NRL 2022: Gold Coast Titans join race to sign Storm star Cameron Munster
Culture boss Mal Meninga is circling Maroons maestro Cameron Munster as the Titans seek a marquee man to reignite the Gold Coast as a finals force.
Gold Coast have entered the big-money battle for Queensland Origin star Cameron Munster as part of the Titans’ blueprint to climb out of the NRL premiership cellar.
The Sunday Mail can reveal the Titans have formally expressed interest in Munster with culture boss Mal Meninga circling the Maroons maestro ahead of Gold Coast’s final home game of the season against Newcastle on Sunday.
Titans coach Justin Holbrook is under mounting pressure to stop the rot at Parkwood – and Munster is on Gold Coast’s radar along with fellow Queensland gun Ben Hunt.
Holbrook has conceded the Titans’ freefall this season is a by-product of their inexperience in the halves and they desperately need a marquee playmaker, such as Munster, to reignite the Coast as a finals force.
“There’s been a number of things (that have gone wrong) but we’re confident moving into next year we’ve got everything right,” Holbrook said.
“There’s a lot of planning going on for next year because we know we’re not playing in the finals, but we’re worried about this Sunday’s game. We’ll worry about next year after that.
“When you don’t win games you can pick apart everything. As the season went on, there were a number of things that we didn’t get right.
“We need a couple of staff members and the inexperienced spine’s another one.
“We plan on fixing them up.”
OPERATION MUNSTER
The Dolphins are seen as the biggest threat to Melbourne’s hopes of retaining Munster, but the Titans are poised to make a play for the champion playmaker.
Meninga coached Munster during Australia’s 2017 World Cup campaign and Titans bosses have indicated if the Storm ace goes to free agency from November 1, they are keen to talk to his manager Braith Anasta.
The Titans are unlikely to beat the Dolphins in a bidding war, but Storm chairman Matt Tripp is wary of the potential pull of Munster returning home to be closer to family at a Queensland club.
“I’ve heard the Titans are interested,” Tripp said.
“Being a Queensland club, that’s another consideration for Cameron. The Titans and Dolphins might be able to offer more than we can afford.
“Cameron would be a big fish in Queensland and there would be a lot of attention on him.
“Whether he goes (to the Titans or Dolphins) remains to be seen, there will be a huge spotlight on him if he decides to go.”
CRASH OF THE TITANS
After collecting the wooden spoon under Garth Brennan in 2019, Holbrook appeared to have the Titans tracking in the right direction.
They narrowly missed the finals in 2020, finishing ninth, and made the playoffs for the first time since 2016 last season, albeit with a 10-14 record that wouldn’t go close to qualifying for this year’s top eight.
The optimism at Parkwood was high, prompting the Titans to publicly release a “2030 Roadmap” which declared the club wanted to win two NRL premierships in the next eight years.
But that roadmap has become roadkill, with the Titans crashing to 15th on the ladder this year with two games to play.
With their finals hopes gone at the halfway point of the season, the Titans began soul-searching and launched internal reviews which led to the axing of assistant coach Jim Dymock and fitness chief Klint Hoare.
The club’s recruitment strategy – stacking the forward pack while skimping on quality and experienced key position players – has been brutally exposed and led to the dropping of rookie halfback Toby Sexton a month ago.
“We agree that we didn’t get our pre-season right and the group prepared as much as we should have. We have learnt from that and will spend a lot of time focused on what our pre-season looks like this year,” Titans CEO Steve Mitchell said.
“We went with a young spine and they were courageous but the amount of game time they had was limited by the preceding years.
“We need to support that with some senior players who have got a lot of games under their belt and success. We’ve got that coming next year in (Kieran) Foran and (Sam) Verrills.
“Then there is the expectations around environment and how we drive this group. We’ve got a responsibility to bring success to the Gold Coast.”
IN JUSTIN, WE TRUST
After three years at the club, Holbrook has a meagre winning record of 34.3 per cent, less than previous coaches John Cartwright (45.3) and Neil Henry (37.3) and not much better than Brennan (30).
In the aftermath of a shocking 38-12 loss to the Knights in round 16, speculation intensified that Holbrook was facing the axe.
But the Titans have so far stuck solid with the 2019 Super League premiership-winner and are backing him to turn things around in 2023.
“I’ve got faith in Justin, I know the playing group has faith in Justin and the club has,” said Meninga, the Titans’ high performance senior advisor.
“We are there to support him and work even harder to provide an environment where he can be successful as well as the team.
“We are judged by the football side of things on-field. That is the growth we need to work hard on.”
RAISING THE TITANIC
While the Titans have only won four games all season – and none away from Cbus Super Stadium – the club is optimistic about what the future holds.
They have some gun players on their books long-term like Queensland Origin stars AJ Brimson, Tino Fa’asuamaleaui and Moeaki Fotuaika, that can lead a Titanic revolution.
Meninga believes 2022 can be a blip on the radar.
“It’s been challenging but I am still very optimistic about the foundations that have been built there,” he said.
“With our Future Titans (junior development), community programs, support we’ve got from the community and commercially, we’re in a strong position.
“We obviously need to get results on the scoreboard but the foundations have been built really well. The rock which we built our club on is fairly sturdy.”
The Titans can inch further away from the wooden spoon by beating the Knights and will finish their season in Auckland next Saturday against the lowly Warriors.
It’s been a season to forget, but Mitchell is hopeful the team will stand up and farewell 2022 in style.
“This is a weekend we need to win,” he said.
“It’s ‘thank you round’ for the members and really important that we give them something to say thank you for the year.
“They’ve been extraordinary. We’ve had the highest number of members this year since 2008. They are ardent and stand by the club.”
Coaching carousel: Titans set to poach key Raider
Shane Flanagan has been overlooked by the Titans, with embattled coach Justin Holbrook eyeing off Brett White – Ricky Stuart’s deputy at Canberra – to help him lead a Gold Coast revival.
The Courier-Mail can reveal Holbrook is in talks to poach White from the Raiders and be his right-hand man as the beleaguered Titans construct the coaching arsenal to hit back as a finals force next season.
Speculation over the composition of the Titans’ coaching staff has raged for the past two months, with NRL premiership winners Flanagan and Michael Maguire mentioned as possible assistants for Holbrook.
Titans hierarchy held high-level discussions about signing Flanagan, who delivered a title to Cronulla in 2016, but Holbrook has identified White as his preferred candidate to succeed Jim Dymock.
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Former NSW Origin and Test prop White has been Stuart’s assistant at Canberra since 2017 and played a key off-field role in the Green Machine’s charge to the 2019 grand final against the Roosters.
Holbrook is seeking an assistant who can implement structures to fix a Titans defence that has leaked 608 points this season and White is highly regarded by Stuart.
Titans boss Steve Mitchell was tight-lipped about specific names but confirmed the announcement of Holbrook’s deputy is imminent.
“By the middle of next week we’ll have them in place,” Mitchell said.
“We are very close to having that finalised this week and by the middle of next week we’ll have them in place,” Mitchell said.
“We don’t have things finalised at this point, but we’re getting very close.
“We need to focus on a couple of areas. One is time spent in the NRL, intellectual property and our defensive merits.
“How we are going to improve around our defensive principles and the workload that goes into making an NRL squad that’s strong defensively.
“That will be a key focus going forward.”
The 40-year-old White has an impressive rugby league portfolio.
The hard-running prop amassed 196 NRL games, playing in premiership wins for Melbourne in 2007 and 2009, before finishing his career with four seasons at the Raiders.
He also played eight State of Origin matches and three Tests for Australia in their 2009 Four Nations victory.
There were fears Holbrook would be sacked in July following a dismal 38-12 loss to Newcastle but Mitchell says the Titans are determined to give their coach more support.
“We are absolutely supportive of Justin,” he said.
“We are giving him the resourcing beside him and a program we’re looking to build that will support what he’s doing with the group.
“Things are quietening down (around Holbrook’s future) which is good and that’s because we are committed to this course.”
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