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Nah I can't cop Flanagan either. Might have his upsides as a coach but this is a guy who was stood down for having links to the Sharks drug scandal and now is de-registered for not following the stand down by sending emails to players whilst suspended.
Queensland coach Kevin Walters could replace Garth Brennan at Titans
After missing out on the Brisbane job, Maroons coach Kevin Walters could finally get his long-desired NRL job should Gold Coast axe under-pressure coach Garth Brennan.
Queensland coach Kevin Walters has emerged as a genuine candidate to coach Gold Coast should the Titans sack under-pressure coach Garth Brennan.
The Daily Telegraph can also reveal former Manly coach Trent Barrett has been mentioned as a potential replacement should a club review recommend a change of coach.
Walters has won two series at State of Origin coach and leads this year’s series one-nil after victory last Wednesday night.
He has always attracted enormous support and loyalty from his players and former Queensland greats.
While thriving on coaching his Maroons, Walters has long told of a desire to coach at NRL level. He has previously been linked to the Titans but failed to nail down the head coaching position.
Brennan has battled as Titans coach over the past 18 months, winning just 12 of 36 games, his immediate future uncertain.
A robust win against Queensland rivals Brisbane at Suncorp Stadium will ease some pressure on Brennan.
A lacklustre end to the season, which would include missing the finals, would just about end Brennan’s tenure at Robina.
An internal review of Gold Coast’s football department, to be led by Titans head of performance and culture, Mal Meninga, will determine Brennan’s future.
Brennan, who signed a one-year extension during the off-season, said recently: “It is a results-driven business. Myself and Mal and the players … we understand that is the nature of the industry we are in.’’
Barrett remains contracted to Manly until next month when his 12 month notice expires.
The former Dragons star helped NSW out on the training field before Origin I and expressed a desire to return to coaching.
Despite Sunday’s win, Gold Coast has endured a disappointing and frustrating season.
Star recruit Tyrone Peachey may walk away to re-join Penrith while halfback Ash Taylor has been granted leave to address personal issues.
It appears Gold Coast may be shifting from its long-term strategy and push Brennan out sooner than most expected.
Gold Coast sit second last on the competition table, two points ahead of Canterbury, who could draw level with a win over St George Illawarra at ANZ Stadium on Monday.
Meninga’s review will be presented to the club’s board in the new few weeks.
The Titans have won just four games all year, a season or promise quickly turning to mediocrity.
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A big no to Barrett... I can’t believe we’d be considering him. I can understand why Walters is in the discussion, but why on earth would Barrett be? He failed big time at Manly, look what Des did with pretty much exactly the same roster after he left. We’d be idiots to hire him.
It’s a big no to Barrett too.
Why sacking Brennan is not the answer to Gold Coast woes
Author
Tony Webeck
NRL.com reporter
Timestamp
Mon 10 Jun 2019, 12:01 PM
Club announces an internal review of the football operations.
Club insists all departments will be examined as part of the review.
Review finds the solution to all club’s problems can be solved by sacking the head coach.
Let me know if you’ve seen this movie before.
When the Titans announced two weeks ago that on the back of the club’s worst start to a season that newly promoted head of football Mal Meninga would be conducting a mid-season review, many believed it was the first sounding of the death knell for coach Garth Brennan.
It may well prove to be the case when Meninga hands in his findings in the next few weeks but rugby league’s 13th Immortal would be well served rewriting one of modern sport’s most predictable scripts.
When the Titans appointed Brennan in October 2017 they expected a competitive NRL team. They also wanted a club with a sustainable model for success that harnessed the talent of the region. To finally make the Titans a genuinely Gold Coast team.
Match Highlights: Broncos v Titans
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Match Highlights: Broncos v Titans
Given the success he enjoyed coaching juniors and lower grades at Newcastle and Penrith, his resume was a ready-made page-turner, not to mention the attractive price tag that comes with a coach seeking their first opportunity to prove themselves in the NRL.
It’s naive to think a confident halfback could not have converted big leads into at least a couple of wins in recent weeks but the reality is since Brennan’s appointment, the Titans have won 12 of 37 games.
Yet giving him the flick is not the answer.
Not yet anyway.
At the heart of the gritty win against all odds over the Broncos on Sunday was the growing influence of young Gold Coast locals now populating the NRL squad.
AJ Brimson. Jai Arrow. Moeaki Fotuaika. Keegan Hipgrave. Jai Whitbread. Jesse Arthars. Two-try star Brian Kelly.
All of these players are yet to celebrate their 24th birthday and can form the nucleus of a Titans team for the next decade.
Pushing through underneath is a growing collection of teenage talent, many of whom are already committed to the Titans for the foreseeable future.
Juwan Compain, Carsil Vaikai, Alofiana Khan-Pereira and Tristan Powell are unknowns now but all represented the Queensland under 18s in their big win over NSW last week and are contracted to the Titans for the next couple of years.
The Northern Rivers Titans under-16 team that won the Andrew Johns Cup also has a core of players tipped for bright futures on the Gold Coast.
Junior Kiwis coach Ezra Howe has been in the role of senior recruitment manager at the club since January and has been integral in convincing the best Gold Coast kids – and their parents – that they should aspire to play for the Titans.
As much pain as Titans fans have felt the past two seasons they can take heart that the club is finally on a path of sustainability, a path they should have taken since inception.
Cutting the proverbial head off by sacking Brennan would only put the club on the precipice of another negative spiral.
A new coach will want "their people" around them, a major say in reshaping the roster and with the promise that in two or three years’ time they will have a team capable of contending for finals football.
It is the cycle of sub-standard clubs looking for a quick fix and one that the Titans must break.
It is unlikely the club could afford a coach with significantly better qualifications than those which earned Brennan the position in the first place so what purpose would termination serve other than a hefty pay-out and a three-month pre-season honeymoon of uncertain hope?
Brennan may not be the coach to take the Titans to a maiden premiership … or maybe he is.
Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.
At this point no one can say for certain, but he needs longer to oversee the job he was partly employed to do in the first place, a job already coming to fruition.
What players may say of Brennan in interviews with Meninga should not be the concern but rather the fact they are being asked their opinion at all. It’s the equivalent of asking schoolkids to review the performance of their teacher.
It has been said many times those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it - hopefully Meninga has seen enough in six months to understand what the Titans need more than anything is stability and not a sacrificial head.
Ok I'm going to say it. The article above has several simple truths and I'll add some:
(1) Brennan was employed with eyes wide open,
(2) his brief in relation to junior pathways is on track (put Kelly here because he is one of us),
(3) the band-aid solutions to the top roster were bound for failure (Peachey, Boyd, Latu, Jacks, Cartwright and even Roberts were all at best NRL bench players),
(4) ditching Brennan for another of equal value is ridiculous,
(5) we are very unlikely to push for the eight this season but we aren't getting flogged, we should get a few more wins and as I keep posting our results are consistent with a developing team.
If this was my investment I would do several things.
(1) make a public statement with Meninga and the captain supporting the coach,
(2) have a player attend pressers with Brennan and tutor them how to speak,
(3) get the media focus on to the development pathways,
(4) relegate to QCup any non-local player who hasn't bought-in immediately no matter who they are but don't trade them unless there is a pound for pound swap option eg Peachey/Sua but no more bs like Gagai.
(5) start talking to off-contract coaches about 2021.
In my assessment, the list of AJ Brimson. Jai Arrow. Moeaki Fotuaika. Keegan Hipgrave. Jai Whitbread. Jesse Arthars, Brian Kelly, Wallace, James, Sami, Don and even Gordon as locals is pretty impressive and says it all.
This is not an acceptance of mediocrity, as I'm sure I'll be accused of, but rather a stern nod to our financial situation and the harsh reality of our predicament. Underwhelming against expectations for sure, I also fell for that. Needing a kick up the Khyber in some areas, no doubt but I'm not turning my membership in until somebody shows me that we are not trying and I don't see any evidence of that.
The elephant in the room is Taylor, imho, and as much as I can sympathise with his plight I am not prepared to lay that blame on Brennan. He was untested when he came to us. Henry had trouble with him sooking too and I've seen nothing to suggest that he is anything more than another player with potential who hasn't cut it, whether it be through injury, commitment or mental health. Jacks is no world-beater but our right edge went a hell of a lot better last weekend and he can only improve. And Roberts can kick.
Well said Titanic, couldn't agree more. Absolutely this season has been disappointing but as has been said a few times now we haven't been flogged this year and there are glimpses of improvement.
Taylor and Peachey are huge weights around our necks at the moment and hopefully we see some changes with them soon.
My only issue with this statement is that all of those players with the exception of Kelly and Arthars were here before Brennan.Quote:
Originally Posted by Titanic
Arthur’s fell in to our lap after requesting a release from the Rabbitohs and landing at Burleigh, and Kelly would never have left but Manly offered him overs which we weren’t prepared to match for a untested, promising u20’s player.
As far as “developing our juniors” he has continually recruited from the Panthers. The Teds program is doing well, but that was all set up and ready prior to Brennan arriving. It was waiting on the ownership stuff to get sorted and the funding increased. Saying Garth did that really undermines and devalues the work Jamie McCormack and his team have done.
I suppose the real issue is what "value add" has Brennan done to improve the work done already by McCormack. Has he significantly added value the work done or flown on the coattails of Jamie.
Only the Titans will know that.
Brilliant comment Titanic. Sure we all had big expectations this year, but the team has been in every game so far and if a few things went differently we would be sitting pretty comfortably right now. The question still remains if those losses can be blamed on Brennan and if a better coach would have us in the top 6. However the nucleus of this side is very promising, and people cancelling their membership is really disappointing and only going to hurt the club.
Imagine if we had just lost 28-0 and then signed Tim Mannah like the Tigers? Things really aren’t that bad here people.
In hindsight after Titanic's post. Pulling the trigger on any coach that hasn't had a full two seasons with his desired roster isn't going to do anyone any favours. All it'll amount to is the beginning of another rebuilding phase. And I'm sure a few of us are done with that routine.
Good piece of writing. Nonetheless Brennan has to go. It’s been two years of misery, he hasn’t developed the players he said he would, the selections are bizarre at times, Fans are cancelling memberships and we are boring to watch.
They can’t ever play 80mins and can never get back to back wins.
Long before the Titans launched their mid-season review into Garth Brennan, players were going behind his back complaining about his methods to the club’s head of performance and culture, Mal Meninga.
In a worrying sign, players are failing to take responsibility for their own poor form and blaming Brennan for another troubled season on the glitter strip.
Brennan is the coach under most pressure in the NRL at the moment, with the review likely to decide whether he keeps his job.
Titans coach Garth Brennan. (AAP)
The win over the Broncos last weekend will buy him more time, but the Titans remain in the bottom four and at long odds to make the finals.
But the players - always looking for an easy excuse - are blaming the coach for the team’s lack of success.
Queensland coach Kevvie Walters is waiting in the wings should the club continue to falter.
I wouldn’t read into that at all ^, it was written by the Mole and I’d say he has no sources or facts to back it up. If the players were really “back stabbing” him they wouldn’t of turned up against Manly the week of review, and then again this week when there was so much talk about Brennan being on thin ice. The players probably could’ve had him sacked by now if they just threw in the towel the past month.
Can't see Walters coming here. I'd say he's biding his time until the Donkey's tear up Seibold's contract, and White & Co are out the door for signing him.Quote:
Originally Posted by Whats Doing