STRUGGLING HOLBROOK SAYS FUTURE IS AWESOME
JUSTIN Holbrook has appealed for calm on the Gold Coast as D-day arrives for the under-pressure Titans coach.
Holbrook will lead the Titans into Saturday night’s Broncos derby fighting for his future as Gold Coast figures weigh up making mass changes at the struggling club.
The Titans are 15th on the NRL ladder, above only the terrible Wests Tigers on differential, with just three wins in 17 rounds.
Holbrook’s winning percentage has slipped to 36.1, putting him below previous Titans coaches Neil Henry (37.3) and John Cartwright (45.3) and on the path to predecessor Garth Brennan’s shocking 30 per cent record.
Holbrook’s position is becoming increasingly shaky and a heavy loss to the Broncos could signal the end of his three-year tenure on the Gold Coast.
But he has made a last-ditch plea for the Titans hierarchy to show faith in him, insisting the future is bright for the Gold Coast despite the club’s dramatic crash this year.
“We are having a poor season and we get that,” Holbrook said.
“We made a decision as a club to go with a young spine and unfortunately we haven’t been able to keep them on the field to start with.
“If we get an experienced half and nine, we’ve got the nucleus of a good side. We’ve worked hard to keep key guys here like Tino (Fa’asuamaleaui), AJ (Brimson), Moe (Fotuaika) and
Beau Fermor. We’re just missing a couple of pieces.
“There are a number of things that have affected us but it’s not major where we have to flip the club upside down. We have to make a couple of staff and player changes and we will be OK.
“We’re in a great position. We’ve got a lot of great young players coming through. The future’s great, we’ve just got to get our current side firing.”
With their finals hopes extinguished, Holbrook will hand teen sensation Jojo Fifita his NRL debut at Cbus Super Stadium and former Storm hooker Aaron Booth his first Titans jersey.
The Titans have severed ties with fitness chief Klint Hoare and senior assistant Jim Dymock in the past fortnight and Holbrook said it was time to start planning for the future.
“It hasn’t worked out with where we sit on the table,” he said.
“We’re definitely not giving up but we can’t continue the way we’re going because we’re not getting the results.
“We could have waited until the end of the year but with where we’re sitting we thought we’d get a start on next year.
“We know we need to go in a bit of a different direction to improve. Every club makes changes, it’s just more amplified by where we sit on the table.
“We’ve got Kieran Foran (Manly five-eighth) coming, who’s going to have a massive impact for us. We need to strengthen one or two other areas, which we’re working on.”