Gold Coast Titans

Club information
Founded	2007
Current details
Ground(s)	Skilled Park (27,000)
CEO(s)	Michael Searle
Coach	John Cartwright
Captain(s)	Scott Prince, Luke Bailey
Competition	National Rugby League
2009	3rd
Home colours		Away colours

The Gold Coast Titans lead by captain Scott Prince, are an Australian professional rugby league football team based on the Gold Coast in Queensland. They are the newest of the sixteen teams that compete in Australasia's premier rugby league competition, the National Rugby League's Telstra Premiership, having commenced their inaugural season on March 18, 2007.

The Titans are the second top-level rugby league club to have been based on the Gold Coast, the first being the ill-fated Gold Coast Giants/Seagulls/Chargers, which existed from 1988 to 1998. The re-introduction of a Gold Coast-based team since the Chargers were cut from the NRL competition at the close of the Super League war has been viewed as highly successful and the Titans' case is often used in arguments by those in favour of the re-expansion of Australia's competition.

[edit] History

Main article: Gold Coast Titans History
Also see: Gold Coast Giants/Seagulls/Chargers

[edit] Formation

The beginnings of a Gold Coast team's bid to return to the National Rugby League began when the Australian Rugby League decided to remove the financially successful Gold Coast Chargers from the National Rugby League at the end of the 1998 Season. The ARL wanted to have a second major team based out of Brisbane and believed the best way to achieve this was by removing the Gold Coast team from the competition. The attempt to launch a second Brisbane team failed and in 1999, Michael Searle, former Gold Coast Chargers player and Managing Director of International Sports Australia, formed a Gold Coast Bid Team. The team included former Chargers boss Paul Broughton and was labelled as "The Gold Coast Consortium" by the media. The board were constantly active in lobbying the NRL to both expand the competition and consider the Gold Coast’s bid for inclusion. They were successful in organising pre-season NRL trial matches to be hosted on the Gold Coast and with average attendances of over 16,000, and peak attendances topping 20,000, the popularity of rugby league on the Coast was clear.

I firmly believe rugby league should be looking to expand. The Gold Coast area is growing at a phenomenal rate. There are 89 rugby league teams in Gold Coast primary schools and 59 teams in Gold Coast high schools representing about 2,300 young players. That's just schoolboys. If you take the catchment area from South Brisbane to Byron Bay in northern NSW, you are looking at a rugby league heartland starving for recognition. These areas would only blossom even more if the young players had a senior team in the NRL competition to which they could aspire. South-east Queensland needs another NRL team desperately and for a whole host of reasons.

– Phil Gould, 21 December 2003^[1]

In August 2004, the NRL rejected Michael Searle's bid for re-adding a Gold Coast team.^[2] However later, during an episode of Nine Network's The NRL Footy Show, the "Gold Coast Consortium" announced their team name and jersey to the public from the Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre. Initially the team was to be named the Gold Coast Dolphins, with the team colours to be white, jade and orange. While the Dolphins moniker was popular among many, the heavyweight Brisbane Queensland Cup side the Redcliffe Dolphins saw it as a threat for any prospect of entering the NRL they had, and as a result threatened severe legal action if the Gold Coast used the Dolphins name. Midway through that year the National Rugby League announced that after viewing submissions from the Gold Coast Dolphins, the Central Coast Bears and the Wellington Orcas, there would not be a 16th team included in the 2006 NRL competition. Reasons given to the Gold Coast was the National Rugby Leagues concern over the quality and capacity of their homeground, Carrara Stadium, which is an oval and only seats 16,000 (although it has been known to fit in 23,000 after minor redevelopment).

Although their bid was knocked back, the consortium continued to push heavily in 2005 for a Gold Coast NRL team, changing the entry year to 2007. The Gold Coast received a massive boost when the Queensland Government announced they would spend AUD$100 million on a new, 25,000-seat rectangular stadium in Robina for the Gold Coast should they be accepted into the 2007 competition. The stadium would not be completed until early 2008 yet the promise of a new first-class facility was enough for the NRL to accept the Gold Coasts bid and on May 27, 2005, NRL CEO David Gallop announced that the Gold Coast franchise would be the 16th team in the 2007 NRL season.

In the time since the Gold Coast was admitted, the Titans completed a vigorous recruitment drive, they announced the signing of Sydney Roosters assistant coach John Cartwright as the Titans first head-coach and successfully signed contracts with established players such as Dally M Medal winner Preston Campbell, Queensland & Australian representative Scott Prince, New South Wales & Australian representative Luke Bailey and enticing former league player Mat Rogers back from rugby union.

[edit] Inaugural season (2007)

In February 2007, the Titans played their historic first game in a trial against the previous season's Minor-Premiers and Grand Finalists Melbourne Storm, previously the newest club in the League (apart from the merged teams). They were beaten in the club's first hit-out but over the following weeks, Cartwright fielded his full strength team in two other pre-season trials, winning 22–10 over the Parramatta Eels for the club's first victory. The following week in the team first played in front of their home fans on the Gold Coast, they ran out 28–6 winners over the Penrith Panthers. Although merely trial matches, the signs were positive for the Titans' debut season to come.

The Titans played their first official match in Round 1 of the 2007 NRL season against the St George Illawarra Dragons. Their first game was moved from their home ground, Carrara Stadium, to Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane due to the huge demand of fans eager to see the new Gold Coast outfit in action, and on 18 March 2007, in front of over 42,000 people they made their debut. Gold Coast performed admirably but after falling 14 points behind in the second half 20-6 they couldn't manage a full comeback losing a tight match 20-18. Former Queensland State of Origin winger Chris Walker, who had been released by Melbourne Storm due to off-field troubles in 2006, started his rugby league comeback scoring two tries and two conversions for a 14 point haul for the Titans.

The close loss to the Dragons wouldn't last long in the memories of Titans fans as a week later the Gold Coast franchise recorded their first official victory in another tight match, winning 18-16 against the Cronulla Sharks at home. The start of the season saw the Titans only manage four wins in the first ten rounds but a mid-season five week long winning streak of four wins and a bye saw the Titans sitting in the top four at the conclusion of Round 15. The streak was ended in a poor 22-6 loss against the New Zealand Warriors at home, then they slumped to a 5-match losing streak which included a golden point loss to the Brisbane Broncos in Round 17 and a 56-10 loss at the hands of the Canberra Raiders in Round 18. The Titans wouldn't register another win until Round 21, but by then they had already slipped to 11th position and needed to obtain maximum points from the final four rounds to confirm a spot in the finals in their maiden season. Unfortunately for Titans fans, the side only managed one win from the final four matches, missing out on the finals. In the final round, a 50-6 thrashing at the hands of eventual Premiers Melbourne Storm ended the Titans' debut season on somewhat of a sour note, with the young Gold Coast franchise finishing the season in 12th position with 10 wins, 14 losses and a bye for 22 competition points.

Despite having an outdated home ground (Carrara Stadium) as they waited for their new stadium (Skilled Park) to be completed, the Titans had the second-highest average attendance of all NRL clubs for 2007^[3].

[edit] 2008 season

The 2008 NRL season was the Titans' second in the National Rugby League. A major boost for the Titans was the signing of past Queensland representative Ashley Harrison from the Sydney Roosters.

The Titans played their first official match at their new Stadium, Skilled Park, against the North Queensland Cowboys with the final score being 36-18. Rookie Jordan Atkins became only the second person in the history of Australian rugby league to score four tries on debut, alongside Canterbury's Tony Nash in 1942. The sellout 26,974-strong crowd assisted the Titans in firmly establishing that they were a force to be reckoned with in 2008.

The club went on to hit top place on the NRL ladder for the first time after round 6. They managed to maintain top spot on the ladder all the way until round 11, when a loss to West Tigers saw them forfeit top spot to the Sydney Roosters, who led in points differential. At the conclusion of Round 14, the Titans were equal first on points, fourth on points differential, employing a perfect home record for inspiration. Despite facing a tough home stretch, the Titans placed admirably in their pursuit of an inaugural finals campaign.

One of the Titans' strongest points in 2008 was the form of halfback Scott Prince, who earned selection for State of Origin. However early in Game 3, his arm was broken, putting him on the sideline for the season. Subsequently the Titans lost four straight games.

They finished their season at 13th on the NRL ladder.

[edit] 2009 season

The Titans have secured four new signings for the 2009 season in Sam Tagataese, Matthew White, Jackson Nicolau and Raiders speedster William Zillman.

Similar to the Titans previous seasons, they find themselves on top of the competition ladder after six rounds sitting on ten premiership points along side their rivals the Brisbane Broncos. Early victories against the Canterbury Bulldogs and the Melbourne Storm away from home without skipper Scott Prince, silenced many of their critics who believed they could not win away from the holiday strip or without their veteran halfback.

Many of the Titans NYC side made their debut and turned into regualr first-graders, such as Esi Tonga, David Mead and Kevin Gordon. Kayne Lawton, Bodene Thompson and Selasi Berdie also made their NRL debut.

The clubs most successful season so far saw them finish in 3rd position, 2 points behind the competition front-runners St. George Illawarra Dragons and the Canterbury Bulldogs.

[edit] 2010 season

So far, the Titans have signed three new players for the 2010 season in Joseph Tomane, Marshall Chalk and Riley Brown.

The Titans have lost a number of players for the 2010 season so far, including Ben Jeffery, Brenton Bowen, Chris Walker, Daniel Conn and Brett Delaney.

[edit] Emblem and colours

The winning jersey design

Although they were accepted into the National Rugby League, they were without a name after they dropped "Dolphins" to avoid legal action from the Redcliffe Dolphins. The consortium aligned themselves with Gold Coast Radio Station Sea FM, and set up a competition in which listeners could submit possible names for the new team. This was shortlisted into ten names, which through online voting on www.goldcoastrugbyleague.com.au was shortened to three: Titans, Stingers and Pirates. Online voting continued, this time on the more-frequented NRL.com, with team being branded as the Gold Coast Titans on 21 September, 2005.

After the team name was chosen, fans were given six jerseys to vote for on the club's website www.titans.com.au, with option 6 ultimately being successful.

[edit] Stadium

For their first season in the National Rugby League, the Titans played out of Carrara Stadium on Nerang-Broadbeach Road, while their 27,000-seat stadium known as Skilled Park through sponsorship in Robina, was being completed. Carrara Stadium was cited as one of the main reasons the Gold Coast bid was rejected in their first attempt to rejoin the NRL as Carrara only seated around 16,000, and was an oval.

Work on the new stadium commenced at the end of 2005 and the facility was ready for play before the start of the 2008 NRL season. The project is being managed by the same company behind the construction of Suncorp Stadium and The Gabba - Queensland's largest and most famous stadia, and Telstra Stadium - the Sydney 2000 Olympic Stadium. The new stadium has a capacity of 27,000 -- 2,000 more than originally planned for.

[edit] Current squad

Although other players may play for the Gold Coast Titans during the year, all NRL clubs are required to select a top 25 First Grade squad at the beginning of the season. Below is the list of 25 players.

No. Position Player 1 FB Preston Campbell 2 WG Kevin Gordon 3 CE Esikeli Tonga 4 CE Joseph Tomane 5 WG David Mead 6 FE Mat Rogers 7 HB Scott Prince 8 PR Luke Bailey 9 HK Nathan Friend 10 PR Michael Henderson 11 SR Anthony Laffranchi 12 SR Mark Minichiello 13 LK Ashley Harrison

No. Position Player 14 PR Brad Meyers 15 PR Matthew White 16 SR Luke O'Dwyer 17 FB William Zillman 19 LK Josh Graham 20 PR Will Matthews 21 PR Aaron Cannings 22 WG Jordan Atkins 23 SR Sam Tagataese 24 HK Riley Brown 25 PR Bodene Thompson 26 HK Kayne Lawton 27 CE Marshall Chalk

[edit] Feeder clubs

Since their instatement in the National Rugby League for Season 2007, the Titans have aligned themselves with three Queensland Cup clubs:

• Tweed Heads Seagulls
• Ipswich Jets
• Burleigh Bears

In 2009, Burleigh Bears linked with the Brisbane Broncos, however, by the end of the year this arrangement was cancelled with the Bears relinking with the Titans.

[edit] Player records

Statistics Correct as of 20 December 2008

[edit] Top 5 Gold Coast Titans Tryscorers Player Tries Mat Rogers (*) 26 Anthony Laffranchi (*) 24 Scott Prince (*) 19 Brett Delaney 14 Matthew Petersen 14 (*) player still active in the Gold Coast Titans team.

[edit] Top 5 Gold Coast Titans appearances Player Appearance Nathan Friend (*) 70 Preston Campbell (*) 64 Anthony Laffranchi (*) 63 Brett Delaney 63 Mark Minichiello (*) 61 Scott Prince (*) 61 (*) player still active in the Gold Coast Titans team.

[edit] Sponsorship

One of Jetstar Airways' Airbus A320s has Titans badges and large images of several Titans players on both sides of the fuselage

James Frizelle's Automotive Group & Audi Centre Gold Coast, a local car dealership, signed on as the first major sponsorship partner for the franchise, a deal signed for three years.^[4]

The Gold Coast Titans officially became the “Jetstar Gold Coast Titans”, on the 20th September 2006, with the announcement of a five year multi-million dollar naming rights sponsorship^[5] with Qantas owned Jetstar Airways.

Later in 2006 Castlemaine Perkins, brewer of XXXX beer, signed a five year sponsorship agreement with the Titans.^[6] Under the XXXX Bitter brand, Castlemaine Perkins is now a Platinum Sponsor of the Titans.

Front of Jumper: Jetstar
Top of the back of jumper: Marina Quays
Bottom back of jumper: Australian Power and Gas
Sleeves: ABC Brick Sales
Front of shorts: Back of shorts: Harvey Norman

[edit] The Titanium Bar

The official off-field venue of the Gold Coast Titans is the Titanium Bar. It is located on Ferny Avenue in Surfers Paradise, overlooking the Nerang River.

[edit] Average attendance

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Gold Coast Titans
• Titanium Bar
• Titans selected as name for Gold Coast team
• National Rugby League - Titans
• Daily Telegraph - Gold Coast Titans 2007 season feature
• [1]