Utility role crucial to Roberts return
TYRONE Roberts will have to embrace his value as a utility player if he is to make a return to the Titans.
Roberts will return from Super League at the end of the season, cutting short his three-year deal at Warrington with he and wife Brittany homesick and looking to bring their two young children up around family in Australia.
Gold Coast coach Garth Brennan, who has had a long association with Roberts through their connection at Newcastle, is interested in bringing the 27-year-old back to the Titans but said he would have to accept a role as a utility player.
That was a sticking point for Roberts last year in drawn out negotiations with the Titans to extend his deal.
And with other NRL clubs reportedly interested in him as a starting half and AJ Brimson entrenched in the No. 6 at the Titans, Roberts may be lured elsewhere.
“I think the biggest thing (Roberts) has in his favour – and the biggest attraction for me off the back of how AJ (Brimson) is playing – is the utility factor,” Brennan said.
“After he left last year and Karl Lawton went to New Zealand, we don’t really have
anyone in our roster who can do that utility role.
“Tyrone can cover us at No. 1, he can cover us in the halves, he can cover a few positions, which we just don’t have in the club. And that was a position in the club which I was looking at filling. Whether Tyrone’s willing to come back in relation to that role, I’m not sure, that’s probably the sticking point.
“He’s got some offers in other clubs who probably see him as a straight out half, as a No. 6 and I think that’s where he wants to play.”
Tyrone Peachey will join the Titans from Penrith next season but seems certain to start in the centres, with Brennan loathe to use him as a utility despite his ability to cover several positions.
Roberts helped the Titans to the NRL finals in 2016 playing at five-eighth and has a great understanding with Ash Taylor.
And while Brimson could eventually end up at fullback, that won’t happen in the near future.
The Titans are likely to hold further talks with Roberts and his manager Warrick Wright once he has fielded offers from rival clubs.
“There’s nothing from our end at the moment, that’s with his management,” Brennan said. “I know he’s fielding offers from some other clubs over here.
“After he’s received his offers from other clubs we’ll sit down with him and work out where we sit in relation to it.
“It’s something that I certainly would entertain if we could afford it.”