HAIL THE RYAN KING
Fast finish delivers a second Broughton Medal to Coast star
AMID all the glamour of last night’s Gold Coast Titans Awards Gala, tensions were high as the race for the Paul Broughton Medal went down to the wire.
In the end, club captain Ryan James got up to accept his second “Best Player” gong and celebrated with wife Ana.
TITANS captain Ryan James has overhauled Origin forward Jai Arrow in the final round to win his second Paul Broughton Medal as the Gold Coast’s player of the year.
James and Arrow were locked on 22 points each heading into the final match of the season against the Cowboys last Saturday night, with James picking up a single point to break the deadlock and claim the win.
The victory is slight compensation for the front-rower’s Origin disappointment after he was twice named in the Blues’ squad before being left out of Brad Fittler’s final side.
But the disappointment that would crush a lesser player seemed only to push James’s game to a higher level, with his back half of the season outstanding.
“I’ve always wanted to pull on a Blues jersey and if it comes in 2019, I’ll be absolutely ecstatic,” James said.
“I’ll always have the dream in the back of the head but will make sure that the Titans are my first priority and making sure that I am playing good for the Titans because good things come off the back of your club playing well.
“There’s always room to grow.
“I’ll definitely work on a couple of things in the off-season and try to push for further things.”
James, who received the award from Titans founding father Paul Broughton at a function at the QT Hotel last night, picked up the gong for the second time in his career following a win in 2016.
The Bilambil product played 23 games this season, making 928 tackles (38.6 per game), while averaging 117m per game and scoring six tries.
Arrow, who played one less game than James during the season due to sitting out a game ahead of Origin, came agonisingly close to sealing the award in his first year at the club.
A Gold Coast junior and product of the famed Keebra Park nursery, Arrow linked with the Titans in a bid to become a regular NRL starter.
He did more than that though, with his consistent form forcing Kevin Walters to pick him for Queensland, with Arrow starting for the Maroons in the final game of the Origin series.
Titans coach Garth Brennan has been incredibly impressed with his recruit.
“He just blew me away how hard he trained and how determined and how focused he was,” Brennan said of Arrow’s efforts at the club.
James also received The Preston Award for his continued and fantastic efforts in the community.