Titans’ brand set for change
INCOMING coach Garth Brennan has promised the Titans will play an entertaining brand of football he believes can immediately take them to the NRL finals.
Brennan faces an stern test given the Titans play just one of their first seven games on the Gold Coast next season due to Commonwealth Games requirements for Cbus Super Stadium. But he believes the Gold Coast have the roster to push into the top eight.
“It’s obviously a tough start but hopefully we’ll get some benefits at the back end of the year where we can come home strong,” Brennan said of a draw that includes six of the last nine games at home.
“I do (believe we can make the finals). You go through the side and you’ve got virtually an Origin front-row with (Jarrod) Wallace, (Nathan) Peats and Ryan (James).
“You’ve got (Kevin) Proctor who’s an international, hopefully Ash Taylor will commit and then you’ve got the likes of Jarryd Hayne and Konrad Hurrell. Where we end up is going to depend on how hard we train and how we work and how hard we play.
“That culture will be in the club right from the start, from the first day they arrive.”
Brennan, who was officially unveiled by the Gold Coast yesterday on a three-year deal, wants to make the Titans a “powerhouse” of the NRL and “future proof” the club by developing local talent as he has throughout his career at Newcastle and Penrith.
Relationships with schools, the 6000 junior players in the Gold Coast nursery and local clubs will be nurtured to allow the Titans to benefit from the fruit in their own backyard.
And players coming through will learn to play footy “the Titans way”.
Defensive fortitude – something missing last season as the Titans slumped to 15th on the ladder – will be vital. But players will have a licence to use their flair off the back of that.
“I think if you’re a strong defensive side, that measures your attitude,” Brennan said.
“I can teach anyone to tackle but unless they want to do it and want to turn up or their mate, they’re not going to do it. I judge a team’s character and attitude on their defence.
“But I also want to play some football as well.
“I’m a coach that likes to entertain – and we’re in the entertainment business. I want to play a style of football that the fans want to watch.”
Brennan doesn’t want robots and won’t try and put square pegs in round holes: “I want (players) to go out there and if there’s a talent they’ve got that no one else can do, why would I stop them?
“Especially someone like Jarryd (Hayne) and Ash (Taylor) and some of the talented players within our squad, they can do some extraordinary things. I don’t want to harness that, I want to encourage that.
“I may not be here in 10 years’ time, in fact, statistics say I probably won’t be. But regardless, when my time is up at the Titans, I want to walk away knowing that they’re in a position where they can be competing for a title every year.”