My side may be super
THE Gold Coast is one of the most productive corridors of rugby league talent in the country but the Titans are perennial strugglers.
With Super Coach fever taking over, I’ve taken a look at what the 2020 Titans could have looked like if they nabbed the right prospects and fought off interstate (and intrastate) raiders who spirited them away.
I’ve limited myself to selecting players who attended high school on the Coast, played for feeder clubs Burleigh Bears and Tweed Seagulls and, if absolutely necessary, players currently based on the Gold Coast with the Titans.
With some creative accounting required to meet Super Coach budget constraints of $9.8 million, here is a homegrown 17 capable of taking out the National Rugby League title … in Super Coach.
In the spine, Keebra Park and Dragons playmaker Corey Norman starts at fullback, with PBC products Jahrome Hughes (Storm) and Cody Walker (Rabbitohs) in the halves.
Tough-tackling Warriors and PBC hooker Karl Lawton might be the only Gold Coaster in the position currently active on an NRL roster, so he gets the start. In the engine room, I’ve gone all-in on Keebra Park talents with Payne Haas (Broncos), Moeaki Fotuaika (Titans), Briton Nikora (Sharks), David Fifita (Broncos) and Jai Arrow (Titans) leading the charge.
In the centres I’ve picked Keebra’s 2013 Queensland Schoolboys player of the year Marion Seve (Storm) and Miami State High School’s Alex Glenn from the Broncos, to feed Keebra Park wingers Phillip Sami and Jesse Arthars.
The injury bug has ruled backs AJ Brimson and Jordan Kahu, and front-rowers Fotuaika and Agnatius Passi out of Round 1, so Jarrod Wallace has been drafted in a one-week deal to prop up the pack.
Depth is short with myriad big-money stars and a ton of young cheapies leaving few mid-priced players. Time will tell if they can do the job.