PRODIGAL SON RETURNS

How the exit of Jarryd Hayne aided Michael Gordon’s Titans dream

MICHAEL Gordon had tried on multiple occasions to link up with the Gold Coast in vain. So when an opening appeared as marquee fullback Jarryd Hayne quit the NRL club, he was determined to make it stick this time.

On his first day as a Titan, the 34-year-old fullback revealed he had long tried to make Cbus Super Stadium his home paddock.

“I had been trying to come back here for a long time now and one way or another it has always fallen through from either my end or up here,” he said.

“I didn’t want to let the chance slip again so once I knew it was a real possibility up there that’s when I went and approached (Roosters coach Trent Robinson for a release from his contract).”

Gordon reached out to Titans coach Garth Brennan around the time of Hayne’s departure a fortnight ago.

He had previously this year sounded out the club about the possibility of a move north before inking a one-year extension at the Roosters in July.

“That’s when Neil Henry was here and he was semikeen but nothing too serious,” Gordon said.

“Pretty much every time I have come off-contract I have tried to come home.”

Gordon grew up in Cabarita Beach and always planned to return to the region just south of the border, where he has built a home for his young family of four.

“The chance to come up a bit earlier than planned wasn’t something I was expecting but is something I am grateful for,” he said. The former Panther, Shark, Eel and Rooster pledged to teammates of his junior side Tweed Coast Raiders to one day make a comeback for the club – and he fully intends to keep his word, once his NRL career finishes up.

“I’m still sticking to my promise, it just keeps getting pushed back a year,” said Gordon, who will be a Titan until at least the end of 2019.