WORKHORSE’S FUTURE HINGES ON NEW COACH
GOLD Coast forward Ryan Simpkins remains hopeful of extending his NRL career – if the new Titans coach wants him there.
The 28-year-old was one of five players officially farewelled at Cbus Super Stadium last month but much like veteran teammate William Zillman, the ceremony was conducted in case their respective deals were not renewed rather than as confirmation of their exits. Simpkins is a respected figure within the Titans playing ranks and was a regular this year until suffering a seasonending knee injury in his 50th NRL match, a win over Melbourne in May.
After taking time to assess his future, Simpkins is determined to return to the first grade stage.
However, he knows that his prospects of staying will be unclear until a coach is named to succeed Neil Henry and does not want to be simply making up the numbers in any case.
“I am sort of at the age where I really only want to play if the coach really wants me anyway, so depending on who the coach is I will see what they say,” he said.
“If they’re keen to have me play again then I would probably like to do that.”
With a young family based on the Coast – he and wife Shayne are expecting their second child in January – Simpkins is unlikely to look elsewhere and has the fallback option of returning to work as a plumber for his father Robert’s business RW & JA Simpkins Plumbing.
While that eases pressure on him, he hopes a swift decision is made on Gold Coast’s new coach for the sake of his off-contract teammates.
“Some of the other guys, they don’t really know what they are going to do if they don’t end up staying here … it’s a bit stressful on them more so than myself,” he said.