Mal Meninga’s heartfelt message to Gold Coast Titans fans
MAL MENINGA, The Courier-Mail
July 18, 2019 6:00am

I can understand if Titans fans are feeling tired and frustrated about the sheer amount of noise that has engulfed the club over the past few days.

I am feeling the same way.

But I wanted to use my column to tell Titans fans this simple truth: All of this noise is external.

None of the noise is coming from, or affecting, the club in any way.

The events of the past couple of days have placed the Titans in the eye of a media cyclone.

While the world around us might be swirling with hysteria and opinion from everyone under the sun having their say on what they think the club should or shouldn’t do, inside the club, things are calm and collected.

We get it. It’s rugby league. It is unfortunately the nature of the beast.

The State of Origin storm has blown over and moved on. Now the Titans, having parted ways with our coach in the middle of a disappointing season, have become Ground Zero for rugby league’s hysteria machine.

And like Queenslanders in a cyclone, the Titans are not wasting any time listening to or worrying about the howling outside our four walls. We’re inside, just getting on with what we need to do.

The majority of people mean well, and everyone is entitled to an opinion, of course.

None of that concerns us as a club. My only worry was that Titans fans might be finding themselves swept along in the chaos of people outside of the club telling us what we should and shouldn’t be doing.

People telling us who our next coach should be, who is the logical choice, the sensible choice, the left-field choice, the high-risk choice and the only choice.

People telling us the mistakes this club has made in the past, and the decisions we must make now to avoid disaster in the future.

Reporters acting as messengers for managers, breathlessly revealing every day about another name that has “put their name in the ring”, ruled themselves out of contention, been secretly contacted by the club, or who are being pursued by another club.

How many times in the past few days have you heard someone talking about the Titans begin a sentence with phrases like “I’m hearing”, or “sources close to the club” before declaring as “a certainty” any one of the 12 names linked to the Titans in the past four days?

Honestly, it is terrific that people are interested. But none of this has any effect at all on what the club is doing, and the process that we are going through.

So I wanted to use this column to tell Titans fans exactly what is going from the club’s point of view.

Firstly, the club is in good hands. We are under control, and we understand what we are doing.

The decisions that will be made about the Titans and the club’s future will be made in the interests of the club, and nothing else.

We have the right people here to choose a coach on merit, and who is the best fit for the club, not because someone was highly recommended by someone outside the club with their own agenda to run.

We are rebuilding a club here, and the changes that we are making are across the whole of the organisation and everyone within it holding themselves accountable to higher standards.

The players met as a group on Monday to discuss the road ahead. They are positive, holding themselves accountable, responding well to new direction and some honest truths.

As a club we are focused on finishing the season on a positive note, showing what we are capable of to our supporters, and to build a base for us to build on over the off-season and into next year.

As an organisation we have made significant ground in a number of areas this year, with league-leading work in areas like community, Physical Disabilities Rugby League, women’s rugby league and inclusion.

We are embracing our history, forging our identity, and are clear in the values, vision and mission that drive us every day.

The club is in good health, and getting stronger.

We still have work to do, of course. But this is work that will be done behind closed doors.

The decisions that we make will not be done as an exhibition or a sideshow, no matter how much certain people would like them to be.

This is not a popularity contest, or reality TV. We are building a club for the Gold Coast and the NRL to be proud of.

We will get it done.

We believe in what we are doing, we have a strategic direction we are committed to and we know where we are going.

We are the Titans. We’ve got this.