Titans say they won’t pay “overs” … maybe they should

Despite recently losing Dally M centre of the year James Roberts, the Titans management say they won’t be forced in to paying “overs” on the market.

For those who don’t recognise the term, it means the Titans won’t play what they consider to be over the top amounts to secure player signings.

On the back of losing their best attacking weapon for 2015 and beyond, it may be time for the Titans to look at abandoning their recruitment strategy.

I am loathe to sink the boot into a side when they are struggling but after missing out on the marquee signing of Daly Cherry-Evans, the Titans have since signed Tyrone Roberts, David Shillington and Ashley Taylor, amongst others.

Three very solid signings, but hardly game breaking options.

Having lost state of origin enforcer Nate Myles, the most experienced member of their halves in Aidan Sezer, as well as Dave Taylor and now James Roberts, the Titans roster is looking pretty thin.

It’s not like the side is without a certain degree of star power, with Josh Hoffman, Kane Elgey, Greg Bird and Ryan James in the starting 13, but it’s not like the roster is bursting at the seams with talent either.

Anthony Don, William Zillman, Nene Macdonald and David Mead are all handy first graders, but in 2015 Josh Hoffman was well down on the form that saw him earn a Kiwi jersey, and I can’t see the other four pushing for rep honours.

Kane Elgey and Tyrone Roberts are a handy halves partnership but they don’t have many weapons out wide to work with.

At only 21 years of age, and in only his second season, it would be unfair to expect Elgey to be able to lift those outside of him in the way a Johnathan Thurston can.

I’m not a huge fan of clubs paying over the market value to secure players, but if I were running the Titans, I would be throwing fair money at Tim Lafai and Dylan Walker.

Although Walker looks like he is set to sign for Manly, the Titans need to do anything they possibly can to secure the former Kangaroo centre.

Lafai is a brilliant player, I’m still at a loss as to why the Bulldogs were so keen to move him on, and a player the Titans could build their attack around.

If an extra $30,000 a season for a few years will give Kane Elgey an attacking weapon to build his career with, then so be it.

Looking at the Titans top 25, I cannot see how they can be anywhere near their full quota of salary cap space for 2016 and beyond.

The money has to be there, you might as well use it to sign a genuine attacking star, rather than sitting on spare cap space.

Ask any Titans fan which they’d rather, an over paid Tim Lafai scoring tries on the holiday strip, or knowing that there is space left in the cap, but that their club didn’t pay over market price.

Right now the Titans do not have a whole heap of selling points.

They barely avoided the wooden spoon in 2015, are red hot favourites to ‘win’ the spoon in 2016, and have just lost their best player due to a forged signature on a contract.

The Titans need to give players a reason to sign for the club. They can’t promote a winning culture or a premiership threat, so maybe a few slightly inflated contracts could be the answer.

If Tim Lafai signs for the Titans, maybe the club becomes a more attractive option to other potential recruits.

Right now, the Gold Coast are $3.25 favourites to record the least amount of wins in 2016. Unless they cash in on their free cap space, I can’t see anyone, other than perhaps the Tigers, being drawn into the wooden spoon fight.

If the Titans were to enter 2016 with two quality, yet overpaid, centres in their line-up, suddenly their prospects look far different.

Green to the Maroons?

Reports indicate that Cowboys coach Paul Green has been offered the vacant QLD Origin coaching role after Michael Hagan withdrew from the race.

Having just tasted NRL Premiership success, Green is an obvious choice for the role, but one I did not even consider.

The question is, are Queensland willing to shift from their preference of a non NRL aligned coach to sign Green?

I have no doubt Green would be interested in the role, but I also don’t think he’d step down from his role at the helm of the premiers either.

Craig Bellamy said the dual role he held as coach of both the Storm and NSW state side took a heavy toll on him, and he had many years of experience over the relatively new Green.

That being said, looking at the talent in the QLD side, the team could very well coach itself.

I don’t know how keen the Cowboys would be to lose their coach for an extended period of the season either.

Having won the title, is Green more, or less likely to take up the role with the state side?

I honestly can’t answer that question right now.

Jersey over reaction

With the official reveal of all 16 Aucklan Nines jerseys, I could not believe the social media over reaction to the press conference.

Sure, some of the jerseys are a little tough on the eye, but considering most jerseys will be worn for less than an hour of competition, I don’t see the big deal.

$180 for a jersey seems a little steep in 2015 but one that will be in action for two days?

At least all the jerseys have sleeves.