Community connection and rediscovering winning ways.
Titans legend Preston Campbell would like to see the club adopt this blueprint as the board readies to receive the mid-season review into the football department compiled by Gold Coast head of performance and culture Mal Meninga.
Meninga’s review will be tabled on Monday and, while it has been undertaken with a holistic view to the entire football operation, there is a growing sense of inevitability that one of the recommendations will be Garth Brennan is replaced as head coach.
Whether Brennan is moved on quickly or retained until the end of the season or sees out the remainder of his contract until the end of next year will be determined by the board.
As they languish in 15th position, in danger of recording the worst season in the club’s history, there is a growing belief the Titans will appoint their fourth head coach prior to the start of the 2020 season.
The first player signed, and considered the spiritual heart of the club upon its inception in 2007, Campbell was on Wednesday presented with a jersey marking the 103 games he played for them as the Titans joined the local community for NAIDOC Week celebrations.
Match: Panthers v Titans
Round 17 -
home Team
Panthers
8th Position
away Team
Titans
16th Position
Venue: BlueBet Stadium, Penrith
Not consulted by Meninga in the tabling of his review, Campbell told NRL.com it is that connection to the community that must be at the core of the club’s values.
"For a lot of the boys, to be able to get out in community and work alongside people who are perhaps a little less fortunate, you tend to find ways to manage your own personal life,” Campbell said.
"In the ways of community and having that corporate support, they've been working really hard. They're in a really good place at the moment when it comes to off-field stuff.
"I walk into the office and people are upset that they're not winning more games but it doesn't stop them from doing the hard work that they're doing.
"They love the club and the scene in the office area is unbelievable.”
Injured Titans captain Ryan James has been a frustrated observer since rupturing his ACL in the round six win over Newcastle.
He addressed the players in the wake of the 30-12 loss to Manly a fortnight ago and told Meninga the team needs a harder edge in order to contend for the top eight every year.
"I said to Mal, I don't like losing. I want to be one of those teams where we go out there and give it a crack every week and making sure that we're playing semi-finals footy," James said.
"A couple of years back we weren't in fancy facilities, we just trained hard and believed in the system and gave it everything we had at that time and we played pretty good footy.
"Just strip it back and work on the basics. Work on those and make sure you're doing all the little things right. I openly said to the team last week that we weren't doing the little things right.
"Anyone on the outside looking in would be able to say the same thing. When we do it we do it really well, it's just there are games when maybe only a handful of players do it and you can't win games if only six players are playing decent.
"The club's definitely heading in the right direction, it's just up to us now as footy players to get back to winning some footy games.”
Campbell was an integral figure in the Titans teams that finished top four in successive seasons in 2009-2010 and said there was a noticeable lack of belief within the current squad.
"For a lot of them I probably saw that they didn't believe in themselves enough last season. Maybe that's what it is," Campbell said.
"The boys haven't been losing by too much other than that Manly game. I don't know whether it's a lapse, a mistake, tiredness, could be an accumulation of a few different things but the boys have been in the game. They're trying hard.
"They've had a great roster for the last couple of years ... to be able to get into the heads of some of these players would be awesome. You'd probably have some answers then."
