Gold Coast to make skipper Nate Myles a Titan for life

[DIEHARD]

Gold Coast will table a new deal to make skipper Nate Myles a Titan for life

GOLD Coast will table a new deal to make skipper Nate Myles a Titan for life to stave off $1 million poaching raids from four NRL rivals for the Queensland Origin enforcer.

The Sunday Mail can reveal Myles’ contract saga has taken a dramatic twist, with the Titans now fighting to retain a player they baulked at signing just a week ago.

Speaking for the first time about his future, Myles revealed he will ink a new contract “soon” — and Titans coach Neil Henry confirmed he wants to keep his captain until the end of 2017.

But whether Myles formally commits to the Titans will hinge on the club’s salary-cap position after four Sydney-based rivals registered interest in the Maroons enforcer in recent days.

Last week, the Myles camp was rocked by Gold Coast’s reluctance to activate a one-year option in the club’s favour for 2016, leaving his future at the Titans up in the air.

That stance sparked a surge of interest from NRL suitors, suddenly giving Myles greater bargaining power as he weighs up the most important contract of his decorated career.

Myles turns 30 in June and has been a warrior, overcoming a groin operation and two bouts of shoulder surgery.

But the inspirational prop insists he is not a spent force at the Titans as he looks to ramp-up his bid for Test and Origin jumpers.

“My future will be sorted soon,” said the Titans skipper, who is pragmatic about the club’s handling of his contract saga.

“It’s just one of those things that happens, but I’d like to get it done soon.

“Look, it’s a business these days and everyone is aware of that.

“What lays ahead for me, I don’t know.

“To be honest, I am enjoying my football more than ever now and age doesn’t really faze me.

“I feel like an old wise man when I compare myself to some of the boys here. The grey hairs are coming, I’ve had a stressful life, but I am looking forward to what lays ahead because I still feel I can get better as a player.”

Ultimately, the sticking point appears to be money or, more specifically, Myles’ contract value.

Currently on more than $500,000 a season, Myles faces the prospect of a pay cut to remain at the Titans. The Coast’s one-year option expires on May 31, but Henry revealed he is not forcing Myles out and will table an extension to finish his career at the Titans.

“Nate’s contract, the way it is worded at the moment, doesn’t suit the club, but I want him to stay,” Henry said.

“Nate is within his rights to field offers from other clubs, but we will back what we are trying to do for the future.

“It doesn’t suit the club to take up a one-year option and have him off-contract again next year.

“The option is in our favour, so we are within our rights to say let’s negotiate a longer term and hopefully Nate can see out his career here.

“If Nate looks after himself he has good time left in him. He brings leadership to this club. He has a connection to the community so there is certainly positives in keeping Nate for more than one year.”

Myles’ manager Chris Orr confirmed the interest from rival clubs and plans to meet with Titans hierarchy this week to find common ground.

“Whatever the deal is, it needs to tick all the boxes,” Orr said.

“All things being equal, I believe Nate’s preference is to stay at the Titans when you consider he has business interests on the Gold Coast and is the current captain.

“But there are some real positives regarding the clubs who have shown interest in securing his services. They have strong rosters and have been successful for long periods of time.”

Myles has been linked with the Storm, but Melbourne operations chief Frank Ponissi said the club will not make a formal offer.

“Nate is a wonderful player but it’s not about whether we are interested or not, we simply can’t afford him,” Ponissi said.

The Titans skipper has had a slow start to the season and while he was strong against the Broncos on Friday night, Myles is not taking his Origin jumper for granted.

“It’s funny with Origin, it comes around closer than people think but it’s the last thing on my mind at the moment,” he said.

“I need to be consistent at the Titans, as a side we need to be consistent and our training needs to be more consistent for our form to replicate that.

“There is always room for improvement. We are getting into the season now and we need to start getting some wins or it won’t be enough for us.

“We can all improve and it starts with the senior guys like myself.”

http://www.couriermail.com.au/sport/nrl/

[TitansFan92]

He is not worth 1 million over 2 years imo. maybe 350k a year max.

[Titan4Life]

Depending on his form in the next few weeks, Myles should definitely be resigned IMO. He is not a guy that bends the line but he is more of a workhorse that tires the defence. As someone said earlier, his defence up the middle is solid and he often prevents us from getting cut up in the middle of the ruck. Nate is also a great leader and a great character to have around the club. In the last few weeks since being told he is playing for a contract, he has stepped it up and is playing like we know he can.

[Supergoose]

$500k is the new $350k.

[Titanic]

Reads like the one year option was paying overs or something else unsavoury … I would have been happy to exercise the option if it was reasonable but two years would be the limit.

[Smakked]

Let him go get some new blood in.