Written By
THE LURKER @TheNRLLurker
I'm back with your mid-week dose of rugby league news, and while it might be off-season, there's always plenty happening.
Today, I've got some mail on Shannon Boyd's future and some backroom movement at the Dragons.
Read on for the details.
Getty Images
#1 Gold Coast keen to shift pricey prop
Former Test prop Shannon Boyd came to the Titans this year as a top flight signing from Canberra on a rich four season deal worth over $2 million.
But after just one season, the Titans are trying to offload the giant front-rower.
New coach Justin Holbrook is clearly not a fan of Boyd, who managed just 13 games in his maiden season at the club and failed to make any great impression.
Holbrook is looking to make changes to his roster, with moving Boyd on near the top of his list.
No NRL club is likely to take on the big forward’s hefty contract, and his best bet of finding a club appears to be in Super League.
The Titans are expected to offer to pay some of Boyd’s wages to sweeten the deal.
Hopefully the exchange rate helps us out with the British pound. Don't see him going though, he's a country boy with a family. Better off pushing the early retirement barrow with him. He might lose interest in rugby league again.
Surely some NRL club will take him at a discount. At least one club should be interested in buying duds. Now let's see that club is..........the Titans. So whoever at the Titans can swing this deal would be able to sell sand to Arabs.
Hopefully he is the first of many.
The Japanese are still hunting whales aren't they?
Four reasons to escape to Queensland: Sun, Surf, Sand & the Titans.
JB has a good point about it being unlikely he would want to live in England, but if we could somehow sell him to St Helens and get Luke Thompson in return, we would be stacked for middle forwards.
Signing Boyd was ridiculous
The moment JWall signed his contract extension we should have withdrawn our offer to Boyd
Mr Integrity Annesley though wouldn’t withdraw it because his image is more important than our clubs roster and salary cap balance
Now we are stuck with a Lemon who does a calf when running a lap of the oval and is out for multiple weeks with concussion when given a kiss on his forehead by his Mrs
Disastrous signing taking up an outrageous $600k a season on our cap
Thanks Garth Thanks Graeme
Englishman Alex Gerrard trialling with Gold Coast Titans after signing with ISC side Tweed Seagulls
https://www.goldcoastbulletin.com.au
HE’S the latest Englishman hoping to make his NRL mark on the Gold Coast but Alex Gerrard is putting no pressure on himself to become the Titans’ first major Super League success story.
A veteran of more than 100 appearances for former Super League side Widnes between 2010-18, the 28-year-old prop has signed with Tweed Seagulls for next season after spending this year with Intrust Super Cup rivals Mackay.
As part of his Tweed deal, Gerrard has been given a six-week train-and-trial opportunity with the Titans, whose flirtations with players from the UK’s top competition have so far proven largely unsuccessful.
While Canberra’s charge to this year’s NRL grand final was underpinned by Englishmen Josh Hodgson, Elliott Whitehead, John Bateman and Ryan Sutton, Gold Coast’s previous signing of compatriots Richie Mathers, Dan Sarginson and Joe Greenwood met a meek end.
Joined at Titans training by mid-season English recruit Kallum Watkins, Gerrard said he was desperate to prove himself in the NRL but conceded his future on the Glitter Strip was ultimately out of his hands.
“I’m just going to try and work as hard as I can and come the end of (the trial) I’ll see what happens,” the 102kg, 188cm forward said.
“You can’t be too confident. I just want to put myself in the best possible position and put the (contract) decision in someone else’s hands.
“It’s been really good (so far), I’m really enjoying it. The boys have been really welcoming.
“I’ve always wanted to come to Australia so I thought I’d try and make it into an NRL system. When Widnes got relegated (from the Super League in 2018) I thought it was a perfect opportunity to come over.
“I was offered a contract with Toulouse and that was a full-time deal (but coming to Australia) was something that I’ve always wanted to do. It’s probably the most competitive rugby league in the world so it’s trying to compete with the best and test yourself.”
In 20 ISC appearances for Mackay this season, Gerrard averaged 106 running metres and 30 tackles as the Cutters finished 11th.
Regardless of the outcome of his Titans chance, he said he now hoped to help Tweed build on this year’s first finals appearance since 2014.
“I really enjoyed it this year, it was a really good experience. It was very competitive … but at the end of the season my manager and I said (to Mackay) we wanted to experience all of Australia,” Gerrard said.
“We spoke to Woolfy (coach Ben Woolf) down at Tweed and we met up and things spiralled from there. Tweed have been improving every year.
“If I go back to Tweed then hopefully we can improve on last year and have a really good season.”
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
GL lead NSW cup in tackle breaks with 196, the next closest was 104. He also made the most post contact meters, 1535 and the next closest was 1461. He also topped the stats for run meters with 4513 with the next closest being 4011, and total runs with 433 compared to 397 for the second best. He's obviously a weapon in attack and his runs and post contact metres would be a huge asset for us, I've just heard that his defence isn't too great? Does anyone know if his defence is too much of a weakness for the NRL?
Don't know anything about this prop but I'm sure he can't be any worse than Stockwell. I really hope that Holbrook has the guts to replace Don on the wing this year. GL would bring some excitement to the backline
That's awesome! Would love to see him back. Much more x-factor than most of our backs, and he's a local
Bring back Kevin Gordon