CALLS FOR MAL’S HELP Titans coach won’t run to Meninga to turn Titans tide
He’s one of the Titans’ favourite sons and Mat Rogers says he’s willing to do whatever is needed to help the NRL club, as Brent O'Neill learns.
UNDER-SIEGE Titans coach Garth Brennan says he doesn’t need to send an SOS to club performance manager Mal Meninga after falling to their worst ever start to the season.
Brennan (pictured) has kept the faith with his side this week ahead of their clash with Manly at Lottoland on Friday night.
The only changes made from last weekend’s 22-16 loss to the Bulldogs is the injury return of props Shannon Boyd and Keegan Hipgrave.
Last weekend’s defeat saw the Gold Coast slump to their eighth loss in the opening 10 rounds – their worst start in club history.
It comes after Meninga was appointed the club’s head of performance and culture in the off season in a bid to turn around club fortunes.
Brennan said he didn’t feel the need to issue an SOS to Meninga because the rugby league legend was already heavily involved in the club. “Mal’s around the club as it is,” Brennan said. “I don’t have to invite Mal in to the dressing sheds or to training sessions.
“Mal’s involved in the club and he’s around the club. We’ve got a good working relationship.
“My discussions between me and Mal, I’m going to keep between us but Mal’s involved in the club and we do discuss the team, and how we’re travelling, quite regularly.”
The club’s million dollar man Ash Taylor said of all his possible mentors, Brennan was the best man to get him firing again.
“Garth is my biggest mentor and he can get the best out of me,” Taylor said.
“We’re our harshest critics and he knows that. He knows how hard we work to get to where we are.
“(Brennan) does put a lot of confidence in his players and puts a lot of trust in us to do the job on the field.”
Michael Gordon remains sidelined (lower-leg), with AJ Brimson to remain at fullback.
Brennan has also stuck with his backline reshuffle from last week, starting Jesse Arthars at right centre and shifting Tyrone Peachey to the bench.
TITANS great Mat Rogers says he would jump at the chance to get back involved with a Gold Coast side fighting to overcome the worst start to a season in the club’s history.
An instrumental, 77-game figure in the Titans’ formative years between 2007-11, Rogers has kept a close eye on the club’s early-season struggles under besieged coach Garth Brennan.
Saturday’s 22-16 loss to the Bulldogs, in which Gold Coast surrendered a 16-0 lead, consigned them to an eighth loss in 10 games to eclipse the poor starts of 2011, 2012 and 2018 (three wins, seven losses).
Rogers, who served as the club’s backs coach in 2013 under former mentor John Cartwright, said while the club’s plight was “pretty depressing at the moment”, he believed the solutions were not out of reach.
“There’s a lot that I see that I think it wouldn’t take much to fix but it can be real hard to see it,” the 43-year-old dual international said.
“As a guy that’s been involved in team sport since I was four, they’re not big things. They have proven they can win games.
“Everyone is trying but it can be a hard thing when you’re losing games. If you’re running 20km an hour in the wrong direction and you try harder, you end up going 25km
in the direction. I don’t have any involvement (with the club) at all.
“I took the players for a training run before Christmas, a 50km hike, and it was good to mingle with the boys.
“If they came to me and asked (to be involved) I would jump at it. I’m still behind them.”
Rogers said the November appointment of Mal Meninga as the club’s head of performance and culture would pay long-term dividends.
“I love the fact they have got Mal in there. Hopefully having Mal in there and trying to expand on what the Titans have been trying to do culturally (will help),” he said.
“They have certainly got the right man. They have got the talent, they have got the players but whatever they’re doing right now is not working.”