Looking for right coach to bring on better days
Coach Garth Brennan is gone and the Titans are fighting to keep star forward Jai Arrow. Titans executive chairman Dennis Watt talks to Paul Weston about relocation, the wooden spoon, and what the club’s players must do to win back the respect of fans as the team sits at the bottom of the NRL ladder GARTH BRENNAN
Phil Gould says Garth confided in him more than a month ago that he was gone, then there were reports he packed up his desk days before the Panthers game last Friday. How did it unfold?
Dennis Watt: Following the Penrith game, it was simply a conversation with Garth which resulted in a mutual agreement where he left the club. How was he during that final conversation?
Garth gave the job heart and soul commitment. You know he wore it very heavily, the result and the disappointment of not getting the club to where we all envisaged it should be at this time.
Was it more a decision made on performance than relationship with the players?
At the end of the day it’s about results, it’s about wins and losses. Were we trending up, were we trending down? And pretty much the feeling was we were trending down and something needed to change.
FUTURE COACH
Rugby league commentators caution that the Titans must not appoint a rookie coach. You need an old hard head who has been a winner.
I can see some value in that thinking. It’s an enormously tough job, you have to be extraordinarily resilient. Sure, you have the best people around you. Clearly we can see the value of more NRL experience in the club. It’s a massive step up from assistant coach to head coach.
How is the decision made on the next coach? What is the timeline?
Ostensibly, we’ve got a fair bit of time. But more practically we’d like to get it done sooner than later. A shortlist will be considered by the board for interviews and a decision.
THE INTERNAL REVIEW
Head of performance and culture Mal Meninga handed down his internal review on Monday. Will you be making that report available to members?
No, it was obviously an internal document. But certainly there is some visionary thinking about what we need to do in terms of resourcing, structure and deeper engagement with the whole rugby league ecosystem if you like on the Gold Coast and northern NSW.
TITANS’ REAL ENEMIES
NSW State of Origin coach
Brad Fittler says the Titans would be a perfect fit for a second team in Brisbane. There are some real enemies circling for the Titans.
I certainly think a second team in Brisbane would potentially adversely impact on us. But not if we get our house in order in the next few years. And I used a bit of romantic licence the other day when I talked about this being the last stand. I certainly meant not right now, but in the next few years we really have to stand up and start to hold our own at the national level. I was using it as a call-to-arms internally.
PLAYERS OVERPAID, UNDERPERFORMING
After the focus on Garth it turned to the players, they were branded gold diggers. Is that just a perception – overpaid and underperforming players? If not, how can you sort it out?
Players sign the contracts that are put in front of them. Good luck to them. They’ve been challenged.
They’re accepting the challenge as a group and a club, we need to do better. They feel it as much as anybody. I’m sure they’re going to work hard to win back the respect of our members, our fans, the community and the game in general.
JAI ARROW
Fans want top forward Jai Arrow to stay and be the future of the club. How confident are you of retaining him?
I think we are as confident as we can be. Jai is a local boy, he’s very committed to this community and I take great pride in seeing and hearing of the activities of Jai.
NEW LICENSED CLUB
Part of that connection is
the new licensed club on a block of land at Oxenford. It will go to council next week. How are talks proceeding on that?
It’s an extraordinary piece of work from (co-owner) Darryl Kelly. He’s putting his own money to get that club up and running, that’s a sort of supplementary source of revenue for the football club. It will underwrite junior development and community work.
THE WOODEN SPOON The wooden spoon is an embarrassment for players, but
for administrators who have to deal with sponsors and fans, it’s a nightmare. The Titans have only appeared on a handful of free-to-air television games. Scheduling sees games at 6pm on a Friday night when the traffic at Robina is in gridlock. Can the NRL help on that front?
The destiny is in our own hands. If you don’t lift your performance the system works against you to keep you entrenched at the bottom of the table. The answer is we have to lift our performances, we have to start winning games. You have to start particularly winning them at home. In front of your home crowd and your families.