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  1. #1

    Default Mal Meninga’s heartfelt message to Gold Coast Titans fans

    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.

  2. #2
    Administrator DIEHARD's Avatar
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    WTF Mal, what you are denying us is the very fabric of spectator sport. And you all should damn well listen to the fans! Titans need to lose the siege mentality.

    Quote Originally Posted by Mal
    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.
    Oh so we are howling are we. Just empty wind.

    Quote Originally Posted by Mal
    But this is work that will be done behind closed doors.
    Quote Originally Posted by Mal
    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.
    So yea... I read this as message that keeps us, fans, who have been loyal backers of the club at arm's length. And paints us as being simple, naive, clueless and inconsequential.

    When what is needed is a rally call not a bucket of cold water and the door slammed on us. We need to activate the fanbase and re-engage with the ones that have slipped away.

    Quote Originally Posted by Mal
    None of the noise is coming from, or affecting, the club in any way.
    Noise. Our views are just noise? I am seriously infuriated reading this. And it should damn well affect the club.

    If this attitude continues I will, for the first time, be reconsidering my Memberships with the club.
    Last edited by DIEHARD; 19-07-19 at 12:20 AM.
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  3. #3
    Rep Player shamus's Avatar
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    I think you are reading too much into it DH. I think the 'howling' Mal refers to is main stream media* and social media. Take this League of Titans forum out of play and his post makes sense. Well, that's the way I see it. Perhaps I am wrong.

    * Including individuals like Gould, Fittler etc.


    P.S. A lot of 'Titans fans' on Facebook are simple, naive and clueless.
    Last edited by shamus; 19-07-19 at 06:20 AM.

  4. #4

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    Yeah that’s the way I saw it too. Mal is saying that we as Titans will not listen to the howling outside of our club by the media

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    When Mal says "we", he is including the fans in that. The howling he is referring to is from the likes of Fittler who want to see us relocated.

  6. #6
    Moderator JunctionBlock's Avatar
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    I can see what y'all are saying about Mals message but I can see what DH is saying too. If they are only listening to people inside the club then they risk losing, or have already lost another chunk of members when they aren't listening or haven't listened to us screaming for months now.

  7. #7
    Administrator DIEHARD's Avatar
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    I'm happy that you guys feel this way. And I not only value your views but they also shape my own.

    But I read and re-read this at 2am and to me, it was just so layered.

    We shouldn't be chasing after boogeymen, we shouldn't let it distract us and we shouldn't give them red meat either.

    Like some fans rightfully pointed out about making a swift statement about the concept of a partial Brisbane relocation. And how unhelpful phrases such as 'Last Stand' are.

    I worry this club is disappearing into itself. And we have seen so many real world examples of the dangers of living in an echo chamber and only being surrounded by believers.

    I also say this in the context of having seen sssooo many loyal Titans fans making statements about their memberships or following the club and others who have switched teams (And I don't hold it against them.) I see giant cracks forming.

    To me it is the difference between a club and a team. A club is part of the fabric of a community and the culture isn't exactly engineered. Where as it seems our club seems to think that if they just start winning football games it will be all ok. Club vs Team. Winning will help but it is only a large part of the overall equation.

    Anyway, I appreciate your comments and I always feel better reading them. I'm prepared to give them the benefit of the doubt this time. But they really need to turn down the siege mentality, especially when it shuts the fans out.
    PUT EM TO THE SWORD! SHOW SOME STEEL!

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  8. #8
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    Just think of it as a long-winded, corporatised version of the "F the haters" comment that you would see 10 times a day on social media. I don't read too much into that article. I think it was Mal just trying to provide some reassurance to the fans amidst a bunch of confusion from muppets like Phil Gould, Freddy "Finger Me" Fittler and Peter Badel. Essentially asking us to stay the course as supporters because the club is going nowhere and the administrators are blocking out the media circus (as they should).

  9. #9
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    DH is easily the nicest person out of all of us so his firing up over the Mal thing surprises me a lot.
    I didn’t mind it as my interpretation was he was saying to me that they won’t let what I refer to as “the Nsw/Drongoes Hate Media” to affect how he and the admin go about things.

    I found that comforting and I think we need to start having a siege mentality in our club and city.

    We have been screwed over for 31 years now.

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mr Bods View Post
    I found that comforting and I think we need to start having a siege mentality in our club and city.
    Yea it should be Gold Coast vs the World. This would be an inspired strategy.

    Quote Originally Posted by Mr Bods View Post
    DH is easily the nicest person out of all of us so his firing up over the Mal thing surprises me a lot.
    Naaawwww, thanks.
    PUT EM TO THE SWORD! SHOW SOME STEEL!

    Moejoe: "REMEMBER!!!! SLIP - SLOP - SLAP in the sun. Skin Cancer is a growing problem. It could happen to anyone!!"
    TITANS, DIEHARDS, WARRINGTON WOLVES, MAROONS, KANGAROOS, HONG KONG THUNDER

  11. #11
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    A unique and important role: Why the NRL needs the Titans
    Author
    Mal Meninga
    NRL.com Columnist
    Timestamp
    Sat 20 Jul 2019, 12:00 PM

    There are many good reasons why the Gold Coast Titans are viable, relevant, necessary and prepared, to continue their important role for rugby league in the northern NSW-south-east Queensland areas.

    That’s a pretty good place to start. No other club in the NRL straddles the border of the two chief rugby league states of our competition.

    This gives the Titans a unique place in our sport – one we are not taking for granted and instead are using as a springboard to grow our great game, while at the same time produce a winning NRL team.


    The events of this week have led people to debate where the Titans should be relocated as the second Brisbane-based team, or whether they should be given new ownership, or closed down altogether.

    People think that because they have no idea what's going on behind the curtains of the Titans. They see a second NRL coach leaving in just over two years to jump to conclusions about the club, and what we're actually doing in the community, and how important this area is for rugby league.

    There's 5,000 juniors in the Gold Coast area and another 2,000 across the border in the Northern Rivers area. We are starting to make some real inroads – our area is one of the very few who have actually had increases in participation at the grassroots level.

    Yes, we've gone through some difficult time and challenges at the elite level, but I'm telling you the Titans are a success story in the lower age groups.

    The Northern Rivers Titans beat the Western Rams 18-6 in the CRL’s Andrew Johns Cup final for Under-16 teams from regional NSW in April this year. The Tweed Seagulls beat Wynnum-Manly 28-24 to win the QRL’s Mal Meninga Cup for Under-18s in May this year.

    So rugby league is a growing force here. We don't want to relinquish this area to the AFL or other codes to come and steal our thunder with our juniors.


    We are active in the community with disability rugby league, touch footy and now we've got two women’s teams attached to the Titans feeder clubs – Burleigh Bears and Tweed Seagulls – along with the female competitions that sit under those two.

    One of the Burleigh Bears players, Millie Boyle, is from the Cobargo-Bermagui area and made her NSW Women’s State of Origin debut in June.

    In the NRL squad currently, we have Jai Arrow, Jai Whitbread, Michael Gordon, AJ Brimson, Anthony Don among 10 locals in our team. We've got 14 of those players from the winning Andrew Johns Cup side signed up.

    So we are the second south-east Queensland team. We deserve that. I acknowledge again that we have had our ups and downs, but we believe we've got the right ownership model.

    We do have some difficulties around our cap, but with that in mind just give us 12 months to two years and that will be under control as well. Then people will start to realise how well this club is going.

    The review I completed and handed to the board last Monday was never a witch-hunt about the coach. It was a review of the football department overall and how all those parts can do things a lot better.

    We're going to start what is virtually a football eco-system that is strong and durable, so it doesn't matter what coach is at the helm.

    It will be called the Junior Titans System that will protect ourselves in the future from any challenges we have at the top level. So our development system, pathways, community programs – in other words, the way we do things – we want to make rock solid.

    We build from the grassroots up. We make our community work even more fantastic, attract even more juniors into our leagues, we want to strengthen the ties with our two Intrust Super Cup teams.

    The eventual product will be this unique connection to our rugby league community that no other club can equal. We want to be the strongest rugby league community club in the game.

    Our grip in this area is already unique in that we have a foot in three great pathways already – the Andrew Johns and Laurie Daley (under Under-18s) Cups in NSW and the Mal Meninga Cup in Queensland.

    Rugby league needs to remain in this region.

    https://www.nrl.com/news/2019/07/20/...Wjcx9UsDMWpxc0

    Couple more years to wait till we get our cap sorted.

  12. #12

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by JunctionBlock View Post
    A unique and important role: Why the NRL needs the Titans
    Author
    Mal Meninga
    NRL.com Columnist
    Timestamp
    Sat 20 Jul 2019, 12:00 PM

    There are many good reasons why the Gold Coast Titans are viable, relevant, necessary and prepared, to continue their important role for rugby league in the northern NSW-south-east Queensland areas.

    That’s a pretty good place to start. No other club in the NRL straddles the border of the two chief rugby league states of our competition.

    This gives the Titans a unique place in our sport – one we are not taking for granted and instead are using as a springboard to grow our great game, while at the same time produce a winning NRL team.


    The events of this week have led people to debate where the Titans should be relocated as the second Brisbane-based team, or whether they should be given new ownership, or closed down altogether.

    People think that because they have no idea what's going on behind the curtains of the Titans. They see a second NRL coach leaving in just over two years to jump to conclusions about the club, and what we're actually doing in the community, and how important this area is for rugby league.

    There's 5,000 juniors in the Gold Coast area and another 2,000 across the border in the Northern Rivers area. We are starting to make some real inroads – our area is one of the very few who have actually had increases in participation at the grassroots level.

    Yes, we've gone through some difficult time and challenges at the elite level, but I'm telling you the Titans are a success story in the lower age groups.

    The Northern Rivers Titans beat the Western Rams 18-6 in the CRL’s Andrew Johns Cup final for Under-16 teams from regional NSW in April this year. The Tweed Seagulls beat Wynnum-Manly 28-24 to win the QRL’s Mal Meninga Cup for Under-18s in May this year.

    So rugby league is a growing force here. We don't want to relinquish this area to the AFL or other codes to come and steal our thunder with our juniors.


    We are active in the community with disability rugby league, touch footy and now we've got two women’s teams attached to the Titans feeder clubs – Burleigh Bears and Tweed Seagulls – along with the female competitions that sit under those two.

    One of the Burleigh Bears players, Millie Boyle, is from the Cobargo-Bermagui area and made her NSW Women’s State of Origin debut in June.

    In the NRL squad currently, we have Jai Arrow, Jai Whitbread, Michael Gordon, AJ Brimson, Anthony Don among 10 locals in our team. We've got 14 of those players from the winning Andrew Johns Cup side signed up.

    So we are the second south-east Queensland team. We deserve that. I acknowledge again that we have had our ups and downs, but we believe we've got the right ownership model.

    We do have some difficulties around our cap, but with that in mind just give us 12 months to two years and that will be under control as well. Then people will start to realise how well this club is going.

    The review I completed and handed to the board last Monday was never a witch-hunt about the coach. It was a review of the football department overall and how all those parts can do things a lot better.

    We're going to start what is virtually a football eco-system that is strong and durable, so it doesn't matter what coach is at the helm.

    It will be called the Junior Titans System that will protect ourselves in the future from any challenges we have at the top level. So our development system, pathways, community programs – in other words, the way we do things – we want to make rock solid.

    We build from the grassroots up. We make our community work even more fantastic, attract even more juniors into our leagues, we want to strengthen the ties with our two Intrust Super Cup teams.

    The eventual product will be this unique connection to our rugby league community that no other club can equal. We want to be the strongest rugby league community club in the game.

    Our grip in this area is already unique in that we have a foot in three great pathways already – the Andrew Johns and Laurie Daley (under Under-18s) Cups in NSW and the Mal Meninga Cup in Queensland.

    Rugby league needs to remain in this region.

    https://www.nrl.com/news/2019/07/20/...Wjcx9UsDMWpxc0

    Couple more years to wait till we get our cap sorted.
    Was this the same as the Sunday mail story about: hands off, broncos? Was he involved here when any of those were poached and did he do enough?


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