Pressure on Titans to make finals

TITANS owner Darryl Kelly has challenged Garth Brennan to deliver the club a finals berth in 2019 after granting the Gold Coast coach a contract extension.

The Sunday Territorian can reveal Brennan has secured a one-year extension that will keep him at the helm of the Titans until at least 2020.

Brennan had a performance clause in the two-year deal he originally signed to join the Titans, but club powerbrokers have opted to extend his tenure to bring stability to the Gold Coast.

The decision will allow Brennan to focus on next year without the worry of being offcontract after the Titans fin- ished 14th last season in his first year at the club.

But the show of faith brings higher expectations with coowner Kelly declaring he wants to see the Titans play finals football for the first time since 2016.

“Garth was a first-year coach and has been reviewed,” he said.

“We believe he made some first-year coaching errors during the year. We’ve discussed those with him and expressed our point of view.

“He tried to spread himself too thinly. We want him to get back to coaching more and not worrying about some of the things he was worried about.

“A vast improvement (in the team’s performance) is exactly what I’m expecting and I’ve had those conversations.

“We’ve been talked about as having all this potential and it’s time to produce.

“It’s all about mindset and achieving the one per centers. The level of professionalism needs to be lifted right across the organisation. That’s our focus for the next 12 months.

“The next step for us is the top eight and that would be a pass mark at this stage. It won’t be for much longer, but it will be for next year.”

The Titans showed some promising signs last season after Brennan took over the reins from sacked coach Neil Henry.