Regional areas big NRL draw winners

The Gold Coast Titans will take a premiership home game to both Toowoomba and Gladstone next April while their stadium is needed for Gold Coast Commonwealth Games sevens rugby.

The NRL will also schedule a match in Cairns, likely to be a South Sydney home game against the Cowboys, and four in country NSW – in Mudgee, Tamworth, Bathurst and Gosford – in welcome exposure to regional locations.

It is the highest number of games in regional locations in any rugby league premiership draw and an indication of interest in the hard yards being put in by the game’s officials and volunteers in the country.

Opponents and dates for the two Titans games at Toowoomba’s Clive Berghofer Stadium and Marley Brown Oval, Gladstone, will be announced next month by the NRL.

It is the first time an NRL match has been taken to either city, while several Souths games have been held at Cairns’ Barlow Park.

“We have been talking to the State Government for quite some time about the impact on our games at Cbus Super Stadium while the Commonwealth Games are on (from April 4-15),” Titans CEO Graham Annesley said.

“Our objective is to look after our members and our corporates in the first instance.

“This situation has been brought about by the Commonwealth Games.

“Working with the (Special Events) Minister Kate Jones and Tourism and Events Queensland, they have been able to minimise the period Cbus Stadium is impacted by the Games.

“It will be a great opportunity for us to spread the Titans’ footprint a little more across Queensland.”

Annesley said Titans halfback Ash Taylor, a Toowoomba Brothers junior, would especially appreciate playing in his home city, which has been a stronghold of the game going back to the Clydesdales’ golden era before World War II. “We are also playing a trial match next year on the Sunshine Coast,’’ Annesley said.

“It’s a good opportunity to repay the support of rugby league lovers from those heartland regional areas.”

Annesley said the Titans hoped a decision by the NRL on which ownership consortium would be sold the club was “only a few weeks away”.

“They are working towards a timeline for a decision by the end of the month,” he said.

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