No more excuses: Tino
Gold Coast captain Tino Fa’asuamaleaui has turned up the heat on the Titans, declaring he is sick of losing and there’ll be no excuses under Des Hasler in 2024.
The Titans launch their NRL premiership campaign against the Dragons at Cbus Super Stadium on Saturday night.
The game will be Hasler’s first in charge of the Titans since taking over as head coach from Justin Holbrook.
Since collecting the 2019 wooden spoon under Garth Brennan, the Titans have finished ninth, eighth, 13th and 14th, leading to the sacking of
Holbrook. The club has only won one finals match (2010) in its 17 seasons in the NRL.
Fa’asuamaleaui joined the Titans in 2021 after playing in Melbourne’s 2020 premiership team and said he was sick of being in the NRL’s cellar.
“It hurts a lot, there’s even times now where I still think about it and it frustrates me,” he said.
“There were a lot of upsetting times. I want to change that, Des wants to change that and all the boys are on-board.
“That’s what we need (a winner’s mentality). The club has never really had a winning culture throughout its whole existence, to be honest.
“We want to change that. We want to work so hard towards the goal we’ve set, which is to win a premiership.
“You’ve got to have that winning mindset to keep working towards that goal.
“Dessie has brought a lot to this club, it’s hard to describe, but it makes me more motivated. Hopefully we can do something special.”
At 24, Fa’asuamaleaui is already one of the game’s premier middle forwards, an NRL premiership-winner with 12 State of Origin appearances for Queensland and seven Test match caps for the Kangaroos.
He was handed Gold Coast’s captaincy in 2022 due to a leadership void at the club and has done his best to carry the Titans in back-to-back bottom four seasons.
Hasler has retained Fa’asuamaleaui as captain and said the front-row enforcer was primed for a big season.
“I think he is a super player,”
Hasler said. “He is so young and achieved so much in the game already.
“He is very calm and level-headed about it. He has a real humility with how he goes about things and he’s more about actions than words.
“He is well-suited to being in charge and captain. That challenges him and he enjoys the challenge.
“He’s made some huge inroads physically himself and should have another good year.
“He is so young and can go to any level in the competition. He is the type of person (that buys in). He’s had a good grounding and will have another big year and feature a lot in the highlights reel of club and Origin.” Fa’asuamaleaui takes a loss as hard as anyone and there’s been too many of them over the past few seasons for the Titans. That’s why he has urged his teammates to end the excuses in 2024, even though they’ll play the first month of the season without David Fifita (pec) and Jayden Campbell (knee).