Should we have more Kiwis and Islanders then we do now?

[The Mole]

I love nothing more than than the team having majority Qeenslander's. New South Welshmen like Bailey, Bird, Gordan etc... have proved reliable while the past few years I've been proud that we have been one of the NRL clubs with the most players representing in the Indigenous All Stars team. And already we have recruited a promising Pom.

But should we have more Kiwis and Islanders then we do now?

I've love to see a Titan in a Kiwi jersey. In fact the first and last Kiwi to ever played for NZD was Jake Webster in 07. While we all know The Gold Coast is home to over 43,000 Kiwis and others more with pacific islander heritage. There is a low percentage of the 40k that do support the Titans but we had we more kiwi players, at least 20% would support the Titans and the rest would have our club as No.2 in their hearts.
Not only do we have lack of kiwis but also Pacific Islanders. We have already got the PNG flair in the likes of Mead, the hulking Dom Peyroux, Burleigh forward Louis Fanene and handy acquisition Mark Ioane with kiwi heritage, but only David and Dom will likely named at all in 2013.
their is no doubt that their an abundance of talent in the Pacific Islands, a former player said Fiji have players like Marika Koribete everywhere. Young players like Mead,Koribete, Hurrell, Waqa, Uate etc... add strike to their respective teams.

[Titanic]

No reason not to but I think we have one of the most multi-cultural teams in the league. PNG, Cook Islands, Solomons, Kiwis, Philippino's, a Pommie (or two if you count the CEO) ... we even managed to clone Luke Bailey with Matt White.

[DIEHARD]

I think there is a distinct lack of Kiwis in a city where there is a lot, so it should reflect that.

I was hoping that Bodene Thompson would be our break out Kiwi. Maybe for the Wests Tigers.

A few Kiwi players also offers an in for supporters with Kiwi heritage. You are dead right on that The Mole. Becoming even the #2 club of choice for New Zealanders would be huge.

It's strategies like this that will make us a powerhouse. Strategy to recruit Kiwi fans, strategy to recruit Queensland fans and close to my heart and much much neglected... Brisbane based fans.

[The Mole]

No reason not to but I think we have one of the most multi-cultural teams in the league. PNG, Cook Islands, Solomons, Kiwis, Philippino's, a Pommie (or two if you count the CEO) ... we even managed to clone Luke Bailey with Matt White.

Yes we did clone Bailey but I don't feel we're one of the most multicultural clubs, in fact I feel as though we're one of the least. I believe we need to send our scouts to the pacific islands to find the next Konrad Hurrell etc.. and purchase more kiwi players.

I was hoping that Bodene Thompson would be our break out Kiwi. Maybe for the Wests Tigers.

I hoped so as well.

A few Kiwi players also offers an in for supporters with Kiwi heritage. You are dead right on that The Mole. Becoming even the #2 club of choice for New Zealanders would be huge.

It's strategies like this that will make us a powerhouse. Strategy to recruit Kiwi fans, strategy to recruit Queensland fans and close to my heart and much much neglected... Brisbane based fans.

Thanks.Exactly, we market the gold coast community. We've already got locals in the side which inspire juniors but we need more kiwis/Polynesian players to reach a bigger audience. Even if we become NZD second favourite team, that will still be fantastic.

[DavidBouveng]

the biggest stumbling block to this is keebra park being aligned with the tigers.

they get most of the young kiwi talent and tigers get first crack at them.

there are still other ways and places to find good kiwi talent, but the one on our absolute doorstep is committed to a team from sydney...

[Hail Sezer]

As a kiwi myself I have never been able to work out why the Titans isn't full of them. Especially when every man and his dog is moving over there and it's any kiwis favourite place to go because its so much different to what the majority of the climate etc is over here.

And believe me there is some extremely good young talent coming through over here and many of them would be more than happy to move to the gc and play footy. We just need the scouts to be looking out for them. Particularly union players who can easily make the conversion to league. Take Hurrell for example, I remember seeing him play union in high school 2-3 years ago. He was decent. However the 1st XV centre at my high school, Ngani Laumape, I consider to be significantly better than Hurrell was. Needless to say Ngani made New Zealand secondary schools rugby team last year, was offered a contract from an ITM cup union team and was signed by the jr warriors. Sorry for this long anecdote but it's players like this that we need to be looking out for.

I could list a handful of players who are playing 1st XV union over here who could make it in the nrl and would be willing if given the chance. Our scouter's just need to be on the look out.

[The Mole]

the biggest stumbling block to this is keebra park being aligned with the tigers.

they get most of the young kiwi talent and tigers get first crack at them.

there are still other ways and places to find good kiwi talent, but the one on our absolute doorstep is committed to a team from sydney...

exactly

As a kiwi myself I have never been able to work out why the Titans isn't full of them. Especially when every man and his dog is moving over there and it's any kiwis favourite place to go because its so much different to what the majority of the climate etc is over here.

And believe me there is some extremely good young talent coming through over here and many of them would be more than happy to move to the gc and play footy. We just need the scouts to be looking out for them. Particularly union players who can easily make the conversion to league. Take Hurrell for example, I remember seeing him play union in high school 2-3 years ago. He was decent. However the 1st XV centre at my high school, Ngani Laumape, I consider to be significantly better than Hurrell was. Needless to say Ngani made New Zealand secondary schools rugby team last year, was offered a contract from an ITM cup union team and was signed by the jr warriors. Sorry for this long anecdote but it's players like this that we need to be looking out for.

I could list a handful of players who are playing 1st XV union over here who could make it in the nrl and would be willing if given the chance. Our scouter's just need to be on the look out.

i agree HS i have never been able to work out why the Titans isn't full of them. Personally i would love a list of players you'd recommend, just someone from the titans have a look at them.

[ChargerPete]

the biggest stumbling block to this is keebra park being aligned with the tigers.

they get most of the young kiwi talent and tigers get first crack at them.

there are still other ways and places to find good kiwi talent, but the one on our absolute doorstep is committed to a team from sydney...

Tigers can keep Keebra Imo. I will have to disagree with a few of you guys here. I used to go watch Keebra at most games, even travelled to Brisbane and Toowoomba to watch them. That was when they actually had local juniors in the side, the only Polynesian was Jamaal Lolesi.
I haven't been to one of there games in years, the reason? No local juniors.
I live about 100 metres down the road from the school, I see the players a couple of times a week, they are all polynesian.
Why? because Greg Lenton is a hack coach, he is using these boys because they develop faster than the Aussie kids. They are men physically at 15yo.
They can batter the smaller Aussie kids into submission.
Because of their size, they are getting a foot in the door at this age. And the little Aussie guy gets left behind until he develops some size 3 years later.
The Warriors are already most Kiwis second team, most follow Union anyway so they go for them in League.
My missus is a Kiwi, and so are a lot of my mates, they are staunch to NZ in general, so I fail to see how filling the Titans full of Polynesians, would create more support. Warriors fans outnumber us at games anyway.

Regards Pete.

[DavidBouveng]

It's good to hear another side of story Pete. I get what your saying,it's a shame if Keebra are abusing the faster development of the young kiwi lads, but I don't think anyone would want to fill the team with them. I think the topic was more about having at least a few though to reflect the kiwi population on the coast.

[Titanic]

I reckon our issue is about keeping Coast talent on the Coast no matter what their heritage.

[ChargerPete]

It's good to hear another side of story Pete. I get what your saying,it's a shame if Keebra are abusing the faster development of the young kiwi lads, but I don't think anyone would want to fill the team with them. I think the topic was more about having at least a few though to reflect the kiwi population on the coast.

I am sorry David to have used your post, but it was the one that was close to my heart. Not a stab at you personally mate.
I respect the Titans for not filling their squad full of Polynesians.
I am a born and bred Southport boy, and I only want to see local boys get a go. 60% would do me, if they want to put a few guys from mixed backgrounds in, all well and good.
I think though that the NRL, needs to look at what happened in the super league in England. Restrict to 4/5 imports.
We have already seen, the sillyness with Polynesians, not knowing what state or country to play for.
It needs to be changed to where you were born, full stop.
I can see state of origin being 17 on 17 Polynesians, in the next 10 years.

[mup23]

It would've been good if Shaun Johnson wasn't stolen from us. How many other Kiwis have been stolen from us in the same fashion?

[Hail Sezer]

Shaun Johnson was stolen from us? What?

[mup23]

Shaun Johnson was stolen from us? What?

His dad sent a video to the Burleigh Bears, the guy in charge at Burleigh (a Kiwi) wanted him to be eligible for the NZ national team so he sent the video to the Warriors

[Hail Sezer]

Oh wow I never knew that. He was a touch footy star over here during high school so I just presumed he took a natural path through to the Warriors.