NORMAN A NO-NO
... and French also off Gold Coast hitlist
THE Titans say they aren’t in the market for Parramatta pair Bevan French and Corey Norman because they have little money left for marquee additions to their 2019 roster.
While the Norman to the Titans talk has been doing the rounds for some time after coach Garth Brennan revealed he had met with the former Keebra Park student, the ru- mour mill hit overdrive yesterday, baffling Coast officials.
Talk also linked French with the club as the Tingha product looks to make a fulltime shift to fullback.
Without shedding players themselves, though, the Titans are no chance of signing another high-profile name for 2019 after adding Origin utility Tyrone Peachey and Raiders prop Shannon Boyd.
Norman is contracted to the Eels next season, reportedly on $900,000, while French is likely to be seeking “fullback money” with a No.1 jersey.
Titans chief executive Graham Annesley said Gold Coast had little wriggle room in their budget for 2019 or 2020.
“With Peachey and Boyd joining us in 2019, we have very limited capacity for any further major additions,” he said.
Brennan has had no contact with French, with the only possible link an offhand comment by his manager Allan Gainey at the start of the season stating his client could look to move if he could not seal a starting fullback role.
“I don’t know why all of a sudden it’s raised its head,” Brennan said.
“(Titans assistant) Luke Burt coached him at Parramatta as well and rates him highly, so that was part of the reason it was raised all those months ago but it hasn’t been raised in months.”
Brennan did meet with Norman when he was on the Coast visiting his mother during a bye weekend.
“I meet with a lot of players and just find out what their intentions are, why they want to leave the club they’re at and get to know them as people,” he said.
“He’s a talented player, there’s no doubt about that but he’s still contracted to Parra and for us to move on that, it’d have to be approved by our (recruitment) committee.”
Norman has struggled to shed his bad-boy image after repeated off-field misdemeanours and signing him would be a leap of faith for a club that have worked to rebuild their off-field image in recent years.