Brennan and staff sharing apartment while settling into the Coast
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Garth Brennan and Titans staff living under one roof
https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sp...16c8f9d3acbdad
LUKE Burt, league great, sleeps on a trundle bed.
In the lounge room.
His makeshift quarters rolled out alongside an open suitcase, which spills over with Gold Coast training gear.
Yet the bag, it isn’t his.
No, it belongs to Titans head of medical, Craig Catterick, whose room is down the hall.
But given he also shares with Hayden Knowles, Titans head of performance ... well, the pair can only move between their two single beds with said suitcase removed.
And so here it is, in the lounge room. Beside Burt.
“Which makes things a little cramped,” grins Garth Brennan, new Gold Coast coach.
“But we’re surviving OK.”
Seven weeks after signing on at Titans HQ, The Saturday Telegraph can today take you inside Brennan’s modern, if slightly squeezy, beachside apartment, which houses not only him, but much of his brains trust.
With almost all his staff having also shifted north from NSW, the NRL’s newest coach is now hosting them in an apartment complex on Surfers Paradise Esplanade.
Titans coach Garth Brennan and staff in the flat they are all living in presently at Surfers Paradise. Picture Glenn Hampson
Apart from housing Knowles, Catterick and Burt, his assistant coach, incoming trainer Scott Campbell also lives nearby. Only Craig Hodges, Brennan’s other assistant, is already based locally.
And as for how it’s going?
“Without giving too much away to our wives,” Brennan laughs, “we’re having a good time.
“It’s a fantastic spot, overlooking the beach.
“I actually picked it out because my family and I, we’ve been coming to this very complex on holidays for 16 years.”
Quizzed on the biggest problem the group was facing in their new digs, Brennan continues: “Easy, dinner. There hasn’t been a night where anyone has offered to cook, so we’re eating out.
“Thankfully, a good friend of mine owns a nearby Italian place, Alfresco. That’s always first choice.”
While each of the group will be in their own homes by January, Brennan admits the current situation also has plenty of bonuses.
Take the first team meeting of each day, which occurs during a swim in the Pacific Ocean.
A conversation continuing, too, late into the night as they kick back with a few beers, the Ashes telecast playing in the background.
“So we’re talking footy 24/7,” the coach admits.
Which is essential for Brennan, who has never worked with Campbell. Nor Burt and Knowles, who the household dubs “the twins”.
“But I’ve brought them all on board,” the coach says, “because they’re the best for me and this club.”
Of course, you should also know most of these men have young *families.
The weeks they currently spend apart are among the great, unseen sacrifices shaping Gold Coast’s 2018 season.
Take Brennan, who has three children still in Newcastle with wife Rachael — Macy (16), Guy (12) and Halle (7).
“But knowing we’ll all be together from next year,” he says, “that’s the light at the end of the tunnel.”
Of course, it also helps that Brennan, as head coach, has the apartment’s master bedroom.
Complete with ensuite and *balcony access.
A veranda Burt can see too ... albeit from his trundle bed.
