‘IT WASN’T ABOUT THE MONEY’
WHY FIFITA REALLY CHOSE TITANS
NRL great Gorden Tallis says the marquee signing of David Fifita to the Gold Coast Titans is about far more than a pumped-up pay packet and has the potential to steer the club to its first premiership.
Tallis says the 20-year-old who will switch from the struggling Brisbane Broncos next season in a whopping threeyear deal worth $3.5 million would have weighed up coach Justin Holbrook, his support and family network on the Gold Coast where he grew up, and direction of the club with a key advisor like Mal Meninga.
“It’s a massive signing for any club to get a player of his calibre. For the Titans, it just proves it was a long decision, it wasn’t made overnight.
“David, knowing him, would have loved where the club was headed. Take the money out of it because the Broncos didn’t go too far under the offer – the Broncos will talk about that and how they couldn’t match the offer but it wasn’t about that.
“As a player when you look at an offer there are so many other things – you look at the coach, the direction you want to go as a player.”
To prove his point, Tallis said if it had been about money, Fifita would have signed for a rumoured $6 million being offered by South Sydney according to a radio report at the weekend.
“David is not a moneyhungry guy, he’s very much about family, this would have been a family decision.
“It’s a credit to everyone at the Titans, Mal Meninga, Justin Holbrook. You have to be doing something right to attract a player like that. I’m really looking forward to him running around with his mates on the Gold Coast. They are building nicely at the club.”
Tallis said Fifita’s union with the Titans had the potential to spur the club towards its first premiership and have a similar impact to Meninga at the Canberra Raiders or Johnathan Thurston at the North Queensland Cowboys.
“He can be their first superstar, part of the Gold Coast’s first run to a premiership – and good players attract other good players. I wanted to play in Brisbane because it was the place to be.
“It’s a huge buzz on the Gold Coast but the greatest thing is he’s staying in Queensland. They have got the hottest young athlete in the game at the moment,” Tallis said.
Gold Coast ex-NRL player turned Broadbeach’s Bloke in a Bar owner Denan Kemp the size of the deal meant many were labelling it “risky but someone has to lead from the front, make a bold call”.
“Right now they have the hype – and the Titans as a club has not been this hyped since Scotty Prince, Preston Campbell, the glory days.”
Kemp added where exmarquee Titans signing Jarryd Hayne was at the latter stage of his career, the Titans were getting a “young hungry Fifita”.
Delighted Mayor Tom Tate said: “The Titans are already showing good signs but this is a game changer. I can’t wait to see him running around in Titans blue causing havoc for opposition.”
City tourism identity Richard Holliday, who in July wrote an open letter to Fifita urging him to come to the Titans, said it would give coach Holbrook “the foundation to build the future of the club”.
“They have made some really good signings and bolstered up the forwards but in my mind Fifita is an Artie Beetson or Mal Meninga for the 21st century,” he said. “He has got everything and is an exceedingly brilliant talent.
“The Titans need a player of his ability to attract other players and to bring in larger numbers of Gold Coast supporters.”
Take the money out of it because the Broncos didn’t go too far under the offer NRL GREAT GORDEN TALLIS
The Gold Coast Titans – as a club – has not been this hyped up since Scotty Prince BLOKE IN A BAR’S DENAN KEMP
The Gold Coast Titans are already showing good signs but this is a game changer GOLD COAST MAYOR TOM TATE
BELIEVE the hype.
The coup pulled off by the Gold Coast Titans in getting the signature of star backrower David Fifita for the next three seasons is a credit to the club and its team behind the scenes and a cause for excitement for any budding Titans fan.
Make no mistake, this is not Jarryd Hayne II.
Fans with PTSD and a healthy dose of scepticism from that sorry seven-figure episode can be forgiven.
He had some bright moments on the field soon after arrival but what followed was largely underwhelming and too inconsistent, punctuated by a series of controversies for the club that everyone would rather forget.
But this is a different marquee signing, and a different time.
The side has a new coach, the highly rated Justin Holbrook, and another bloke who has been there and done that in respected powerbroker Mal Meninga, not to mention the nucleus of good side.
And Fifita, at just 20, is a young and hungry X-factor player with the potential to be at the forefront of a Titans resurgence and really make his name.
As Gold Coast-based former NRL journeyman turned commentator and NRL-friendly Bloke in a Bar owner Denan Kemp tells the Bulletin, the great names in sports history made their way at struggling clubs — he was talking Michael Jordan at the Chicago Bulls, LeBron James at the Cleveland Cavaliers.
NRL great Gorden Tallis noted future immortal Johnathan Thurston never really truly shone until he arrived at the Cowboys. Are we about to see the same? Let’s hope so.