2023 Squad, Signings and Rumours Thread

[Upthetits]

Wow, surely we wouldn't let burleigh go until we knew we were guaranteed a team in q cup?

[Gold Coast 88]

Wow, surely we wouldn't let burleigh go until we knew we were guaranteed a team in q cup?

surely we wouldn't sack a coach without ensuring our two best players with get out clauses are resigned

[Titanic]

Wow, surely we wouldn't let burleigh go until we knew we were guaranteed a team in q cup?

surely we wouldn't sack a coach without ensuring our two best players with get out clauses are resigned

Yep our smartass coaching move is looking like a poorly thought out strategy.

[MaroonTitan]

this makes me think that the NRL should seriously be drafting the regions into feeder clubs for certain clubs and take it out of clubs hands.

That's my solution for the cap DB. Carve out regions for each club and players coming through that system after a certain time will be cap free. Blow ins will apply but the cap can also be gradually shrunk to encourage the clubs to invest in junior development. God knows the NRL have no interest in junior development. V'Landys just wants wagering content. It doesn't matter how slow the two flies going up a wall are if there's enough money wagered. People will spend to watch their money up the wall and enhance the broadcast deal.

Yep. This is a disaster unless we get our QCup team. Otherwise all into Tweed and nobble Burleigh for all it's worth. This is war!

[Dobes]

"Tino's strong ties to the Sydney Roosters", that being his dad playing for their reserve grade team in the 90s lmao. Shock horror, Badel and Meyn. Really trying to milk this

[Cowabunga]

So if the QRL team doesn't happen what the hell are we actually meant to do? We'd be breaking rules pretty much? I don't understand QRL waiting this long and putting us in this position, I know they don't care about us but they are hurting local talent potentially if we have to send them away from the coast weekly, If we had gotten a no 3 months ago this might not have been a problem. It's BS imo this has been OKed.

With our younger guys who are getting ready for QRL, Could we send them to 3/4 teams in Gold Coast A grade? We should go even more local and back those clubs more with Bears choosing Broncos. I'm going off what HS has said but it seems kids going to A grade is better for development then HDC anyway.

It's not great area wise but Clydesdales could be an option, They are struggling and we could make them a fair bit better sending players compared to the Bulldogs who aren't (think it's just a basic relationship) + there could be some very good talent in the area if we start scouting up there. Ipswich would be OK to but probably hard to get off Uncle Nick.

[JunctionBlock]

Redcliffe takes the Devils from Brisbane, Brisbane takes Burleigh from us, as usual we are left sitting here wondering what to do while all these moves are happening around us.

[Upthetits]

So if the QRL team doesn't happen what the hell are we actually meant to do? We'd be breaking rules pretty much? I don't understand QRL waiting this long and putting us in this position, I know they don't care about us but they are hurting local talent potentially if we have to send them away from the coast weekly, If we had gotten a no 3 months ago this might not have been a problem. It's BS imo this has been OKed.

With our younger guys who are getting ready for QRL, Could we send them to 3/4 teams in Gold Coast A grade? We should go even more local and back those clubs more with Bears choosing Broncos. I'm going off what HS has said but it seems kids going to A grade is better for development then HDC anyway.

It's not great area wise but Clydesdales could be an option, They are struggling and we could make them a fair bit better sending players compared to the Bulldogs who aren't (think it's just a basic relationship) + there could be some very good talent in the area if we start scouting up there. Ipswich would be OK to but probably hard to get off Uncle Nick.

As someone who has a bit to do with currumbin eagles, the amount the club has grown over the last couple of years is incredible. Just recieved a 500k grant from the NRL as we have some of the best women's numbers over all ages.

Without a doubt the titans linking with currumbin would be absolutely huge and currumbin are a club on the rise. They have just this year signed points bet as a sponsor. They won all 3 grades a year or 2 ago, A grade, Reggie's and 20s? I think.

[Cowabunga]

I wonder if that's a better way forward, I don't know if they'd be willing but maybe backing them or one of the other clubs (not Tigers) for QRL is the best way to go because it sounds like Ikin isn't a fan of teams having their own QRL side due to weakening the QRL in his opinion. This solves that problem and a grass roots club gets promoted to QRL, We could promise to pay for most/all of the QRL stuff.

It'd look good from a PR stand point as well backing a local club. They'd have everything they need from day one.

[Whats Doing]

Is it the NRL fault or Ikin trying to save face. I suggest the truth is somewhere in between

NRL 2023: QRL boss Ben Ikin slams Andrew Abdo after expansion plans collapse in $4m funding fiasco

Days after the player pay war erupted, the NRL has been engulfed in more funding dramas, as QRL boss Ben Ikin fired up after a $4m expansion plans collapsed.

en Ikin has launched a stinging attack on the NRL and chief executive Andrew Abdo after plans to expand Queensland’s top competition crumbled in a $4 million funding fiasco compared to political pork barrelling.

On the back of the player pay war exploding into a media boycott this week, the NRL has been engulfed by another drama that has escalated tensions with the Queensland Rugby League.

This masthead can reveal the ARL Commission rejected a proposal from the QRL to expand the Hostplus Cup to 17 teams next year following a request from the Gold Coast Titans and North Queensland Cowboys to field their own reserve grade teams.

The NRL claimed the QRL was seeking an additional $4.2 million in funding – on top of its annual $20 million grant – to expand the competition.

New QRL chief Ikin blasted the funding rejection and accused Abdo of trying to place the Titans and Cowboys in NSW’s top competition

We worked in good faith with the NRL to cost-up a hybrid solution that would allow the Titans and Cowboys to have second-tier teams in the Hostplus Cup from next year,” Ikin said.

“It came with two conditions. There would be extra funding for our state league clubs and competition logistics, and the new competition structure would proceed as a two-year trial.

“The ARLC rejected our proposal, which ironically the NRL helped design, but not before Andrew Abdo contacted the NSWRL and tried to convince them to let the Titans and Cowboys play their second-tier teams in the NSW Cup.

“That deeply offended the QRL, and rugby league people on the Gold Coast and in north Queensland should feel just as disappointed.

“Think about that – the NRL CEO working behind the back of the QRL to get two Queensland clubs to participate in a NSW competition.”

The NRL issues the QRL a grant of about $20 million-a-year, which covers everything from grassroots junior footy to State of Origin match payments for the Maroons.

The QRL was seeking further funding to increase club grants and cover the costs of an expanded Hostplus Cup featuring NRL teams – but that will not be happening.

After outlining plans to launch their own reserves, the Titans have been left red-faced by Hostplus Cup heavyweights Burleigh Bears signing an affiliate agreement with the Brisbane Broncos.

The Titans have now lost their relationship with one of Queensland’s premier clubs and pathways and won’t field a dedicated reserve grade team next year, leaving them with just the Tweed Heads Seagulls as a feeder club.

Abdo said the NRL was not in a position to fund an expanded Queensland competition as it continues to assess pathways.

“We’ve been working on a national view for development of pathways, including the second-tier competitions,” he said.

“It’s important the Commission takes a broader view on development. We have the rest of the country, New Zealand and the Pacific as well.

“We’re working with our members on what the right development model is for them and many are seeking a vertically integrated model.

“The QRL provided us a proposal on June 13 with a deadline of June 30 saying they will accommodate two extra teams if the Commission invests another $4.2 million into the Queensland Cup competition. We were given two weeks to respond, with a number of restrictive conditions and a significant funding increase.

“We are very supportive of clubs choosing the right model for development and are prepared to invest in making that happen.

“We are not yet in a position to consider an investment of the size proposed in an ultimatum style proposal in a two-week period.”

When asked about Ikin’s allegation that the NRL attempted to place the Titans and Cowboys in the NSW Cup, Abdo said: “I am having regular conversations with the QRL, NSWRL and all 17 NRL clubs about options and what their plans are.

“Have I had conversations with the QRL and NSWRL about second tier competitions and their view on expansion and clubs? Absolutely.”

The Hostplus Cup will remain a 15-team competition next year and Ikin urged the NRL and ARLC chairman Peter V’landys to invest in Queensland’s rich pathways – instead of trying to crush them.

“In the case of the Burleigh Bears, they saw the direction the Titans were heading and decided to link with an NRL club that believes in the role state league clubs play in the development pathway in Queensland,” he said.

“Unfortunately, it seems that Andrew Abdo continues to push for some version of national reserve grade, which is just another way to pork barrel NRL clubs by giving them more money and greater control of the supply chain.

“The QRL will fight with everything we’ve got to protect our statewide competitions and clubs, and we’ll stand against any decision that negatively impacts on our rugby league communities across Queensland.

“We’ve got clubs, competitions and pathways that run from PNG all the way down the eastern seaboard into the Tweed that create more opportunity for more people in more places.

“We get unbelievable backing from the Queensland Premiers’ office, all the way through to local businesses across the state, who invest upwards of ten million dollars to support the work our state league clubs do in their communities.

“My advice to Andrew Abdo on our competition is – don’t mess with it, invest in it.”

[willhelm]

Defund the NRLW and invest that money in men’s grassroots footy

[Whats Doing]

It does seem Ikin was being disingenuous by giving an ultimatum for. a $4million increase in funding to the NRL with a 2 week deadline. No responsible sporting body would accept that demand and it may be that Ikin would have been well aware of that and with his view of protecting Qld State clubs, that providing an unrealistic ultimatum to the NRL, he saw it as a means for his hidden view to pass off the blame to the NRL to protect himself.

[The Birdman]

Sounds like Ikin made our proposal impossible for the NRL to back given the time frame they had to make a decision and the amount of extra funding the QRL were demanding.

He also slips a nice little jab in there at us at the end in favour of his Broncos love in.What a wanker. He's always had it in for the Titans.

I hope a super stacked Seagulls team annihilates Burleigh next year.

[Titanic]

So in summary: the Club has big-noted itself prematurely and gone off half-coqued with its reserve grade team plans and lost the Bears as a result; and Ikin who presumably told the Titans and Cows that their teams were guaranteed, has had his pants pulled down trying to rail-road a proven operator in Abdo into something he hadn't agreed to.

The only solution seems to be to go on our knees to Tweed to be our reserve grade team.

They may not like that either as they were a North Sydney affiliate of some sort and their autonomy would be lost but otherwise we will be left with a wishy-washy arrangement with Tweed and our pathways will be choked at Cup level ruining our transitions ... what a pack of nitwits.

[T0ken]

We can’t stack the seagulls with the current rules though unfortunately

But if I were the titans I’d be going to whatever Brisbane club the broncos are screwing over and signing a temp contract

I’d also start tightening integration with the GCRL and make the league a premier a grade league