2022 Squad, Signings and Rumours Thread

[Whats Doing]

Talakai is destroying Manly. 2 tries and 3 try assists after only 30 minutes and 160 metres. He could have scored all of the 1st 4 tries. himself. This is the type of player we should be targeting when he becomes available as he is so versatile and powerful in attack and defence.

The bloke is a beast

[Hail Sezer]

Talakai is destroying Manly. 2 tries and 3 try assists after only 30 minutes and 160 metres. He could have scored all of the 1st 4 tries. himself. This is the type of player we should be targeting when he becomes available as he is so versatile and powerful in attack and defence.

The bloke is a beast

Probably my fave player to watch in the entire NRL at the moment

Don’t think a guy like him would be a priority target for us when we have such pressing needs elsewhere, a salary cap and trouble pulling players out of Sydney. Would be fun tho

Maybe the Fifita to centre move has been inspired by Talakai’s form

[Titslover]

Talakai is destroying Manly. 2 tries and 3 try assists after only 30 minutes and 160 metres. He could have scored all of the 1st 4 tries. himself. This is the type of player we should be targeting when he becomes available as he is so versatile and powerful in attack and defence.

The bloke is a beast

Fifita is literally the same player as this bloke, if not better. Chuck him on the left edge of that Sharks backline today and he’d do the exact same stuff that Talakai has been doing. The problem is the way we’re getting him the ball, wouldn’t be much use paying overs to bring Talakai here if we fed him the same **** that we do to Fifita

[Bayside Titan]

Could Drinkwater be a thought if Masters goes ?

Re bump. Crickets last time I mentioned it but I guess I’m not in the know.

[Titslover]

Penrith hooker Soni Luke already looking more dangerous on debut than Clark ever has. Sign him up please

[RavShamrock]

Re bump. Crickets last time I mentioned it but I guess I’m not in the know.

Drinkwater would be a lay down misere for any position in our Team...a brain and gumption now that would be a welcomed change

[Dobes]

Phil Gould's advice to help turn Titans into an NRL premiership contender

Rugby league icon Phil Gould says Gold Coast needs to change its approach to recruitment in order to climb out of the NRL doldrums.

The Titans are reeling from a 30-4 thumping at the hands of North Queensland in round seven, and sit 12th on the ladder with two wins to their name for the season.

Since its inception in 2007, the club has featured in finals four times, but only twice since 2011. Last year they were heavily tipped to start an upward trajectory towards premiership contention, following the recruitment of David Fifita on $1.25 million a season.

Fifita, though, has become the main target of criticism at the club. His ability to steamroll opponents and score freak tries is often cancelled out by his ineffectiveness for large periods of the game.

The Titans as a team have garnered a reputation as an exciting attacking outfit, but struggle in defence.

"The Titans have had the same Achilles heel for as long as I can remember - they love playing football with the ball, and they're not so keen on it without it. They just do what they have to," Gould told Wide World of Sports' Six Tackles with Gus podcast.

"They've always bought attacking players, players who can score them points. I don't know if they've ever bought people with a view towards building a grit, and a value for defence.

"The hardest part of the game is defence, therefore you need to meet it head on. You can't avoid it.

"I've always had a theory - if you want to get out of the cellar, you need to learn to score points; if you want to win a comp, you need to be able to defend."

Gould wants Gold Coast to adjust its approach to recruitment and bring in tough experienced players who will drill defensive standards - among others - into the rest of the squad.

Rugby league icon Phil Gould says Gold Coast needs to change its approach to recruitment in order to climb out of the NRL doldrums.

The Titans are reeling from a 30-4 thumping at the hands of North Queensland in round seven, and sit 12th on the ladder with two wins to their name for the season.

Since its inception in 2007, the club has featured in finals four times, but only twice since 2011. Last year they were heavily tipped to start an upward trajectory towards premiership contention, following the recruitment of David Fifita on $1.25 million a season.

Fifita, though, has become the main target of criticism at the club. His ability to steamroll opponents and score freak tries is often cancelled out by his ineffectiveness for large periods of the game.

The Titans as a team have garnered a reputation as an exciting attacking outfit, but struggle in defence.

"The Titans have had the same Achilles heel for as long as I can remember - they love playing football with the ball, and they're not so keen on it without it. They just do what they have to," Gould told Wide World of Sports' Six Tackles with Gus podcast.

"They've always bought attacking players, players who can score them points. I don't know if they've ever bought people with a view towards building a grit, and a value for defence.

"The hardest part of the game is defence, therefore you need to meet it head on. You can't avoid it.

"I've always had a theory - if you want to get out of the cellar, you need to learn to score points; if you want to win a comp, you need to be able to defend."

Gould wants Gold Coast to adjust its approach to recruitment and bring in tough experienced players who will drill defensive standards - among others - into the rest of the squad.

He says even the presence of one such player can have a deep long-term impact on a club.

"The most recent example would be (Sharks recruit) Dale Finucane. Kevin Campion, Jeremy Smith, Chris Mortimer - a player that comes in and demands respect for defence, and toughness, and resilience," Gould said.

"Those sort of blokes, that leadership bloke who is not about stepping, and running, and passing, and scoring tries, and then having a rest when the opposition has the ball.

"James Tamou was a bloke we bought for Panthers at a crucial time in the lives of (James) Fisher-Harris, and Isaah Yeo, and Moses Leota, and Viliame Kikau. A real hardnut who comes in and says 'when it gets tough here, this is how we do it'.

"The Titans just don't have that in them, they haven't ever really recruited someone like that.

"You need that sort of person in your side, and I just don't know if the Titans have valued that in their recruitment. Everyone they've signed they've gone for point-scoring, and skill, and flare, and they're not going to develop that grit until that happens."



What do we make of this lads?

[Titanic]

This from the guy that sacked Cleary, left the Warriors in a mess and has the Dogs chewing their own paws. His days as an icon of innovation are well gone. However, the lead in our pencil seems to have evaporated too. Leaving potentially disgruntled players like Wallace, Thompson and Proctor around the group probably doesn’t help in my opinion. Are they all playing QCup?

[Hail Sezer]

Yes Gus becaus Isaac Liu and Tino were both signed for their point-scoring, skill and flare.

He's kind of got a point that the balance of our pack is off. We've got 2 blokes that I'd consider defensively above average in effort and detail (Liu and Tino), and then a bunch of blokes who are pretty bad (Mo, Jwal, Proctor, Lisone, Herman, Fifita). Joliffe is so-so, as is Clark. Fermor I simply can't bring myself to say a bad word about he's perfect from head to toe.

I don't buy that we need a single "defensive hardnut" to fix it like he suggests. Pretty bad example he's given with Dale "HIA" Finucane. Defensive leadership isn't much good if you're leading from the rehab squad for most of the season.

[Titslover]

This from the guy that sacked Cleary, left the Warriors in a mess and has the Dogs chewing their own paws. His days as an icon of innovation are well gone. However, the lead in our pencil seems to have evaporated too. Leaving potentially disgruntled players like Wallace, Thompson and Proctor around the group probably doesn’t help in my opinion. Are they all playing QCup?

Proctor has nothing to be disgruntled about, he should consider himself the luckiest bloke in the world to keep be getting a run. Sexton mentioned to the media that they had a brutal video session, does Proctor's 3 penalties in the first 15 get a mention?

But yeah I noticed Thompson didn't play Qcup last week, they should at least be giving him some game time there.

[Boonarga]

We had a defensive hardnut and let him go a couple of seasons too early. Really, we have never lifted since then.

[willhelm]

Last time we took Phil Gould’s advice, we ended up with Garth Brennan as coach. He’s not entirely wrong in this instance, but he’s overlooking the fact that Isaac Liu was brought in to do exactly this. Proctor was also brought here for this but he never really lived up to it.

[Bayside Titan]

Intrigue over Holbrook sighting
Interesting to note that Titans coach Justin Holbrook was a spectator at the Queensland Cup game between the Blackhawks and Tweed in Townsville last Saturday.
The game was dominated by veteran Blackhawks halfback Robert Lui, who scored a try and took out the man of the match award.
The Titans have been struggling with their young halfback combination in the early rounds and the question has to be asked - could Holbrook be interested in bringing in the 32-year-old Lui to steady the https://twitter.com/9_moley/status/1...-iFdoCRPljkfow

[GCTTSD]

Should give Jordan Rankin the fairytale return to the coast haha read on Fox sports he was playing well for Parras reserves and not contracted

[Croc]

Intrigue over Holbrook sighting
Interesting to note that Titans coach Justin Holbrook was a spectator at the Queensland Cup game between the Blackhawks and Tweed in Townsville last Saturday.
The game was dominated by veteran Blackhawks halfback Robert Lui, who scored a try and took out the man of the match award.
The Titans have been struggling with their young halfback combination in the early rounds and the question has to be asked - could Holbrook be interested in bringing in the 32-year-old Lui to steady the https://twitter.com/9_moley/status/1...-iFdoCRPljkfow

A story made out of nothing.. we also had a bunch of players playing for tweed he was watching