HOME GROWN
Watt says Titans more than happy with their rookie coach
The Titans will get first dibs on rising Northern Rivers talent after signing a landmark agreement with Country Rugby League.
THE Gold Coast Titans will have dibs on rising talent from the Northern Rivers region after signing a landmark agreement with Country Rugby League.
The four-year deal begins at the end of this season and will see the club’s official catchment area stretch down to Coffs Harbour, to the south of where it will be Bulldogs territory.
“This doesn’t ban any other club from coming into the area and contracting kids,” Titans chairman Dennis Watt said.
“But under this agreement with Country Rugby League, if we recruit a player from that area, we don’t owe development fees to another body.”
On the flip side, any rivals who do attempt to poach from just south of the border, which has produced players including cult hero Anthony Don, will have to fork out a development fee to the Titans.
The deal will also involve the Titans providing support, including coaching and the branding of Northern Rivers Titans teams to contest the under-16 Andrew Johns Cup, the under-18 Laurie Daley Cup, men’s under-23s and women’s Country Championships.
“You have got to get that (coach education) right in terms of keeping young people in the game and attracting young people to the game so we’ll be a constant presence,” Watt said.
“That whole area, the Titans will be front of mind for those players growing up in those representative sides.”
Another benefit, Watt said, would be allowing teenage players access to expertise without having to move away from home to a bigger city.
Murwillumbah Colts second-rower Ryan Foran was excited by the news.
“It is pretty good knowing they are looking for local talents,” said the 15-year-old, who trials for the North- ern Rivers Titans later in the year.
Don said it was pleasing both from a Titans perspective and as a Grafton Ghosts product.
“It is outstanding for all of the junior rugby league players in the Northern Rivers, they have got a defined pathway to the NRL,” he said.
“I’m extremely proud of where I have come from, so anyone from that region I take special interest in and I keep up to date with how the Grafton Ghosts are travelling.”
In Round 24 NRL team news, Will Matthews will return to the Gold Coast bench in place of Bryce Cartwright in an otherwise unchanged side to face Melbourne on Saturday.
GOLD Coast executive chairman Dennis Watt has lauded the pulling power of Brisbane coach Wayne Bennett but insists he isn’t plotting their reunion at the Titans.
Watt served on the Broncos board for more than a decade and ended a four-year stint as chairman before joining the club’s NRL neighbours last December.
Bennett has one year remaining on his Brisbane contract and, with no plans to retire as a head coach, has reportedly knocked back a noncoaching role at Red Hill from 2020.
What he does next remains a mystery, with the proximity and predicament of the Titans an obvious option for the seven-time premiership winner.
Watt thinks the master coach isn’t a spent force but, in backing rookie coach Garth Brennan, says there have been no talks of a move down the highway.
“Wayne’s still got plenty to offer. He’s still got the (Brisbane) dressing room,” he said.
“People are taking unders (on their contract) to stay there at the Broncos under Wayne, which is a big tick.”
Brennan’s men sit 12th, five wins outside the top eight in the first season of his threeyear deal.
His first act as coach was to recommit young halfback Ash Taylor to a long-term contract, and he’s also lured Canberra’s Shannon Boyd and Penrith’s Tyrone Peachey to the club for next season.
Watt indicated those inclusions, plus the return of utility Tyrone Roberts and splattering of talented youth, would mean Brennan faced a more thorough examination in 2019.
“Our expectation is that we’re a top-eight side (next season),” Watt said. “We’re pretty comfortable with where we are at the moment with Garth.
“We see him as a young coach on the rise.”
The Titans host leaders Melbourne on Saturday before holding a final-round farewell party for Cowboys great Johnathan Thurston.