2018 Squad, Signings and Rumours Thread

[gotitans101_]

It's almost as if anyone we do sign doesn't take any pride in wearing the jersey, watching our D yesterday looked like a bunch of blokes with the mindset of 'nup, too hard' and just gave up on any half decent attempt the Dragons threw at us. I don't know what we do to fix that mentality but this has gone on long enough and the answer obviously isn't to just sign this bloke, sign that bloke, etc. It stems deeper than that.

[Marvin the Titan]

It's almost as if anyone we do sign doesn't take any pride in wearing the jersey, watching our D yesterday looked like a bunch of blokes with the mindset of 'nup, too hard' and just gave up on any half decent attempt the Dragons threw at us. I don't know what we do to fix that mentality but this has gone on long enough and the answer obviously isn't to just sign this bloke, sign that bloke, etc. It stems deeper than that.

Unfortunately it has been that way since the time of the Giants. We sign players looking to retire to the Goldy or players biding their time until they get a "real" contract. Peats is here because Parra couldn't fit him. Hayne was here because Parra didn't offer him a contract. Even Taylor was sent down the road by the Donkeys to "get some first grade experience." (They may have been genuinely shocked that they didn't get him back.) These are but a few examples. I could fill pages of others going right back to '88. Wally Lewis was another example.
I thought the Titans would be different. The new stadium, the big ticket major sponsor, it all looked like the real deal. For the past eleven seasons I have believed, and for two of those I thought we had arrived, but ....
I love this club, as I have all the incarnations that came before it. We talk them up at every opportunity and I have been there for the highs and lows. But the lows far, far outweigh the highs. I genuinely believed our time would come.
Watching yesterdays game I came to the realisation that it probably never will. This is our lot. It breaks my heart to accept it, but we are an "also ran" club. Always have been. Always will be. Don't get me wrong, we will occasionally make the finals. Maybe one time we may win a comp. But I now know, deep down, that this will always be the exception rather than than the rule. There is no passion for the club. No history. No local pride. Just a slapped together group of blokes playing footy. I don't even see them playing for each other, let alone for the club and the fans.
Coming to this realisation yesterday makes me feel sick with grief. It's like I have lost a family member, but I have put three decades of emotion into this club (including the Giants, Seagulls, Chargers) and just can't take the heartbreak any more. I will never walk away, but I can no longer bring the passion. Going to the footy is the highlight of my week. The pre-match anxiety and adrenalin that comes with, "this will be the day that starts it all" energises me. No longer. It is draining.
I don't know what the answer is. Maybe nobody does. There are so few people who have followed this journey for thirty years that perhaps there are not to many of us who appreciate the depth of the problem. I can't help but feel that the answer lies within Ryan James. The passion and loyalty he has for the club and the region is an inspiration for me. However, it does not seem to be an inspiration for his team mates. Perhaps he has difficulty articulating it in the sheds. Perhaps no one cares.
This current squad has more local product in it than ever before. If pride in the jersey, pride in the club, pride in the region and respect for the fans who have suffered the journey cannot be found now, than I doubt it ever will be.

[RavShamrock]

Yeah well expressed Marvin.
You're not alone that's for sure. You have voiced many of the member's emotions which is difficult because it is so against our first instincts for this club.
I'm with ya!

[Mr Bods]

Marvin I can relate totally to your pain, been through it all with you-but I still remember the sporting desolation of the GC between 1999-2006 so I just reflect on that when I go to the Titans/Suns game and think how good is this.
Local Juniors are the key to our success and it’s now coming along.

You will feel differently 830 on Sunday night when we get the sweetest win of all.

[Marvin the Titan]

Marvin I can relate totally to your pain, been through it all with you-but I still remember the sporting desolation of the GC between 1999-2006 so I just reflect on that when I go to the Titans/Suns game and think how good is this.
Local Juniors are the key to our success and it’s now coming along.

You will feel differently 830 on Sunday night when we get the sweetest win of all.

I sure hope so mate. I remember sitting in the stand as a schoolboy at Seagulls the day the Giants rolled the Broncos in ‘88. I think this would be just as special.

[Mexican titan]

Marvin - great post mate and as much as I hope you are wrong, there is so much truth in what you have said. Even with your comments about James, his good games are few and far between and it's like he is like the others who think "wow $500k to play footy on the Coast, how good is this" but do little for it. I agree that James loyalty has been great but he showed little passion yesterday, as did many of his mates.
I was so keen to go up to Suncorp on Sunday but after yesterday, no chance.

[teke]

Teke he used to be my favourite player, I would take him back in a heartbeat. He has bulked up a little I am not sure if he is as agile and quick, but he is a straight out footy player, we need more of them in our team.

Honestly i believe he has become a better half now because of his age. Experience has really helped his footy game, he's lost speed and agility but picked up in other areas

[Titansborn'n'bred]

Although there are many players to lay fault at for the sub par performances and team results thus far, I can’t see Elgey starting at 5/8 for many more weeks with his form this year to date and last year. If we’re going to start shaking things up it may start with introducing AJ Brimson to first grade. Brenko Lees due back soon and I don’t expect him to fix our defensive woes but he could replace Copley and offer something more in attack

[Titanic]

As King Wally used to say “it’s not how hold you are that matters when you take the field, the only number that matters is the one on your back”. If Elgey keeps shooting blanks then blood someone else ... what are we kindy teachers?

[JunctionBlock]

Gold Coast ramp up plans to bring Wallabies superstar Israel Folau back to rugby league
PETER BADEL, EXCLUSIVE, The Courier-Mail
March 28, 2018 7:00pm
Subscriber only
THE Titans will ramp-up plans to bring Israel Folau back to rugby league, with coach Garth Brennan revealing his interest in poaching the Wallabies star from the Australian Rugby Union.

Speaking exclusively with The Courier-Mail, Brennan said the Titans could build their club around Folau as NRL chief executive Todd Greenberg backed the Coast’s desire to lure Folau home to Queensland.

Folau is off-contract at season’s end and revealed a fortnight ago he was in no rush to sign a new deal with the ARU, opening the door for NRL clubs to make a play for the multi-code superstar.

Now the NRL’s poaching threat is real, with Brennan keen to hold talks with Folau, who turns 29 on Tuesday and is yet to commit to the Wallabies for next year’s rugby World Cup.

“Israel is definitely someone I’m interested in,” Brennan said ahead of the Easter Sunday derby against the Broncos, Folau’s former club.

“Ultimately, ‘Izzy’ is a good person and he would be a wonderful ambassador for our club.

“I’m sure there’s a lot of other clubs in the NRL also keen on him, but someone of his quality would help turn this club around.

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“If Israel is keen to come back to rugby league, I am keen to talk to him.”

The prospect of joining the Titans would represent a homecoming of sorts for Folau.

He grew up in Logan, 60km from the Gold Coast, and was first spotted by the Melbourne Storm as a teenager at Marsden State High.

Money could be one impediment to luring Folau home.

The 62-Test sensation earns around $2 million annually with the Waratahs and Australia, meaning he would have to take a significant pay cut to return to the NRL.

“Obviously his pay packet is an issue, but I’m certainly be willing to look at him,” Brennan said.

“I have to look at our salary cap position and see where things sit. I’m not sure if the NRL can help out and whether they would assist us in bringing him back to the game ... that’s something I need to look into.”

Greenberg welcomed the Titans’ interest in Folau, but says the much-vaunted “war chest” that existed under former NRL Dave Smith to help poach players from rival codes is no longer in place.

It means if the Titans want to snare Folau, they will have to solely fund the poaching bid.

“Everyone agrees Israel is a super player and he would create interest at any club he joined,” Greenberg said.

“But any club wanting to sign him would need to do so from their existing salary cap.

“There is no central fund for helping clubs to purchase players, and the clubs now have a much greater salary cap at $9.3 million so they can afford star players within their own means.”

Folau hasn’t played in the NRL since 2010, when he scored 20 tries in as many games for the Broncos before his shock move to the AFL.

Former Brisbane skipper Darren Lockyer, a former teammate of Folau, believes the former Origin and Test flyer would be a sensation at the Titans.

“I’m sure league fans would love to see Israel back in our game,” Lockyer said.

“Izzy has a good reputation, he’s a great player and people will come and watch him play footy.

“The Titans will have learnt their lesson from spending a lot of money on one player from the Jarryd Hayne experience.

“You have to buy a player for the right reasons and they have to win football games. If a player has profile and can bring corporate dollars, that’s great, but it must come secondary to what they deliver on the field. The Titans need a player who can add value to them.

“Israel could come back and play fullback. The Titans have Michael Gordon and he’s getting on, so he could be a good fit for the club.”

Broncos skipper and former Origin teammate Darius Boyd said: “It’d be cool to have Israel back. He is a humble guy who has done a lot in the game.

“He is the face of rugby now. He is their man. I don’t see the ARU letting him go. I reckon they will throw the kitchen sink at him.”

[Titanic Believer]

Love to have Izzy back but the kind of money needed is what would be paid to a top play maker not a running full back.

[Titanic]

Nothing in this ... he's gorn for life and after what Gordon has produced so far it's insulting.

[DIEHARD]

Agree with you two on Izzy. Let him stay in union, he made his decision. Any investment in him would be to do the old, star power card. Which never worked for us with Hayne or Idris. He isn't a key positional player.

[JunctionBlock]

Brisbane probably has room in the cap for him....

[DIEHARD]

Brisbane probably has room in the cap for him....

Lots of room in that giant brown paper bag.