Club fails identity line- up
THE push to make Laurie Daley the face of the Gold Coast Titans sums up a club still searching for its identity.
Who are the Gold Coast Titans and what do they stand for?
At their best you have to love their grit but their true identity is something of an enigma. The Queensland club which has not been coached by a Queenslander, their sky blue colours are those of Queensland’s dreaded south of the border rivals.
One of their biggest name players, Greg Bird, was loathed north of the border and their current spearhead Jarryd Hayne, another New South Welshman, even gets jeered by his own fans.
From the moment Blues legend Bob McCarthy coached the first incarnation of the Gold Coast teams in 1988 there has been a feeling they have fallen between two stools – not Queensland-to-the-core enough to bleed Maroon but certainly not south of the border sympathisers.
It’s no one’s fault. If you are building a club on the Coast, why would you want to be so totally Queensland you alienate every fan south of Tweed Heads?
If the Titans are to fight their way out of the their current depression, the most obvious way forward is to Maroonify the club.
Get a Queensland chief executive such as Shane Richardson back from Sydney, get your recruiting men to throw a net over the greatest rugby league nursery of all time up the road at Logan and find a local coach passionate about winning over the local area.
The day when the club eventually does go local and finds someone from the region or at least a hardy Queenslander will be one to celebrate.