footy.
“Dave is one of my good mates and I keep checking up on him to see how he’s going,
“He is a great player and someone I want on my team. If I need to be the one to keep him accountable and positive then I will do it.
“He is good, I catch up with him for breakfast and dinner a lot.
“Footy is a hard place to be. People think it’s all flashing lights and the good stuff, but it’s mentally tough, too, and people don’t understand that.
“There are other things that have happened which are not my business.
“But I want him on my team and I’m sure he’ll come back.
“He’s one of my good mates. I want him on my team.”
SMITH DELIVERS LENIU VERDICT
Queensland’s greatest Origin player Cameron Smith says the great Maroons teams he played in would have kicked off to Blues firebrand Spencer Leniu.
Billy Slater’s Maroons have been criticised for taking the soft option and avoiding the rampaging Leniu during last week’s Origin I loss to NSW.
Leniu was captured by cameras going off after he realised the Maroons opted to switch sides when he came on the field and kick-off to debutant prop Max King.
The tactic came after Leniu was labelled public enemy No. 1 in Queensland following his spats with Ezra Mam and Johnathan Thurston.
Smith played a record 42 games for Queensland and captained the Maroons during their dynasty.
He played with Origin hardmen like Nate Myles, Dallas Johnson and Petero Civoniceva and said the Maroons wouldn’t have avoided Leniu in his day.
“I don’t know what the mindset is of this current footy side,” Smith said.
“The teams I played in, I reckon we would have kicked off at Spencer and gone after him, just to send a message.
“I didn’t think it was as big an issue as a lot of people made it.
“But in the teams I played in, we probably would have kicked at him.”
That should settle the debate.
STORM MONSTER OFFERED TO BRISBANE BRONCOS
Tui Kamikamica’s manager has reached out to the Broncos as the Storm battle salary-cap pressures to keep the hulking grand-final prop in Melbourne.
Sport Confidential can reveal the Storm are facing a fight to retain Kamikamica with the Broncos emerging as a possible home for the Fijian Test star.
Kamikamica is off-contract at season’s end, although Melbourne have a 12-month option in their favour which they can activate to keep the monstrous 110kg enforcer at the Storm for 2026.
The Storm are hoping to retain the giant prop. However, they are juggling salary-cap constraints and may have to reluctantly release Kamikamica, who was Melbourne’s No.1 prop in last year’s grand final against Penrith.
That has opened the door for the Broncos, who have been offered the services of the chiselled 21-Test Fijian veteran.
It’s understood Souths coach Wayne Bennett was keen to sign Kamikamica six weeks ago, but the Rabbitohs were unable to pull off the transfer due to their bulging salary cap.
Kamikamica turned 31 last month and his agent Jeff Jurotte, who also manages Broncos ironman Pat Carrigan, said the Fijian skipper is more than capable of playing another two or three years of NRL.
“Tui is in great shape,” Jurotte said.
“He could play more minutes but the Storm have four front-rowers.
“Tui is fit as a fiddle. He has an offload, he’s the reigning captain of Fiji and he’s a great professional.
“Tui is keen to play on for another few years.
“He is still enjoying the game.
“If you look at him without a shirt on, he is in unbelievable shape.
“He doesn’t drink and he has a young family, he just wants to secure his future in the NRL.”
The Storm are crunching the numbers in the hope of retaining Kamikamica, but if he has to move on, the Broncos could be one potential destination.
Brisbane need to bolster their front-row stocks. Veteran prop Martin Taupau parted ways with the Broncos a fortnight ago over a social-media drama, prompting coach Michael Maguire to promote rookie prop Ben Te Kura for Saturday night’s clash against the Titans.
Queensland Origin lock Carrigan started the 2025 premiership in the front row alongside Payne Haas, but has returned to the No. 13 jumper for the Gold Coast derby.
Another Sydney club is also eyeing off Kamikamica, but they can only afford to table a one-year contract.
Kamikamica has proved an outstanding clubman for the Storm since his NRL debut in 2017. He has amassed 123 first-grade games across nine seasons and has been a fixture in Melbourne’s middle-forward rotation since 2021.
The Broncos are doing their due diligence on Kamikamica, who could be a handy ally for Haas and Carrigan with his size, muscle, experience and work ethic coming from the famed Storm system.
CAMPBELL’S TITANIC NEW DEAL
The Titans have opened contract extension talks with Jayden Campbell as the son of a gun declared his fullback days were over.
Campbell has been named in Gold Coast’s No. 1 jersey for Saturday’s M1 derby at Suncorp Stadium due to an injury crisis at the Titans.
Keano Kini (neck) and Jaylan de Groot (hamstring) are unavailable while AJ Brimson missed last week’s loss to Melbourne following a head knock.
Brimson is hoping to gain an exemption from the mandatory 11-day stand down rule so he can face the Broncos.
Campbell covered at fullback for Brimson against the Storm and was the Titans’ best player.
But the son of Dally M legend Preston Campbell has committed his future to playing in the halves and is hoping to sign a new deal with the Titans.
Campbell, 25, is contracted to Gold Coast until the end of 2026, but the Titans are looking to secure him before he becomes a free agent on November 1.
“I don’t see myself as a fullback anymore – I’m a halfback/five-eighth,” Campbell said.
“I’m committed to this move. I know I’ve got a lot of work to do but it’s something I’m willing to do.
“It’s my first season as a half. The season isn’t going how we want, but you can see how close the competition is.
“My faith in the season is still there. It’s not a time to whinge and cry.”
Campbell modelled a bandana that will be given out to fans at next Friday’s home game against Manly.
The Titans are attempting to break a world record for the most people wearing bandannas at one time, which stands at 5105 people set in 2013 by the Ladies Gaelic Football Association in Ireland.
Titans major sponsor The Lottery Office have teamed up with cancer charity Canteen for the initiative, with 10,000 bandannas to be given out at Cbus Super Stadium.
BRONCOS SNARE GREAT DANE
The Broncos have completed a Queensland derby poaching raid by securing former Cowboys recruitment chief Dane Campbell.
Campbell has agreed to terms with the Broncos and will move south from Townsville in the coming weeks to bolster Brisbane’s recruitment unit headed by long-serving Academy chief Simon Scanlan.
Scanlan has been a key figure in delivering a number of Broncos Academy young guns to Brisbane’s NRL squad including Reece Walsh, Pat Carrigan, Kotoni Staggs and Selwyn Cobbo.
Now Scanlan will be joined by Campbell, who started in pathways at the Melbourne Storm in 2016 before moving to the Cowboys in 2020.
Born in Brisbane, the 42-year-old halfback played for Redcliffe and Easts Tigers in the Queensland Cup before having a brief NRL career with the Knights, playing six games in 2005.
Former NRL forward Adam Brideson, who played 22 games for the Bulldogs from 2002-07, has also been added to Brisbane’s beefed-up recruitment-and-development team.
“The addition of Dane to our recruitment team is an important move in the current climate, especially with the impending introduction of two new NRL teams which will only increase the competition for talent,” said Broncos football boss Troy Thomson.
“Dane is not only a great person but he has an excellent resume and proven strategies that have helped deliver premierships during his career.
“We have also appointed Adam Brideson in the role of development and transition coach.
“Adam will focus on supporting academy players transitioning into the NRL program and will work closely with our affiliate clubs.
“This addition to our coaching ranks will further strengthen the pathways systems here at the Broncos.”
CRONK’S CALL ON DCE
Queensland halfback legend Cooper Cronk has urged coach Billy Slater to hold urgent talks with Daly Cherry-Evans to decide whether the skipper should be retained for Origin II.
NSW’s NRL Immortal Andrew Johns has called for Tom Dearden to replace Cherry-Evans after the veteran half-back’s patchy display in Queensland’s 18-6 loss in Game One.
The Maroons team for the return bout in Perth will be chosen on Sunday night and Cronk says Slater needs a face-to-face meeting with Cherry-Evans.
“There’s a lot of talk (about axing Cherry-Evans),” Cronk told Fox League.
“If I’m Billy, I’m having a face-to-face coffee with Daly and I’m asking him, ‘How do you feel about Game Two, what does this mean to you, can you deliver for your state?’
“If I walk away thinking he’s my captain and halfback, I’m picking him.
“If I feel like he is not there and hesitant, just a gut feel, I would go with Tom Dearden.
“But there is only one person that makes this decision and that’s Billy.
“I would be backing Billy in hanging up the Queensland jersey in front of Daly one more time saying, ‘Have you got it?’ and I think the answer is yes.
WOMEN’S ORIGIN SHAKE-UP
Queensland Rugby League boss Ben Ikin has flagged a radical plan that could see the women’s State of Origin played in quarters.
There are suggestions the women’s Origin series could be played over summer and Ikin said the code could explore several scenarios amid calls to emulate men’s games by playing 80-minute matches.
Ikin believes the women’s Origin could look at quarters to maximise broadcasting revenue.
“You are operating on the basis the women’s game has to be played the same way as the men’s - two 40-minute halves,” Ikin told SEN Radio.
“We could have four 15-minute quarters at a certain time of year.
“The women’s Origin doesn’t have to look like the men’s (series).
“If we play quarters, that can produce extra advertising revenue.
“If there are heat concerns (with a summer competition), it could be played at night.
“That’s where you can take the guardrails off and be really creative, because this thing (women’s State of Origin) needs to be treated as a separate product.”
BEAR ESSENTIALS FOR PERTH
The Perth Bears are targeting Ezra.
No, not Broncos playmaking young gun Ezra Mam, but Titans recruitment chief Ezra Howe.
Sport Confidential understands Howe is being earmarked as Perth’s recruitment boss if Mal Meninga is announced as the Bears’ foundation coach in 2027.
Howe has a long history with Raiders legend Meninga going back to his time as a lower grade coach and development staffer at Canberra a decade ago.
Meninga played a key role in bringing Howe to the Titans six years ago when he served as Gold Coast’s culture boss.
Howe has extensive experience across the game, having also coached the Junior Kiwis and served as an assistant with the New Zealand Test team.
The Bears need a recruitment chief to hit the ground running signing players from November 1 this year and Meninga rates Howe’s eye for talent.
Howe may have delivered the Titans a parting gift after signing Maori All Stars forward Kurtis Morrin from the Bulldogs on a two-year deal.
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Originally published as David Fifita rules out return to rugby league despite Gold Coast medical team clearing him
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