The Titans are full of ‘hot air’.

Gold Coast may have finished with the 2019 wooden spoon after a horror season, but that’s only the start of their woes, according to NRL 360 host Paul Kent.

The Titans finished at the bottom of the ladder with just four wins. They also ended their season with interim coaches in charge following the sacking of Garth Brennan.

St Helens coach Justin Holbrook is on his way in to take over as head coach from 2020, but there are plenty of other things the club needs to fix aside from on-field performance as Kent explained on The Matty Johns Podcast.

“The thing about the Titans is there’s a lot of hot air coming out of the club,” Kent said.

“To me, it’s an indication that they are talking the game to basically try and con everybody that they know what they’re doing, just to fill the void, to fill the conversation, that space there.

“To come out and we’re going to sign these players like Mal said the other day. One of the players he said we’re going to have a crack at is Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad who within hours had extended his deal with Canberra.

“To throw David Fifita into it. We’ll get him from Palm Beach Currumbin, well he actually played for Keebra Park, a local junior.

“They’re talking the game at the moment, the Titans. This is not just Mal, I’m talking the club, they’ve got no idea where they’re going. They’ve got no idea how to fix it so all they’re doing at the moment is ‘stick with us, we’re going to get the best juniors in the country, we’ll put all our effort there and we won’t need to recruit from anywhere else’. Seriously? You’re going to stop other clubs coming into your junior area?

“You what they did the other day to show everyone how well they’re going? They put out a list of all the great kids — 12 years old — that they’ve signed in the area. We’ve got him, him and him. And they put the list out.

“You know what happened? Other clubs printed out the list, gave it to their recruitment boss and said go and pick the best ones out of these. They’ve handed over their IP.

“Don’t use that as a boasting point about how well you’re going.”

Kent reckoned star lock Jai Arrow was more likely to leave the club than stay.

“The thing is, what’s the attraction of playing for the Gold Coast? What’s their selling point?” Kent asked.

“They can give you all that guff about we’re going to win a comp in however many years but there’s no history in the club of any success.

“They’re constantly paying overs. That’s the other thing they’ve got so dramatically wrong there, is the amount of money they’re paying for some players.

“Ash Taylor’s gone. I would be surprised if Ash Taylor plays NRL again. I think Ash Taylor will be sold to England.”

https://www.foxsports.com.au/nrl/nrl...718c59244b0574

^^^ Thoughts...

Harsh but I don’t think he’s wrong unfortunately.

A few factual errors there in relation to the junior development side of things and some of them big errors.

A mixture of conjecture and speculation based on anecdotal evidence. I’m not saying he’s wrong, particularly about Meninga and our recruitment policies, but we do have the makings of a good platform. Personally I’m in for the long haul.

Kent in how he delivered what he had to say was so vicious. He clearly has nothing but disdain for the entire administration of the club.

Listen after the season we had criticism is fair and I guess we have to put up with it. There's some truth in there but geez his Titans hate is coming out in full force. And it all stems down to when we were on the hunt for a new coach, we didn't tell the media what we were doing (remember how angry he got at that?). He's holding a grudge because the club didn't get him any information and we made journos all look dumb with them all guessing Walters.

I for one am believing in Mal, Watts etc to get us out of this hole. They have the footy smarts. The comment about us never having a hope of winning a comp and having no attraction...p**s of Kunt...whoops Kent.

Here's hoping Kent and the media have egg on their face by this time next year.

Sounds like he has a real hate for the club and the fact he didn’t get told anything about what the titans were doing when it came to picking a new coach has really upset the angry prick.... his a journal, he doesn’t know everything about what’s going on in a club and how it’s run, it’s none of his business..and to come out and blab ur his **** like that, his never going to get that much info from the club in the future for future stories or breaking stories cos they will keep it from him which is what I would do... I agree Mal threw out a lot of big names for targets, no harm in it.. just trying to reassure fans that the titans are looking for more talent and giving us hope

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Originally Posted by Croc

Sounds like he has a real hate for the club and the fact he didn’t get told anything about what the titans were doing when it came to picking a new coach has really upset the angry prick.... his a journal, he doesn’t know everything about what’s going on in a club and how it’s run, it’s none of his business..and to come out and blab ur his **** like that, his never going to get that much info from the club in the future for future stories or breaking stories cos they will keep it from him which is what I would do... I agree Mal threw out a lot of big names for targets, no harm in it.. just trying to reassure fans that the titans are looking for more talent and giving us hope

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I agree, I don't think that is a bad thing that we have identified players and put them on a wish list. It's better than our previous policy of jumping at whoever is of contract and throwing stupid money at them. A lot of what Kent said was hard truths but it none of it was anything that we didn't know already. The crap about having no direction etc I think was true last year but we are in a much better place now than what we were then. The fact is he has no idea about what is going on at the club so is just spurting out a bias opinion based on hear-say. I doubt he would do that on 360 with Brent Read at the desk because it didn't work out so well for him last time.

I think the truth hurts. What are we basing the talk that we are in a better place for next year? So far Mal has come out and said a bunch of names that obviously were just plucked out of the air. So when we don't sign anyone from that email what the hell does that say for the club?

The email from watts was just as much of a joke. We have failed at what our core business is and that is playing a grade rugby league. To try and fluff it our with all the ancillary stuff is wasted. I'm in the building industry, I can't imagine writing a report to the owners saying good news, we had a few sausage sizzles, donated out time and money to disadvantaged, we trying to raise our public profile through every means possible except the quality of our houses, which, by the way have all fallen down.

As for giving out IP data, well anyone worth anything in the recruitment game would know who is who and where or if they are signed. Not a huge deal but still stupid to hand a list to the opposition.

It's hard to cop a bashing like that but in all honesty when you only win 4 games, pay massive overs for dud's and the players sack another coach you should be prepared for the kicks that come. Kent picked us for the spoon this year, guess he knew something we didn't.

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Originally Posted by JunctionBlock

I think the truth hurts. What are we basing the talk that we are in a better place for next year? So far Mal has come out and said a bunch of names that obviously were just plucked out of the air. So when we don't sign anyone from that email what the hell does that say for the club?
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Looking back you could probably argue that this time last year from the outside things were in a better place. We had what we thought was a good roster, we had promises from the coach about improving and we had stability. But knowing what we know now I'm certain that we are in a much better place now.

I can't speak for everyone but I'd say the reason for that is because we are beginning to develop somewhat of an identity. I know that it is easy to be anti towards the club at the moment after the everything we have been through but there are some good things happening. Even if we don't sign a single one of those players listed by Mal (or any other player for that matter), our roster is going to be in better shape next year without the likes of Matthews, Stockwell, Lee and Gordon on it. Young players coming the system are going to provide more impact than any of those players named. We are also going to have a new head coach and at least one new assistant. I don't know a lot about Holbrook personally but I'll put my house on it that he won't be any worse than Brennan or Hodges.

I’m not sure if this is the right thread for it and hate to be the one to spread rumours, but “The Winemaker” on Triple M came out today saying that a million dollar player has a severe gambling issue and his club are very concerned about it, and considering terminating his contract. There aren’t many million dollar players in the comp and I heard earlier this year when Taylor took personal leave that he had a gambling issue, so I’m almost certain it’s about him. It’s interesting timing for this to come out since the club has known for half the year, but with Kent also saying he could be off to England it seems like the club is looking to get rid of him. I feel for the bloke if it’s true but it seems like this is a story that we will definitely hear more of, and could be the reason Taylor departs us.

How is he wrong? How could we possibly be in the ballpark for signing any of those big names when we have no cap space left and a bunch of useless overpaid plodders who most of them aren't even off contract for another year or two?

I think he hit the nail on the head, this club is so clueless i would be surprised to see it survive another 5 years from looking at it now. I hope we do survive but there is so much work to do it isnt funny. And this whole Mal as a culture guru or what ever he is will not work, all that is up to the coach.