Arrow key to future of the club, says coach
TITANS coach Garth Brennan has revealed plans to “build the club” around Jai Arrow as Jarrod Wallace declared the Broncos would be regretting letting the Maroons Origin hopeful leave.
Arrow is set to push through a painful back injury and confront powerful Cowboys rival Jason Taumalolo in Townsville on Saturday.
The Titans lock suffered back spasms after being kneed in last Sunday’s loss to Penrith, but is determined to take his place at 1300SMILES Stadium.
Arrow, 22, has been the buy of the year for the Titans, averaging 56 minutes a week for 144m and 27 tackles in his first season at the Gold Coast.
Arrow was lured from the Broncos by former Titans coach Neil Henry but did not commit to the club until he sought advice from fellow exBrisbane forward Wallace.
Wallace, also a Gold Coast product, left the Broncos after the 2016 season and secured his maiden Maroons Origin jersey last year.
Now Arrow is in the mix to do the same, and Wallace said he could be the one that got away from Brisbane.
“I spoke to him on the phone,” Wallace said.
“He had a huge decision to make. He asked me what it was like down here. I told him ‘you have to do what’s best for you and your footy career’.
“He’s still only young. He could have stayed at the Broncos for another year or two, but he doesn’t want to be playing reserve grade. I think they (Broncos) are probably regretting it a little bit now.”
While Brennan will put his stamp on the Titans roster in the coming years, he has some solid building blocks in Arrow and halfback Ash Taylor.
Arrow is contracted to the Titans until 2020, and Brennan said he wanted to build his squad around the incredibly hardworking forward.