COACH’S CHOICE
SIMPKINS IN DEMAND
SO highly does Garth Brennan rate Ryan Simpkins, he sounded him out a month before being appointed as Gold Coast Titans coach.
Brennan and Simpkins have a happy coach-player history, having teamed up to win the second-tier NSW Cup in the latter’s final year at Penrith in 2014.
That season Simpkins was named at lock in the NSW Cup team of the year, after which he was picked up by the Titans.
His NRL future appeared grim after suffering a seasonending knee injury last May
and he was even officially farewelled on the club’s website in early October.
But his prospects soon took a positive turn when Brennan was announced as Neil Henry’s successor.
“I had spoken to him probably a month or so before that,” Simpkins revealed.
“He was saying if he was to get the job, he would like to keep me. So when he got announced, he was on the phone pretty quick within the first couple of days and I met up with him.”
That meeting took place during Brennan’s trip north for the Gold Coast 600 and a subsequent contract was confirmed within weeks.
Simpkins, 29, is only on a 12month deal as he strives to enjoy an injury-free season.
He has completed plenty of running fitness in recent months but is hoping to progress to full contact work when the Titans resume pre-season training tomorrow to be ready for trial games next month.
Though a host of younger, bigger forwards are hunting the Titans No.13 jersey headed by Jai Arrow, Simpkins believes he can be a good match for Brennan’s game plans.
“There is a couple of guys pushing for that spot but that is what you want,” he said.
“The way Garth likes to play his lock – well the way we played when we were at Penrith and it seems to be the way he is going to play here as well – is a style that sort of suits me.
“A little bit of ball-playing, take control of the short sides a bit, as opposed to some teams that sort of play their lock like a front-rower which doesn’t really suit me.”
Simpkins has also spent time at hooker for Gold Coast, including in Rounds 4 and 5 last season.